Influenza Pandemic

Private Corley Deferest Richardson

~ Nick Metcalfe ~ Leave a comment

This is part of a series of essays about the First World War casualties commemorated by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission in Vermont.

Corley Deferest Richardson was born on 16 March 1890 at Glen Sutton, Quebec, the third of the four sons of Wilber and Lydia Richardson.[1] His parents were both Canadian but were married in Richford, Vermont in 1881—the family lived at several places either side of the border and moved to East Richford in 1901. After leaving school Corley Richardson worked in the area as a labourer in a box factory, as a cook and as a mill hand.

He enlisted at Montreal on 8 September 1918 and joined the 1st Depot Battalion, 1st Quebec Regiment at Guy Street Barracks; he was allocated the number 3091376. After only three weeks in uniform, Richardson reported sick on 30 September complaining of dizziness and headaches. Admitted to the Khaki League Convalescent Hospital, he was diagnosed as suffering from influenza. His medical record states that on admission he ‘did not seem very ill’, but by 3 October he had a nasty cough and was suffering nose bleeds. On 6 October he was diagnosed with pneumonia and his record for 11 October states that he ‘had a very bad night and died at 7.00a.m.’ His remains were returned home and he was buried in East Richford Cemetery with his parents.

Private C. D. Richardson is commemorated on page 491 of the Canadian First World War Book of Remembrance; that page is displayed on 17 and 18 October. He did not earn any medals for his brief war service. His memorial plaque and scroll were sent to his brother Walter in 1921. With no female relatives, a Memorial Cross was not issued.

The grave of the Richardson family in East Richford Cemetery.
Commonwealth War Graves Commission marker for Private Corley Richardson
The Canadian Book of Remembrance showing the entry for Private Corley Deferest Richardson

1. (Back) Wilber Benjamin Richardson (13 June 1857-1 June 1918) married Lydia Almyra Brown (21 February 1861-11 May 1911) at Richford, Vermont on 4 June 1881: Walter Herman (10 January 1882-NK); Charles Wallace (1884-24 August 1888); Percy Wilber (12 June 1897-8 March 1873).

Private Charles Porter Johnson

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This is part of a series of essays about the First World War casualties commemorated by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission in Massachusetts.

The Canadian Book of Remembrance showing the entry for Private Charles Porter Johnson

Charles Porter Johnson was born on 28 November 1882 at Danville, Quebec and emigrated to the United States with his parents in 1901. In 1907 he married Minnie B. Fraser (also a Canadian) who died in 1917.[1] Prior to his enlistment he worked as a bookkeeper in Worcester, Massachusetts.

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Seaman William Hughson

~ Nick Metcalfe ~ 2 Comments

This is part of a series of essays about the First World War casualties commemorated by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission in Massachusetts.

Seaman William Hughson

William Hughson was born on 5 March 1882 on West Isle (Housay), Skerries in the Shetland Islands. Like his father he became a fisherman. He married Catherine Edwardson on Unst in 1904 and the couple had five children.[1]

He enrolled in the Royal Naval Reserve (A/1581 Seaman) in January 1908 and re-enrolled in January 1913 (B/4848). In late 1913 he joined the crew of the North Carr Lightship. At this time the family lived in Granton, Edinburgh. He was mobilised for war service at Portsmouth in October 1914 and joined HMS Kent, a Monmouth-class armoured cruiser, at the end of the month, taking part in the Battle of the Falkland Islands in December 1914 and the Battle of Más a Tierra in March 1915. After a period on escort duties off the west African coast, Kent arrived back in the United Kingdom in January 1917 and Hughson was transferred ashore for a period of training before being administered by the shore station HMS President III when he became a gunner on a defensively armed merchant ship. In the late spring he joined the SS Valverda, a newly built cargo steamer.

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Fireman John Murray

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This is part of a series of essays about the First World War casualties commemorated by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission in New York.

Little is known of the early life of John Murray other than he was born about 1888 and his sister, Helen, lived in James Street, Kingston-upon-Hull.[1]

A merchant seaman by profession, Murray was embodied into the Mercantile Marine Reserve (numbered 948055) when the commercial liner SS City of London belonging to to the Ellerman City Line was taken up by the Admiralty as an armed merchant cruiser in January 1916. During the war HMS City of London operated primarily on patrol and convoy protection on the East Indies Station but began to escort convoys in the North Atlantic in the summer of 1918. On 10 October 1918 she sailed from Victoria Docks, London and that evening anchored off Brighton. The following day she sailed to Plymouth and on 12 October sailed with a convoy to New York and just after noon on 23 October came alongside at the 55th Street wharf on the Hudson River.

Murray had fallen ill on the trans-Atlantic crossing and died of pneumonia on 23 October 1918.[2] He was buried with full honours, accompanied by a burial party from the ship, on 26 October in Union Grounds, Cypress Hills Cemetery, Brooklyn which lies farther north than the National Cemetery, between Cypress Hills Street and Jackie Robinson Parkway.[3] His grave—in Section 1F, Grave 51—is marked with a United States National Cemetery Marker inscribed ‘John Murry, British Navy’.

