Tag Archives: influenza

Boy, Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, photography, Royal Navy, Somerset, story, war

Boy 2nd Class Albert Matthews

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Boy 2nd Class Albert Matthews

Albert Edward Matthews was born in October 1901 in the Somerset village of Tintinhull. His father James was a glove maker, and he and his wife Mary had three children in all, Percival, born in 1897, Clementina, born in 1898, and Albert, the youngest.

Sadly, Clementina died in 1909, aged just 11 years old. Percival also passed away six years later, aged just 17. James and Mary must have been distraught when Albert announced his decision to do his bit for King and country.

He enlisted almost as soon as he was able to, joining the Royal Navy on 14th September 1918, and you can almost sense his enthusiasm to get involved before missing out on the glory of military service.

Boy Matthews was assigned to HMS Impregnable, the ship based in Devonport, Plymouth, where he was to receive his training. Standing at 5ft 8ins (1.73m) tall, with brown hair, brown eyes and a fair complexion, he was recorded as having a very good character and satisfactory ability.

Sadly, however, Albert was not destined to meet his full potential. Shortly after beginning his training, he contracted influenza and pneumonia, succumbing to the disease on 27th October 1918.

He had just turned 17 years old.

Albert Edward Matthews lies at rest in the graveyard of St Margaret’s Church in his home village of Tintinhull.

The story of this family continued to be tragic. By the time of Albert’s death, the Spanish Flu pandemic was sweeping the world and his tiny part of Somerset was in no way immune.

Just four days after Albert Matthews passed away, his mother, Mary, also fell victim to the illness.

In the space of just nine years, poor James Matthews had buried all three of his children and his wife. A newspaper reported on Mary’s funeral, recognising the “very heavy trials” he had undergone.

The same paper, reports that the influenza pandemic is fizzling out.

A large number of parishioners have been attacked with “flu”, but the epidemic is now on the wane. The school has been closed for the last fortnight.

Western Chronicle: Friday 8th November 1918
Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, photography, Private, Royal Army Medical Corps, Somerset, story, war

Private Robert Hunt

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Private Robert Hunt

Robert Edward Nichols Hunt was born in Somerton, Somerset in 1894. One of five children to Charles and Rose Hunt, his father was a bootmaker.

By the 1911 census, however, things had taken a different turn; Charles and two of his sons were working for a brewer, Rose was working as a shop assistance in Boots, and the youngest of the family, Kate, was apprenticed to a dressmaker.

It was against this backdrop that war came, and, within a year, Robert had enlisted in the Royal Army Medical Corps. His sign-up documents confirm that he was short sighted, although this was corrected with glasses and he was deemed fit for active service.

Sent to the Western Front in October 1915, Private Hunt definitely found himself in the thick of the action.

In August 1916, he was supporting the fighting at High Wood on the Somme, when a gas shell exploded near him. He fell and, when he woke, he remembered little of what happened. Robert had inhaled a lot of gas, however, and was left coughing with difficulty breathing. He was transferred back to England by train and ship to recover, arriving back on the 2nd September.

There is no record of Robert having gone back to the front. The impact of the gas appears to have been severe and long-lasting. At the end of October 1918, he was admitted to the Becket House Auxiliary Hospital in St Albans with influenza and bronchial pneumonia. Sadly, this was to be a battle he would not recover from, and he passed away on 4th November 1918. He was 24 years old.

Robert Edward Nichols Hunt lies at rest in the cemetery of his home town, Somerton.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, photography, Private, Somerset, story, war, Worcestershire Regiment

Private Stanley Counsell

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Private Stanley Counsell

Stanley John Counsell was born in September 1896 to George and Ellen, farmers in Glastonbury.

The youngest of five children, Stanley was an apprentice carpenter by the time he enlisted with his brothers Lawrence and Wilfred.

Private Counsell joined the Worcestershire Regiment in 1915 and was sent into action in France in September 1916.

He suffered medically during the war, succumbing to tonsillitis and diarrhoea during his time in France. A bout of tuberculosis in late 1918 saw Stanley shipped back to the UK and admitted to a hospital in Newcastle-upon Tyne.

