History and Geography Are Never Irrelevant

Journal

Volume 1 2020

FOLLOWING ON from the last diary entry, the world now understands, largely, though by no means universally, that Covid 19 is not a ‘here today, gone tomorrow’ problem. The worst-case scenario for Britain was, we are told today, reached four weeks ago, and that the certain second wave is going to result in 85,000 deaths as against the present 43,000 deaths to date.

Spanish Influenza 1918

An interesting extract

from

The Crew  - The Story of a Lancaster Bomber Crew

by

David Price [1]

IN EARLY 1918, Spanish influenza had broken out in Europe, spreading across the continent by the end of the year. With thousands of men flocking back to Australia on crowded troopships, impatient to reach home, the virus was transported to the other side of the world. Tragically, the population of Sydney, so far removed from the sufferings of Europe during the war, was to feel the full force of the outbreak. The Byron Bay Record or Saturday, 15 February 1919 reported:

‘A suspicious case reported from the Argyllshire troop-ship, on Saturday, was yesterday pronounced one of influenza. High indignation was expressed on Saturday by Argyllshire troops at having to stay in quarantine. They blamed the State Government and attributed that attention to jealousy of the Victorian Government.’

By June 1919, over forty per cent of Sydney’s population had contracted influenza. The Comans family feared for Jim’s safety as newspapers reported daily on those succumbing to it. The very young and old were most at risk, but the pandemic was carrying away able-bodied people at an alarming rate. The strain of flu was so severe that the victim could feel well in the morning, but within hours experience fatigue, fever and headache that developed into pneumonia. By evening they could be struggling for breath to the point where they suffocated to death. The city ground to a halt. Owing to a shortage of trained medical staff, first-year medical students were and listed as doctors, but there was little they could do. Six thousand died in New South Wales during the outbreak.

... In Britain, the immediate post-war period witnessed a series of chaotic events. The influenza pandemic carried away 228,000, strikes lead to civil unrest and thousands of former soldiers struggled to find jobs.

End of Extract

Readers can be forgiven for wondering why the chairman decides to include a seemingly dislocated extract from 102 years ago, and to draw comparison with the current pandemic. Seven weeks ago, in the UK exams fiasco, one correspondent enlightened us with his considered view: children do not need to be taught history and geography.

Worldwide, that pandemic accounted for a further fifty million deaths in 1918-1920 excluding the forty million deaths worldwide as a direct result of the Great War 1914-1918 (in time to become World war I).

As I used to say in days long gone,

Your Worships, I rest my case.

[1] published by Head Of Zeus - An Apollo Book 2020 (Hardback and Kindle)

Front Cover - my own copy, not taken from any internet image IBM

This article is lifted from an external newsletter for a national organistionof which I had the privilege to chair our local branch at the time of writing the original journal entry.

Kenneth Thomas Webb
Liverpool and Gloucestershire

June 1, 2022
All Rights Reserved

United Kingdom - Ukraine - Denmark - Germany - Australia - New Zealand - Canada - USA

© Kenneth Thomas Webb 2022

One of the Fifteen Founding Members of the Leaders Lodge

Written October 1, 2020