Cowpox children. In 1796, British medical practitioner Edward Jenner tested the theory that cowpox could protect someone from being infected by smallpox. Although cowpox originates on the udder of cows, Jenner took his sample from a milkmaid, Sarah Nelmes. Jenner extracted the pus of one of the lesions formed by cowpox on Nelmes to another individual who never had smallpox, James Phipps. He eventually developed a scab and fever that was manageable. Approximately six weeks later, Jenner then introduced an active sample of the smallpox virus into Phipps to test the theory. After being observed for an extended amount of time,
Robert Francis Jenner of 18. On 10 August 1824 Jenner married Elizabeth Lascelles (died 29 September 1850), eldest daughter of Sir Herbert Jenner-Fust, Dean of Arches. She was his double first cousin. They had ten sons and five daughters. One of the daughters, Emma, wrote of her mother: "She always thought the year wasted if there was not a new baby born." Jenner resided in Wenvoe Castle, and was a Justice of the Peace and Deputy Lieutenant for Glamorgan. In 1828 he was appointed High Sheriff of Glamorgan. Jenner was patron of St Mary's Church in the village of Jenner. Robert Francis Jenner