Benjamin Jesty
Benjamin Jesty was a farmer at Yetminster in Dorset, England. He is notable as perhaps the first person recorded to have vaccinated with Cowpox in order to artificially induce immunity to Smallpox. Unlike Jenner he did not, and would not have been in a position to, publicise the procedure, which he carried out on his wife and children in the face of a smallpox epidemic in 1774.
Later he moved to Worth Matravers, a Dorset village near the coast, and he and his wife are buried in a prominent position in the churchyard there with an inscription crediting him thus.
Jestys' tomb
External links
Categories
Natives of Dorset