The earliest recorded case of polio in the UK is Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832):

"I showed every sign of health and strength until I was about 18 months old. One night, I have been often told, I showed great reluctance to be caught and put to bed, and after being chased about the room, was apprehended and consigned to my dormitory with some difficulty. It was the last time I was to show much personal agility. In the morning I was discovered to be affected with the fever which often accompanies the cutting of large teeth. It held me for three days. On the fourth, when they went to bathe me as usual, they discovered that I had lost the power of my right leg ... when the efforts of regular physicians had been exhausted, without the slightest success ... the impatience of a child soon inclined me to struggle with my infirmity, and I began by degrees to stand, walk, and to run. Although the limb affected was much shrunk and contracted, my general health, which was of more importance, was much strengthened by being frequently in the open air, and, in a word, I who in a city had probably been condemned to helpless and hopeless decrepitude, was now a healthy, high-spirited, and, my lameness apart, a sturdy child."