During the Influenza Pandemic of 1918, which struck between January 1918 and December 1920, 500 million people around the world were infected by influenza and died. This was almost 25 times the 8,500,000 soldiers and 13,000,000 civilians who died in World War I.
It was first reported in Kansas, USA in March 1918, and recent reports suggest that the disease was spread by American servicemen coming to fight in Europe.
The disease was known as Spanish Flu because it was first publicised in Spain (which was neutral in World War I), whilst the warring nations kept quiet, fearing that the outbreak would be bad for morale.
Many men & women who survived World War I, died in the epidemic.
The deaths of many of the victims were registered as pneumonia.
The list of local victims included:
See Dr George Edward Scholefield
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