Polio in the UK and Ireland

Polio strikes Coventry?  Polio hits Hull?  Polio epidemic in Cork?

Yes - within the living memory of many of us. 

There are tens of thousands of people who survived the polio epidemics of the first half of the twentieth century living in the UK today. In fact there are currently estimated to be 120,000 people living in the UK who have had polio.

See the Science Museum's Polio and TB in the 1900s webpage for background information on the treatment of disability in the 1900s.

This page contains links to some of the polio-related news films in the online Pathe News library and to other UK and Ireland polio news stories.

1940 - The man in the iron lung

1942 - Science assists crippled children

1951 - Polio Treatment - Queen Mary's Hospital Carshalton (no sound)

1952 - New vaccine may aid fight on polio

1955 - Medical science conquers polio (Dr Jonas Salk's vaccine)

1955 - American President honours Dr Jonas Salk

1956 - Polio Epidemic in Cork (news article)

1957 - Coventry - Polio Strikes

1957 - Spotlight on Polio - Is enough being done?

1957 - The Vital Vaccine

1961 - War on Polio - polio hits Hull

1969 - Polio Victim's Marathon Walk (John O'Groats to Land's End)