SPANISH FLU 100 YEARS AGO 1918

1918 A young soldier Harry Underwood returned to the front after being injured in action. He felt bad again and was sent to the military hospital.

The next morning, he was dead after gasping for air, chocking and his skin turned grey. It is assumed that he was one of the first victims of the Spanish Flu which costs 100 million lives the world over.

The pandemic spread rapidly across Europe, USA, China and India, just to name a few of the countries.

In looking back, it was one of the worst medical catastrophe and claimed more victims than any others in history.

The most baffling point was for the medicals that it struck down the fit and healthy men and women. Since the World War I was still raging it did not get the full attention.

The pandemic of the 1918 influenza claimed more victims then the whole World War 1. It seemed unstoppable and there was no cure for it. People started to wear facemasks which seemed to only way to hopefully prevent catching it.

Flu has a long history and date back to Roman and Greek times. The word influenza was first mentioned in 1500 by Italians describing an illness they thought being “influenced” by the stars.

Today’s flu is nothing in comparisons to the outbreak in 1918. There was no country being spared. To matter worse because of an even second outbreak in the autumn. It was so bad that people collapsed in the street and bled from lungs and noses which suffocated them. Children starved to death because parents were so ill they could not care for them. Undertakers had not enough coffins to bury the dead.

Scientists studied the 1918 influenza thought they traced the outbreak to the camp in Etaples, France. It was the camp where farmer’s son from Kent Harry Underwood age 20 died.

At the end of 1917 men were crammed in the camp and the flu went through like wild fire but the virus was suspected to come from animals or birds kept for food.

Adding to it was the war which had huge army movements plus the resistance of men was very low because of the terrible conditions in the trenches.

As usually, the authorities were slow in trying to stop spreading by organising isolations. In those days influenza was thought it is a bacteria, not a virus.

News announced that Spain is badly affected and therefore the label “Spanish Flu” sprang up and it stuck.

In Britain Whitehall did not see the point to introduce quarantine on trams and buses or close theatres for fear to lower morals. As always, their disorganisation let the flu spread quicker and further.

To prove the point, Manchester had a lower death rate because Dr James Niven, the city’s medical officer, did establish quarantine rules.  

On the contrary, in Newcastle, mines and docks nearly ground to a standstill because 70 per cent of workers fell ill.

The German army was also affected by 150,000 men in summer of 1918. If you like to call it a blessing; it could have brought an earlier end to the war.

The last death in the year 1918 was William Leefe Robinson, 23, who won a Victoria Cross being the first pilot to shoot down a Graf Zeppelin.

Armistice Day celebration brought everyone out on the street which could have ignite another pandemic but fortunately it didn’t.

Scientists now know it was a H1N1 strain related to the avian flu.

The question remains, can it happen again despite medical advances, communications and vaccinations? There is no doubt the danger is still there. 

'WIPERS TIMES' 1916-18 -- NEWSPAPER FROM TRENCHES

THE ACTUAL PRINTING PRESS 

A most unusual story about two men decided to print a newspaper during the most fearful fighting in Ypres during the First World War.

It 1916 when infantry men went through demolished houses and trying to find food, bedding and all sorts of thing which made life a bit easier two officers stumbled on a printing press .  No soldier gave the rubble covered printing press a second glance but for Captain Fred Roberts of the Sherwood Foresters. He brushed the debris away and saw to his surprise the machine was undamaged.  He called his friend Lieutenant Jack Pearson and another sergeant who was a printer.  It took only a few days till the first 100 copies were rolled out. They named if “Wipers Times” after the mispronounced name of Ypres, Belgium.

Ypres was on a strategic route blocking the German advance to France. It was under heavy bombardment and the scene of three major battles.  It also had the first mustard gas attack.

CAPTAIN FRED ROBERTS

LIEUTENANT JACK PEARSON

The papers contained a mixture of trench humour, poetry and spoof advertisements. The soldiers also enjoyed the biting satire and fearless lampooning of the top brass.  Captain Roberts who was an adventurer and prospector before the war in South Africa wrote: “We lived in rat-infested, water-logged cellars by day and Hooge (a nearby village) by night. As an existence it had little to recommend it.”