The end of the Great War came and went, and Stanley was finally discharged from the army in March 1919, as no longer medically fit for war service.

On 2nd May 1919, less than six weeks after being discharged, Private Stanley Counsell passed away. He was 23 years old and was a victim not of the war, but of the subsequent influenza pandemic, which killed 250,000 people in the UK alone.

Stanley John Counsell lies at peace in the cemetery of his home town, Glastonbury.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, photography, Private, Somerset, story, war, West Somerset Yeomanry

Private Stephen Rawle

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Private Stephen John Rawle

Stephen John Rawle was born in 1894, the second of four sons of George Rawle, a sailor, and Louisa, his wife.

By the time war broke out, Stephen was working as a groom in Wheddon Cross, just south of Minehead.

As the Great War loomed, he enlisted and Private Rawle serving on the home front. His record show that he stood at 5ft 9.5ins (1.76m) and was of good enough health to be enrolled for the Territorial Force. He was assigned to the West Somerset Yeomanry.

He was medically discharged from service on 29th March 1915, having served for one year and 31 days.

The records show no signs of injury or wounds, and newspapers of the period do not link him with any misadventure. I can only assume, therefore, that he died of natural causes, possibly linked to the Spanish Flu Pandemic. Stephen died on 5th September 1918. He was 25 years old.

Private Stephen John Rawle lies at rest in the churchyard of Lydeard St Lawrence, alongside two of his brothers, Ernest and William.

George and Louisa’s other son – Edward – also served, enlisting in the Somerset Light Infantry and fighting in the Balkans. Private Edward Rawle survived the war, returning home in March 1919.

It should be noted that, by June 1921, George and Louisa had lost three of her four sons to the Great War. Their daughter, Norah, had also passed away in 1918.

The 1921 census found Louisa living in East Town, in the parish of Tolland, not far from Lydeard St Lawrence. Edward was living with her, as were her three-year-old granddaughter, Lorna, and her eighteen-month-old grandson Beatty. It is unclear whose children they were. George, at this point, was helping his younger brother out on the family farm in Williton.

Commonwealth War Graves, Devonshire Regiment, Great War, history, illness, photography, Private, Somerset, story, war

Private Charles Stodgell

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Private Charles William Stodgell

Charles William Stodgell was born in Somerset in 1878, the eldest son of Samuel and Mary Stodgell. His father was an agricultural labourer, while his mother was a glover. Charles followed into farm work, becoming a carter by time of the 1901 census.

Charles married Mabel Duke in 1898 and the young couple had two daughters – Ida and Florence – in the following few years.

When war came, Charles was called up. He enlisted in June 1916, joining the Devonshire Regiment before being transferred to the Agricultural Company. His record shows that he stood at 5ft 6ins (1.67m) and weighed 10st 2lbs (64kg) and his build, health and experience is probably why he ended up in service where he did.

Private Stodgell was demobbed at the end of the war, and returned home on furlough (a word not just linked to everything 2020 has thrown at us!). Sadly, before he was fully demobbed, he contracted influenza, and died on 2nd February 1919.

Charles William Stodgell lies at rest in his home village of North Curry, in the churchyard of St Peter & St Paul.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, Gunner, history, illness, Kent, Kent Royal Garrison Artillery, photography, story, war

Gunner Frederick Brooks

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Gunner Frederick Brooks

Frederick Brooks was born in the spring of 1897, the ninth of eleven children to Stephen and Grace Brooks. Stephen worked as a woodsman in Bredhurst, Kent, a trade his eldest sons followed him into.

Yewtree Cottages in Bredhurst, home to the Brooks Family

Frederick’s service records show that, when he enlisted in nearby Rainham, he was working as a fence maker. He was 5ft 6ins (168cm) tall, weighed 143lbs (65kg) and had fair physical development. He joined up in September 1915 and was assigned to the 2/1 Company Kent Royal Garrison Artillery.

