Wolverhampton and the Great War

Influenza

As well as fighting the war against Germany, in 1918 the authorities had to contend with another threat - influenza. Already weakened by almost four years of war conditions, society faced a major outbreak of this disease. In the Spring of 1918 the first infections appeared in Britain. The outbreak of the disease was world-wide, taking the lives of over a quarter of a million Britons, and an estimated seventy million people across the globe. Locally there was a great deal of concern.
Elementary schools were closed and undertakers were fully occupied in dealing with the dead. There was a shortage of coffins and gravediggers - even the clergy were finding it difficult to keep up with number of the funerals.

Cinema managers were ordered to ban children, to leave a gap of an hour and a half between performances and to remove all carpets to stem the spread of the disease.

Below is a gallery of items from the archives, illustrating various aspects of the influenza epidemic:

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(CMB-WOL-C-HEA1)

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The Scala cinema protests against the request to
remove its carpets (CMB-WOL-C-HEA1)

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Reports are received of a scarcity of coffins, timber, grave diggers and clergy due to the high number of deaths. A local undertaker says he cannot attend the committee due to the extremely heavy workload they are experiencing.
(CMB-WOL-C-HEA1)

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The town cemetery is ordered to open late for additional funerals. Schools are closed due to the seriousness of the outbreak.

The Medical Officer of Health for Bilston reports 216 deaths in 1918 (LB614)