The Battle of Charlbury

Sat 29 Nov, 15:45

Yes that audio piece about the Charlbury riots is very interesting...

The crucial difference is that smallpox vaccinations in 1897 were compulsory.(They were also most likely not as safe as modern vaccines as they apparently used cowpox lymph, which could be contaminated, poorly stored, or improperly administered.)

Covid vaccines in the UK were not compulsory so it was up to the individual to choose whether they wanted it. Most people chose to have the covid vaccine because the science showed they were overwhelmingly safe and effective. 

So I would say Charlbury does not have a "soggy centre" but showed common sense as well as a sense of social responsibility during the recent pandemic. As for the MAGA movement I am not sure if common sense is in large supply.

Sat 29 Nov, 11:52

I suppose the interesting question is why in Covid most of Charlbury would have accepted the need for vaccination as the socially responsible thing to do, while in the States the MAGA base rejected vaccination. Does this suggest that Charlbury has “ softened” over the last century or so and moved from fierce individualism towards the “soggy centre”? I think we should be told.

Sat 29 Nov, 11:20

The contemporary Oxford Times newspaper article on the Charlbury Vaccination Riots of February 1897, reproduced in Volume 1 Number 2 of The Charlbury Chronicle, still makes me laugh like a drain whenever I read it! The deadpan style of the account is simply wonderful! 

Sat 29 Nov, 10:51

The Charlbury vaccine riots were the subject of the short play, An Innocuous Prick, written by local resident Ian Cox and performed in Charlbury Memorial Hall and then in the Burton Taylor studio in Oxford last January. 

The other play put on the same bill was Paddy Hitler, by another Charlbury resident, Kieran Cooke, which looked at the often tortured life of Paddy Hitler, son of Hitler’s elder half-brother and an Irish mother. The 2 plays were put on together under the title, Lessons from History. 

And, yes, the lessons from both plays are still valid today. The Radio Oxford programme is here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0lgjmrz

Sat 29 Nov, 09:49

An interesting article on Radio Oxford about the anti-vaccine riots of Charlbury in the 19 th C. It’s not only JD Vance that can galvanise residents!