Burying plague victims. Plate depicting a group of men burying victims of the Great Plague that struck London in 1665. This outbreak of bubonic plague was the last major infection seen in the city. It is estimated that 100,000 people died, about 20% of the population, and most were buried in mass graves known as plague pits. Engraving from Chamberlain's 'A New and Complete History and Survey of the Cities of London and Westminster' printed at London in 1770.