Edward Jenner Heritage Trail - Location 1
Site of Jenner’s Birthplace – Adjacent to Yew Tree House, Marybrook Street

Edward Jenner was born in 1749 in a building in the grounds of what is now Yew Tree House. Sadly, all that remains is a low outline of the foundations of the cottage in the garden behind the close boarded fence.  Here he was brought up by his parents, Reverend Stephen and Sarah Jenner.  He was the eighth of nine children, with five surviving siblings: Stephen, Mary, Henry, Sarah and Anne and he was named after a brother who died in April 1749 aged five.  Jenner's parents both died in 1754 and although his education was probably planned by his elder brother, Stephen, it is thought that the necessary home environment was provided by his aunt, Deborah Hooper of Clapton near Berkeley.

In his early years he went to Katharine Lady Berkeley School near Wotton under Edge, later entering Cirencester Grammer, with four other boys. In order to join the school, the boys had to be inoculated against Smallpox, Georgian medicine was still based on Greek principles, which involved purging, blood letting and mean rations leading up to the event. After being inoculated the boys were according to Jenner “tethered in a stable” for two weeks to quarantine the live virus. Jenner’s health suffered, and though we don’t have direct evidence, this experience likely affected his health permanently. Due to this ill health, he left the Grammar school early, taking up an apprenticeship at the age of 14 to a local apothecary, Daniel Ludlow, of Chipping Sodbury.  Jenner showed great promise, so at the end of his apprenticeship, seven years later he was sent to London to train as a surgeon, moving into the house owned by his mentor, John Hunter in 1770. He studied anatomy and physiology and completed his medical education under the great surgeon and experimentalist John Hunter at St. George's Hospital. During this time Jenner was invited to catalogue the finds brought back from Cook’s first voyage by Joseph Banks, which he did to such satisfaction that Cook asked Jenner to join the second voyage. Hunter offered his protege high office, but Jenner was keen to return to his home in Berkeley.
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In 1772 at the age of 23 Edward Jenner returned to Berkeley and established himself as the local country doctor and surgeon at Gloucester Royal Infirmary (where his friend from Cirencester Grammer, John Hickes now practiced).  Although in later years he also established medical practices in London and Cheltenham, Jenner remained essentially a resident of Berkeley for the rest of his life.

Next walk down Marybrook Street towards the Town Centre and you will come to the Town Hall on your right with its entrance in Salter Street and the Trail Marker on the front facing towards the Market Place. You can click the QR code on the Plaque or click here for information on Location 2.