Completed: 1875 - 1879 disease outbreak?

[Craclyn]

I do not think any conclusions of disease can be drawn without seeing the death certificates.

[clearly]

I should have mentioned that Longtown Poor Law Union, which covered the area right up to the border and Bewcastle, did have a vaccination officer at this time. A very few records of the union remain and they are poorly catalogued but a fair proportion relate to the work of the vaccination officer although of a later period.
You could also add to the list of Billyblue, diphtheria, measles, whooping cough, typhoid, Influenza, chickenpox, scarletina, rubella(German measles) and to a lesser extent infantile paralysis(polio) and typhus.
Please don't take the following as "gospel" but what I have observed as that so called epidemics run a different course in loosely scattered rural areas. Whereas in the towns there is a sudden upsurge in the number of deaths, in rural areas possibly two or three familes are affected and the disease seems to work its way through various members before either dying out or jumping to other families. However the process takes months rather than weeks as in towns.

[Rena]

As they're adults I would think the more likely cause of death wouldn't be from childhood illnesses but from typhoid caused by dirty water, or diseases brought into the country by the navy or army such as yellow fever or cholera. 

I see that the area was largely agricultural and I wondered if the family farmed sheep because sheep dip was (and still is) highly hazardous and could cause illness and even death.   A sheep dip is basically a short narrow bath filled with liquid which kills off any ticks, etc., which are harmful to the animals - the animals are plunged into the liquid so that they're wet all over and then they have to swim a short distance before being hauled out.

From wikepedia:
"The world's first sheep dip was invented and produced by George Wilson of Coldstream, Scotland in 1830. That dip was based on arsenic powder."
"There are two broad classes of sheep dip: organophosphorus compounds, from which chemical warfare agents were later developed, and synthetic pyrethroids. Organophosphorous compounds are very toxic to humans, as they travel easily through the skin. When traveling over water,

 

[sirsimon]

Very interesting. I will have to get their certificates to find out. It will be expensive though, but I will let you guys know