Unpublished stories of how the Spanish flu killed thousands of people in Yorkshire

The untold stories of the devastating impact of the Spanish flu on Yorkshire have been explored by a researcher for a major new BBC project. Chris Burn reports.

Although the centennial of the end of the First World War was very well targeted this year, 1918 was also memorable for another reason; the beginning of an influenza epidemic that would have left between 50 and 100 million deaths worldwide – millions more than four years of armed conflict.

A century later, the unpublished stories of the human cost of the Spanish flu, which claimed 228,000 lives in the United Kingdom, are

being explored as part of a major new project. The pandemic has been exacerbated by the movement of soldiers and civilians arriving in Britain and the effects of overcrowding, poor ventilation and minimal understanding of viruses.

Fascinating figures and personal stories revealing the devastating impact of the 1918 Spanish flu epidemic have been revealed by the BBC English Regions, in partnership with the Wellcome Collection, Imperial War Museums and the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

Local radio stations and BBC regional television will present special interviews, reports and programs from today and tomorrow, revealing for the first time the impact of the disease on people living in cities and towns. villages in their area. of the pandemic.

In Leeds, the 1918 medical report details 1,401 deaths due to influenza, or 16% of the total number of deaths.

William Angus, the city's medical officer of health, said, "The entire hospital (Leeds Infant Hospital) was dedicated to treating cases of this disease in young children during the last quarter of the year."

The following year, a significant number of people lost their lives because of the flu, with 623 deaths due to the pandemic, or 9% of the total number of deaths.

The second wave of infection in the winter of 1918 lasted nine weeks in Leeds and its "virulence was very high."

This is explained by the fact that cooler temperatures meant "closed windows" and "impure atmospheres" predominated and nourished the infection. The dead were often in the houses for several days and the mortuary opened to receive bodies in mid-November to relieve the desperate situation, with the help of the clergy of Leeds.

In 1919, in York, 59 people (five per cent of deaths) died of the flu and Medical Officer of Health Edmund Smith found that Clifton School and St. Paul's School had been closed for a week. Five deaths of school-aged children took place, as did a teacher while the County Hospital Committee refused to receive known cases of influenza.

Hannah Mawdsley, a PhD researcher at Imperial War Museums, has discovered new details about a little-known archive of 1,700 letters written in the 1970s, recalling the events that took place in the museum's document archive.

During her research, she unexpectedly discovered that her own great-grandmother, Elizabeth Ann Mawdsley, died of the Spanish flu in Lancashire in December 1918, at the age of 57.

She says, "I hope that BBC Local Radio's shows help people better understand a relatively little-known aspect of early 20th century history and to make the voices of ordinary people who have heard their voices heard. lived through this pandemic – and understand that we as a society are still vulnerable to global pandemic threats today.

BBC Two will also mark the centenary of the Spanish flu with a docu-drama on Tuesday, September 25, titled The flu that killed 50 million and narrated by Christopher Ecclestone.