Memory Aids: Lock In the Key Facts

🧠 Memory Aids: Lock In the Key Facts

The FARMS acronym — five reasons plague spread and killed so many:

• F — Fleas on rats (actual cause — nobody knew this)
• A — Awful conditions (overcrowding, poor sanitation, rubbish-filled streets)
• R — Rich fled (left poor without doctors, resources, leadership)
• M — Miasma theory (wrong medical model caused wrong responses)
• S — Shutting up houses (trapped healthy with sick — made it worse)

Key statistic: 7,165 deaths in one week — This specific figure (the peak death toll, from Samuel Pepys's diary for the week ending 7 September 1665) is the kind of precise evidence that lifts an answer from Level 2 to Level 3. "Thousands died every week" is Level 2. "At the peak in September 1665, 7,165 Londoners died in a single week, as recorded in the Bills of Mortality" is Level 3 or above. Learn this number.

Charles's contrasting responses — Plague vs Fire: A favourite exam angle is comparing Charles's response to the Plague (fled to Oxford) with his response to the Great Fire (stayed in London, personally helped fight it, boosted morale). This contrast matters because it shows that personal royal leadership could make a difference — and that Charles chose not to provide it during the Plague. Always use this comparison if asked about either event.

Key people for the Plague:

• Samuel Pepys — Navy Board official; stayed in London; best primary source (diary)
• Charles II — fled to Oxford; contrasts with his response to the Great Fire
• Daniel Defoe — wrote about it 57 years later; NOT a reliable contemporary source