Gunner Brooks’ early service was on home soil as part of the Territorial Force. However, he was transferred overseas as part of the British Expeditionary Force on 10th March 1917, where he served for nearly two years.

Frederick fell ill in January 1919, and was brought back to the UK for treatment. He was admitted to the Weir Red Cross Hospital in Balham, London, with bronchial pneumonia. He succumbed to heart failure just a few days later, on 4th February 1919. He was just 21 years old.

Gunner Frederick Brooks lies at rest in a peaceful corner of the secluded graveyard of St Peter’s Church in his home village of Bredhurst.

Frederick’s life throws a couple of coincidences my way. I used to live within spitting distance of his village, Bredhurst, and, indeed, have driven past his family home countless times. I also happened to have been born in the same hospital – the Weir in Balham – where Frederick had passed away 53 years earlier.

Commonwealth War Graves, Dorset, Great War, history, illness, photography, Royal Air Force, Sergeant, story, war

Serjeant Nicholas Leadbetter

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Serjeant Nicholas Leadbetter

Born in Lancashire in 1877, Nicholas Leadbetter was the eldest of the four children of fisherman and merchant Isaac and his wife Elizabeth. He was quick to follow in his father’s line of work and set up his own fish shop in St Anne’s-on-the-Sea (nowadays known as Lytham St Anne’s).

Nicholas married Alice Griffiths in 1900, and their first child – Isaac – was born that Christmas.

Living near the station in Lytham, the young couple took on boarders to supplement Nicholas’ work. By the time of the 1901 census they had Dionysius Howarth, a chemist’s assistant, and Edgar Charles Randolph Jones, a grocer’s assistant, staying with them.

The Leadbetters don’t appear on the 1911 census, but from later records it is evident that they moved from Lancashire to the South West, where Nicholas ran a fish, game and poultry store in Yeovil. By this time, they were a family of four, as a daughter – Alice – was born in 1906.

Nicholas moved his family across the border to Sherborne, where he continued to ply his trade as a fishmonger and poultry dealer.

War broke out and, at the age of 39, he enlisted in the fledgling Royal Air Force, serving in France for the remainder of the fighting.

Serjeant Nicholas Leadbetter was demobbed in February 1919 and returned home to his family on Valentine’s Day. A local newspaper picks up his story from there.

He was feeling unwell at the time and immediately went to bed. Double pneumonia set in, and, despite the best medical aid, he passed away on Tuesday, leaving a widow, one son, and one daughter to mourn their loss.

Western Gazette: Friday 21st February 1919.

Serjeant Leadbetter’s funeral was a fitting one:

[It] was of military character, members of the Sherborne detachment of the 1st Volunteer Battalion Dorset Regiment being present. The coffin, which was covered with the Union Jack, was borne by members of the detachment, and at the Cemetery a firing party fired three volleys over the grave, and the buglers of the Church Lads’ Brigade sounded the last post.

There were many floral tributes. Mrs Leadbetter wishes to return thanks for the many letters of sympathy received from kind friends, and which she finds it impossible to answer individually.

Western Gazette: Friday 28th February 1919.

Serjeant Nicholas Leadbetter’s records confirm he was 42 years old. He lies at peace in Sherborne Cemetery.

Commonwealth War Graves, Devonshire Regiment, Dorset, Great War, history, illness, Labour Corps, photography, Private, story, war

Private Samuel Cook

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Private Samuel Cook

Samuel Cook was born in Bedfordshire, the eldest of two children to Alfred and Phoebe Cook.

Alfred was a forester, which saw the family move around the country; the 1881 census found them living in Rutland, ten years later the family was recorded in Northamptonshire and by the 1911 census, they were in Dorset.

Samuel was quick to follow in his father’s footsteps, supporting his mother and sister after Alfred died in 1906.

The war was underway when Samuel was called up. His Devonshire Regiment service records show that he enlisted on 11th December 1915. His fitness seemed to have determined the path his military career would take.

