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Topic: Influenza Pandemic - Linwood Cemetery

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A brief description of the effect of the Influenza Pandemic of 1918 on Linwood Cemetery, Christchurch, NZ

There are excellent accounts of the 1918 influenza pandemic in Dr Geoffrey W. Rice's book Black November (2005) and the revised version Black Flu 1918 (2017) as well as other books, academic papers and history pages from local libraries easily accessed by a Google search.

In essence, a mutating A/H1N1 flu virus from wild ducks is believed by many to have spread from Kansas, USA via troop camps and their subsequent movements into the end of the 1914-18 European theatre of war. The virus, which went global, arrived in New Zealand at the end of September 1918 with a more potentent mutation active from the middle of October. This reached its peak on 19^th November and lost its impetus in Christchurch by the end of December 1918.  "You could go to work with no symptoms and be dead by the end of the day." (Dr Stephen Clarke, Historian, 2018)

In total, according to Dr. Rice's original research, there were 458 victims in Christchurch (4.9 per 1000 of the local population).  We now make the total 474. There are 12 people buried in Linwood Cemetery not on Dr Rice's List yet notified in the newspapers of the time as having died of influenza or pneumonia.

The pandemic had a significant impact on Linwood Cemetery. As the main central public cemetery at the time, Linwood received the majority of those identified as having died from the flu or pneumonia (232 persons), more than twice as many as Sydenham Cemetery (104 persons). The CCC cemeteries database show no public cemetery listing for 112 of the victims on Dr Rice's list.  This implies they were buried in church cemeteries open at the time or, with a slight chance,buried out of the area.  Other public cemeteries open at the time interred a total of 26 persons (Addington [11], Belfast [2], Bromley [2], Lyttelton Anglican [2]), Lyttelton Public [1], Rutherford []) Waimairi [3]).

As there was an “abnormal demand for burials”, special measures had to be put in place at Linwood Cemetery. On 20^th November, the Town Clerk Mr Henry Rowe SMITH (Block 32 Plot 182) stated that “a supply of coffins has been secured...not elaborate, but they would be quite respectable”. A marquee was put up at the cemetery to be used as a morgue and two clerks were employed “constantly” at the Council offices to record the detailed information required before a burial was allowed.

Some of Christchurch's tram cars were converted into inhalation chambers where the public could be sprayed by the converted compressed air brakes of the tram and inhale zinc sulphate. At the height of the epidemic, 23 tram cars were positioned around the city. On 21^st November, the newspapers reported that “an inhalation car has been stationed by the Tramway Board at the Linwood Cemetery for the use of persons attending funerals” it would have got there using the tram line that ran from the city centre into the cemetery.

Another issue ensuing from the increased number of burials was the requirement for a religious Minister to officiate at a funeral as the churches were closed as a precaution against the spread of the virus. For catholics, the Requiem Mass was conducted at the graveside often with several priests in attendance.  By the 19^th November a rota of one Protestant clergyman on duty from 7am to 1pm and another from 1pm to 7pm each day was implemented.

We do not know how many extra grave diggers were employed, or where from, in a community which had already lost so many of its young men to war, but it is certain they were needed as graves were dug by hand. In some cemeteries in NZ the grave diggers worked 24 hours shifts.  Looking at the burial dates on the CCC Cemetery Database people were buried within one, two or occasionally three days of death, the latter which may be due to the late evening being the time of death.  Burials were also having to be dug in Sydenham Cemetery to a similar rate as in Linwood Cemetery.

The total number of burials in the cemetery for this 96 day period was 425 of which 219 are known to be flu related and 206 from other causes. It is convievable that around 10% of the "other deaths" were also flu related but not recorded us such. There was a significant rise from an average of 3 deaths per day during October and the beginning of November to an average of 8 between 10^th November and 14^th November. The numbers then rose steeply on the 15^th November increasing until the 25th November to 27 deaths.  The number of deaths dropped again on 27^th November to an average of 5 deaths per day into the first week in December then declining to normal of 0,1 or 2 per day. The 12 days (15^th November - 26^thNovember) when the deaths per day were highest followed the "Carnival Week" (now the A&P Show and Cup Days) and following 11th November Armistice celebrations.  This may be why we see several farmers on the list of occupations.  Many soldiers were "back at home" on furrlough for the same reason.

Graph showing the number of burials in Linwood Cemetery per year with a significant  spike for 1918.

 

It is no surprise that members of the medical profession succombed to the infection too. The Nurses Memorial Chapel is currently researching this impact of the pandemic.

The Friends of Linwood Cemetery and the Nurses Memorial Chapel researchers originally thought Nurse Hilda HOOKER (Block 35 Plot 284) was a survivor from TS Marquette which sank off the coast of Egypt in 1915. Further study has revealed that there are 2 different nurses named Hilda HOOKER and the person buried in Linwood was not on the Marquette, but a 2^nd year probationer who died at Christchurch Hospital from influenza on 21 November 1918.

