Dr Edward Jenner (1749-1823) was the pioneer of the process of vaccination, to use the term in its original precise meaning. A country doctor in Gloucestershire, he observed that milkmaids who contracted cow-pox from the cows were not susceptible to the much more serious, and often fatal, smallpox. He experimented, inoculating an eight-year-old boy, James Phipps, with cow-pox in May 1796, and then in July trying to infect him with smallpox. The boy proved to have immunity. After further experiments, Jenner published his findings in 1798, and the procedure gained great attention, and spread rapidly, both in Britain and abroad. Members of the Royal Family, including George III, Queen Charlotte and the Prince of Wales (later George IV), took a considerable interest. Thirty years later, with the procedure well established, Jenner’s biographer dedicates his biography to George IV, referring to ‘The discovery which your Majesty condescended so to signalize must ever be memorable in the annals of your Majesty’s dominions, and of mankind.’