Initially Private Cook was classified as C1 (free from serious organic diseases and able to serve in garrisons at home, able to walk 5 miles, see to shoot with glasses, and hear well), but was upgraded to B2 within six months. This identified that he was free from serious organic diseases, able to stand service on lines of communication in France, or in garrisons in the tropics and able to walk 5 miles, see and hear sufficiently for ordinary purposes.

Samuel was first enrolled in 13th (Works) Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment, before being transferred to the 311th (HS) Labour Company in Plymouth.

Private Cook was one of the thousands of soldiers who contracted influenza and subsequently died of pneumonia on 1st November 1918.

There seems to be some dispute over how and when Samuel fell ill. A request for a detailed medical report was sent, “as he appeared to have contracted the disease from which he died whilst on leave for the purpose of getting married”. The same request confirms that he was never admitted to hospital while in the company. (There are no records oh Samuel having married, so I am assuming that his leave may have been for wedding preparations, of normal leave.)

The report came back confirming that he has died from “pneumonia complicating influenza which was contracted whilst on service at Beaulieu”.

However and wherever it happened, the disease claimed Private Samuel Cook’s life; he lies at rest in Sherborne Cemetery, Dorset.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, Lance Corporal, photography, story, war, West Surrey Regiment

Lance Corporal Charles Stubbles

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Charles Frederick Stubbles was born in Tottenham in 1892. One of eleven children to Richard and Mary Ann Stubbles, by the time of the 1911 census, the family were living in Edmonton. Charlie and his brother had found employment painting gas stoves, while his father was a building foreman.

Charles enlisted in the army in 1916, aged 25 years and 11 months. His service records show that he stood at 5ft 2ins, weighed in at 69lbs; his health was classified as C2 – Free from serious organic diseases, able to stand service in garrisons at home, able to walk 5 miles, see and hear sufficiently for ordinary purposes.

Joining the Labour Corps of the West Surrey Regiment, Private Stubbles initially served on the home front, before being transferred to France as part of the British Expeditionary Force in March 1917.

Charlie seems to have been a bit of a character and was pulled up a few times during his service. On 10th April, he was charged with “committing a nuisance in the barrack room”, for which he was confined to camp for eight days. On 21st August he went AWOL for nearly a day; he was docked eight days’ pay. On 28th October he appeared unshaven and dirty for the 7:15am parade; he was confined to barracks for seven days.

On 4th January 1918, Charles was admitted to a field hospital with diarrhoea; while there he was diagnosed with tuberculosis; he succumbed to this two days later, dying on 7th January 1918. He was 26 years old.

Lance Corporal Charles Stubbles is buried at the Haringhe Bandaghem Military Cemetery in Poperinge, Belgium.

Charles Frederick Stubbles was my great great uncle.

Commonwealth War Graves, Dorset, Great War, history, illness, photography, Private, Royal Army Service Corps, story, war

Private Thomas Daines

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Private Thomas Daines

Born in 1871, Thomas Daines was one of fourteen children. His parents, Charles and Sarah, worked on a farm a few miles from Halstead in Essex.

After leaving school, Thomas followed in his father’s footsteps and, by the time of the 1891 census was also listed as an agricultural labourer. He married Kate Rawlinson in the spring of 1893, and they had two children – Matilda and Lewis – before relocating to South East London in around 1898.

The reason for the move was, more than like, job opportunities, and Thomas was soon working at the Royal Arsenal in Woolwich.

Settling into their new city life, Thomas and Kate had five further children: Annie, Thomas, Alfred, Charles and Beatrice. Thomas continued as a labourer, before enlisting in the army within three months of war being declared in October 1914.

Sadly, Private Daines’ service was not to be a long one. Having suffered a bout of influenza, Thomas was admitted to a Red Cross Hospital in Sherborne, Dorset. He died of pneumonia on 22nd February 2015.

Private Thomas Daines lies at peace in the Sherborne Cemetery.

As a sad aside to Thomas and Kate’s story, their eldest son, Lewis, enlisted in the 16th Battalion of the Lancashire Fusiliers. He fought on the Western Front, and was killed in action in Pozières on 26th March 1918.

The Great War had claimed both father and son.