Dr Aubrey V. SHORT (Block 48 Plot 105) died from influenza at Christchurch Hospital on 15th November 1918 aged 28 years. He had received his medical diploma in 1914 at the outbreak of war and left as a surgeon-captain with the first contingent landing at Gallipoli on the first day of the attack there. His brother Leslie was killed on 8^th August 1915 in the same campaign. Later Aubrey served in France until November 1917 having been promoted to Major and appointed Deputy-Assistant Director of Medical Services. He also received the Military Cross. He had returned to New Zealand in January 1918 and joined the staff at Christchurch Hospital in March as a senior house-surgeon only to die 10 months later from the flu..

Nurse Grace Campbell BESWICK aged 25 died on 25^th November. She is buried in Block 28 Plot 64.

Dr Charles Thomas Wilson LITTLE, MB ChB, Medical Officer for Waikari died on 26^th November 1918 aged 52 from pneumonia following the flu. His wife Hephzibah aged 35 and a nurse, died 4 days later also from flu. They are buried together in Block 5 Plot 8.

Sister Mary Frederick [birth name Agnes REYNOLDS], a 35 year old nun from the religious Order The Little Company of Mary died from flu on 29^th November while nursing at Lewisham Hospital. She is buried in the Order's communal grave plot in Block 45 Plot 196.

 Nursing Sister Catherine CLARK was also a Deaconess in the Methodist Church at Addington.  She died on 22 November 1918, three days after her brother John died.  She is buried in Block 35 Plot 311A in the Methodist section and he in Block 48 Plot 248.

Hilda Margaret KIDD a 37 year old nurse from Ashburton worked in Christchurch.  She was "a most enthusiastic and self sacrificing worker in the present epidemic." (Star, 28 November, 1918). Her father, deceased by 1918, had been a blacksmith of Scottish origin.  Nurse KIDD left bequests of £100 to the Ashburton RSA and £50 each to the Christchurch RSA, Presbyterian Orphanage and Nurse Maude Hospital; significant amounts of money at the time. She is buried in Block 35 Plot 207.

Then there is the tragedy of those who served in World War 1 and died of influenza while still overseas or in a NZ Training Camp; and the further tragedy of those who survived service in World War 1 to return home and then die from influenza, in some cases fatally infecting their family members.

Police Superintendent John DWYER of Hereford Street, lost a son Sgt Tom DWYER during the 1914-18 war. His son John Joseph, Clerk of the Court died from influenza in New Plymouth on 9th November 1918.  He was due to be married in December.  His brother James Cecil, a Gunner in the army, died from influenza two days later.  The brothers, catholics, had a double funeral and are buried in the family grave in Block 41 Plot 110.

Those buried in Linwood Cemetery and confirmed of having died from Influenza or it's complications are: 

In Linwood Cemetery, there are many personal memorials on family headstones to those people who died where they were serving or in military training.  The Friends of Linwood Cemetery have created a Roll of Honour of those who gave their life or youth to serving their country in war and are buried or memorialised in the cemetery  Of the 42 men we know died in 1918 to early1919;  27 died from influenza at home or abroad, the pandemic still active on the Western Front in army hospitals in February 1919.  The following is a list of those of the 7 who died elsewhere of influenza related illness and have memorials in Linwood Cemetery, those buried in the cemetery are included in the list above. 

References:

Rice, G. W. (2017), Black flu 1918, Canterbury, New Zealand: Canterbury University Press.

Rice, G. W. (2018, July).Why did Wellington suffer nearly double the death rate of Christchurch in the 1918 influenza pandemic? The Jim Gardner Memorial Lecture at the Canterbury History Foundation.

Rice, G. W (2013) A disease deadlier than war. New Zealnd Medical Journal, 126, 1378.

Wilson, N. Ferguson, C, Rice, G. W., Baker, M. G., Schrader, B., Clement, C., Thanson, G. (2017) Remembering the influenza pandemic: national survey of memorials and scope for enhancing educational value around pandemic preparedness. New Zealand Medical Journal, 130, 1465.

CCC City Libraries, 1918 Influenza Epidemic - how Christchurch coped

Interview with Professor Robert Webster, world leading virologist and author of Flu Hunter: Unlocking the Secrets of a Virus talks about the virus itself with Kim Hill Radio NZ, Saturday Morning, 8:20 am on 15 September 2018 

Interview with Jason Reeves, Ancestry's Head of Acquisitions about their inclusion of the names of all those who died in the influenza epidemic in NZ (based on Professor Rice's work) with Jim Mora, Radio NZ, 23rd September 2018.

The Last Enemy, BBC Radio Documentary, Producer Mark Burman

Spanish Flu: 'We didn't know who we'd lose next' Jennifer Meierhaus & Daniel Wainwright, BBC News, 20 September 2018

Spanish Flu: the killer that still stalks us, 100 years on The Guardian Weekly, 21 September 2018, pp. 34-35 

Historian discusses what we can learn from from our deadliest pandemic, Interview with Historian Dr Stephen Clark, News Hub Nation, 13 March 2018

Friends of Linwood Cemetery

Updated 29 September 2018 by Alexandra