Excerpts from the Wipers Times show in-jokes and thinly veiled attacks on officers. It described ordinary Tommies as PMI – poor bloody infantry.  The spoof adverts were loved. “Insurance policies available for badly defended trenches.”  “Wanted wire cutters. Good openings for sharp young men.”

You could read about golf which included tips on how to play 18 holes in no-man’s land.  The scramble to escape a gas attack was written in horse racing terms.  The great number of bombed out buildings provided a good market for the property section. A house with no roof was labelled as “airy”. Other properties were offered with good “underground residences ready for habitation” and “shooting estates” were all on sale in the Wipers Times.  They advised to contact the estate agents “Bosch and Co” and added that intending purchasers ill be shown round any time, day or night.

A favourite subject was the pot-holed roads leading to the battlefields and many times the various brothels in the area were mentioned. They were also writing seriously about the British “friendly fire” casualties and incompetence by the generals  and making sure the soldiers had a constant rum supplies. Greatly appreciated were also the poems by the solders.

They launched attack against people at home glorify the war and didn’t mention the condition, not even downplayed while the soldiers lived in waterlogged and rat-infested trenches

There were other newspapers produced during the Great War but none of it was printed near the front. At one time Roberts and his sub-editor brought out an edition only 100 yards from the enemy. For two years they were hauling the one-ton machine all over the Western Front and issued 23 editions.  To the soldiers it kept up some normality. Once the military was thinking of banning the publication but had to change their minds when they realised the importance of keeping up the moral.  The newspaper also managed quiet a number of times to avoid censorship. Against all the great danger both men survived the war and were awarded the Military Cross for their bravery at battles, including the Somme. Roberts became commanding officers of his battalion.

The Wipers Times is seen as the beginning of the satirical magazine Private Eye, whose editor Ian Hislop co-wrote the drama. The BBC is bringing out two dramas with Michael Palin about the remarkable story of the Wipers Times.

In his last edition Roberts wrote: “Although some may be sorry it’s over there is little doubt that the linemen are not, as most of us have been cured of any little illusions we may have had about the pomp and glory of war, and know it for the vilest disaster that can befall mankind,”

After the war both men faded back into civilian life. In spite of their great talent there is no evidence that they ever wrote another line. Roberts migrated to Canada and he died there in 1964. Pearson also establish a make shift pub behind the frontline serving refreshment to wounded soldiers. He went to Argentina to work on the railways and later became an owner of a hotel. He died two years later after his great friend and fellow publisher.

It will be almost 100 years when they finally receive the recognition they deserve.

The BBC showed a drama written about the Wipers Times on BBC 2, at 9pm on September 11, 2013.

WOMEN FOOTBALL DURING FIRST WORLD WAR

DICK, KERR LADIES

During the First World War women replaced men’s jobs and worked in munitions factory and it also formed women football.  Women began to produced bullets and shells and in their break they joined the boys apprentice in a general kick around.

An idea developed to play football against others women team to raise money for the soldiers coming back wounded and traumatised.  Eventually it became more organised and the Preston factory founded by Mr William Dick and Mr John Kerr ‘s team became known as Dick, Kerr Ladies.

The first Dick, Kerr Ladies match was played on Christmas Day 1917 at Preston North End’s ground. It attracted 10,000 people and raised £600 for ex-servicemen’s charities. Eventually they raised £70,000 which would be £3million now, in the period from 1917 till 1925. They also won seven world championships.

The most memorable match was played on Boxing Day 1920 at Everton’s football ground, Goodison Park.  A crowd of 53,000 was crammed on the terraces when they had to close the gates with 14,000 still standing outside. It was the biggest crowd Liverpool ever saw.  Eleven of the players were internationals and it was the beginning of the modern game.

They were 22 players and all women from the Preston factory called Dick, Kerr Ladies.  Working-class mill and factory workers who dared to take on a man’s world of football. Looking back now it was an all-too-brief golden era for women’s football at the beginning of the 20^th century.  It inspired also writers and they produced children comic’s books showing girls playing football.

The Dick, Kerr Ladies were such a success and had a larger crowd than men’s football. This brought about the vengeful decision by the men Football Association to ban them from playing on any FA pitch. This pitch ban was not lifted till the Seventies, over a half a century.  It took another few years till the FA agreed to women’s teams to join the organisation.

The early female players were totally dedicated. It was in the North-east area of England where women’s football was most widely spread during the First World War and after.  A famous left-winger Jennie Nuttall playing for Blyth Spartan married on Saturday in 1917 and went straight from her ceremony to play at a match and score two goals.  It was a decisive game and 14 teams took part between 1917 and 1918 for the Munitionettes’ Cup. 

We have to see the full picture of these heroic women. They worked very hard all day in the munition factories, had to see to their families where all housework was done by hand and still being so dedicated to the sport. It is incredible how they managed.

A record in June 1917 shows that one million British women were making 80 per cent of the weaponry and ammunition and being paid only half or less of a man’s wage.

The large crowd noticed that most of the munitionette players had yellow faces and hair at their foreheads. It came from working with sulphur in the TNT explosive and coloured the parts of their bodies which could not be covered. They received the nickname “Canaries”.

An even bigger damage came from the exposure to sulphur was liver failure, anaemia and spleen enlargement.  TNT could also cause infertility. Yet, for all their dedication to football and hard work the FA banned them from playing on their pitches.

Dick, Kerr Ladies kept on playing well into the Sixties. However, they played mainly for charities on recreation grounds and college pitches. One defiant member at the time of the ban stated that they would continue to play even it meant to play on ploughed fields.

In 2002 the legendary forward Lily Parr became the first woman to enter the Hall of Fame at the National Football Museum. It was 24 years after her death. She shot 900 goals and was known for her incredible, powerful shots. At one match she broke a goalkeeper’s arm with a shot taken from the edge of the goal area.

LILI PARR

LILI PARR

LAND FIT FOR HEROES

In my opinion, one of Tories biggest betrayal. They knew very well what the situation was. You do not tell people "Land Fit For Heroes"  who went through the worst in the trenches and just come back hoping for a good life. They were roaming the streets by the thousands, starving and begging. Yet, the Government did nothing as always.

WW1 TRENCHES...

After the First World War the promise of the Prime Minister David Lloyd George was 'A land fit for heroes'. The reality was a major industrial chaos with disruptive strikes. Soldiers decided to form their own union with demands of demobilisation, better food, equipment and housing. The country was heading towards a revolution. Even the police joined in the strike and stopped guarding 10 Downing Street.

This was 1919 and the Establishment and the country were shaken by the core. The country faced widespread aunemployment and food shortage. When the soldiers and police joined in, it got the politicians shaking and that shows you how bad it was.

Winston Churchill was to become the Secretary of War. He was hated by the soldiers after the bloodbath in the trenches on the Western Front. He wanted to start a new war with Russia. Since 1917 Russia became a Bolshevist country, Churchill thought it was a great threat to peace and security.

Churchill ordered 2000 soldiers to embark, for overseas service, at the ports in Kent. The soldiers refused and marched instead to Folkestone Town Hall where nervous politicians quickly organised the demobilisation.

After that new orders were for the men to embark but the Soldiers' Union refused. Incoming troops from Europe joined them because they came back from the front and saw the carnage. The demand was demobilisation, shorter working hours, end to training, abolition of compulsory church parade and most of all cancellation of embarkation to Russia.

The Royal Navy joined in.

On the other side of the channel disillusioned British soldiers formed the Calais Area Soldiers' and Sailors' Association. Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig was furious and demanded for ring leaders to be shot.

He was very much hated by the soldiers in the First World War because he believed in sending the men ‘over the top’ were the only way to achieve victory.

Churchill sent secret messages to his army chiefs still trying to persuade them and the army to fight the Bolshevists in Russia. However, the soldiers refused. The Government was on its highest alarm. The police also joined in.

I think that is the only way to stop war and I mean any war.  I think by now we all had enough of it.  Guard the borders by all means.  No country wants to be taken over.