1. (Back) The online war memorial for Kingston-upon-Hull conflates three different men in the record for Murray, including details for (a) John McLaughlin Murray, Mercantile Marine, who died in 1917 and (b) a reference to the memorial in St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church to Private John Prendergast Murray, 1/6th Battalion, The Durham Light Infantry who died in France in 1918.
2. (Back) According to the index to New York municipal death records, his death was registered in New York as ‘John Murry’, which is reflected in the cemetery records and on his gravestone.
3. (Back) The Commonwealth War Graves Commission records his burial as being at Cypress Hills National Cemetery.

Gunner John ‘Jack’ Cameron

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This is part of a series of essays about the First World War casualties commemorated by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission in Massachusetts.

The grave of Gunner John ‘Jack’ Cameron

Jack Cameron was born on 25 January 1885 in Glasgow, Scotland. The commonality of his name and the paucity of details in his service record preclude a detailed examination of his family or of his arrival in the United States. By the time of his enlistment in 1918 he was working as a machinist in a factory in Auburn Massachusetts, where he lived with his wife Rose; the couple had no children.[1]

He enlisted on 14 May 1918 in Montreal and began his training at 1st Depot Battalion, 1st Quebec Regiment, where he was allocated the number 3084584. He subsequently transferred to 79th Depot Battery, Canadian Field Artillery on 13 May 1918.

On 8 October 1918, Private Cameron was admitted to the Grenadier Guards Emergency Hospital in Montreal suffering from influenza. He died of pneumonia on 16 October. His remains were returned to Massachusetts and he was buried in Hillside Cemetery, Auburn. His grave is marked with a Commonwealth War Graves Commission headstone and is in Section 16 in the north-centre part of the cemetery.

The Memorial Cross, plaque and scroll were sent to his widow. He is commemorated on page 379 of the Canadian First World War Book of Remembrance; that page is displayed on 17 August.

The Canadian Book of Remembrance showing the entry for Gunner Jack Cameron

1. (Back) John Cameron married Rose L. (surname unknown) on 31 December 1916.

Private Cyril Henry Edward Cox & Private George Edward Dillow

~ Nick Metcalfe ~ Leave a comment

This is part of a series of essays about the First World War casualties commemorated by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission in Pennsylvania.

The graves of Cyril Cox and George Dillow

This is the tragic story of two young cousins, born in England but who grew up together in Mckeesport, Pennsylvania and who died within 24 hours of each other during the influenza pandemic. Continue reading →

Serjeant Malcolm MacFarlane

~ Nick Metcalfe ~ Leave a comment

This is part of a series of essays about the First World War casualties commemorated by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission in Pennsylvania.

Serjeant Malcolm MacFarlane

Serjeant Malcolm MacFarlane died during the influenza pandemic while serving in Philadelphia with the British and Canadian Recruiting Mission.

He was born on 20 June 1889 at Newington in Edinburgh, the youngest of the six children of James and Janet MacFarlane.[1] The family had lived in Linlithgow, where James MacFarlane worked as a grocer and where the first five children were born, before moving to Newington sometime in the 1880s. His father found work there as a stationary steam engine driver and when Malcolm left school, he went to work as a graphical draughtsman for the well-known cartographers John Bartholomew & Son Ltd. Continue reading →

New Headstone for Company Serjeant Major George Mayer Symons

~ Nick Metcalfe ~ 1 Comment

The new gravestone for George Symons, August 2016
The new gravestone for George Symons, August 2016

Warrant Officer Class 2, Company Serjeant Major, George Mayer Symons, The Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment), attached to the British War Mission, died during the influenza epidemic at Camp Lee, Virginia on 8 October 1918. He was buried in Poplar Grove National Cemetery near Petersburg.

Unfortunately, his grave marker was incorrectly inscribed. The error was first identified by Betsy Dinger, a Park Ranger of the National Parks Service responsible for the cemetery. In conjunction with the CWGC team in Ottawa, she obtained a new, correctly inscribed headstone and stored it pending the refurbishment of the cemetery. Continue reading →

Sapper William Bustin

~ Nick Metcalfe ~ Leave a comment

This is part of a series of essays about the First World War casualties commemorated by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission in Rhode Island.

Sapper William Bustin
Sapper William Bustin

William Bustin was one of three sons from this family who died during the war; his brother Robert was killed in action at Gallipoli in 1915, and Ernest was killed in action in France in 1918.

He was born on 25 November 1886, in Adlington, Lancashire, into the large family of Joseph and Elizabeth Bustin; he was one of nine surviving children; two others died as infants.[1] Continue reading →

Private William Bradley

~ Nick Metcalfe ~ Leave a comment

This is part of a series of essays about the First World War casualties commemorated by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission in Rhode Island.

The grave of Private William Bradley
The grave of Private William Bradley

William Bradley was born on 30 August 1891 in Bingley, Yorkshire, where his mother worked in a mill. He and his mother emigrated to the United States on 28 July 1904; they landed in Boston and settled initially in Lawrence, Massachusetts. In October 1904 his mother married Henry Morville Holmes, who had also emigrated from Bingley, and sometime in the next few years the family moved to Providence, Rhode Island.[1] Willie Bradley became a chauffeur and on 27 March 1915 he married Margaret Anne Farrell; the couple had two children—a son, William, and a daughter, Margaret; their daughter died as an infant.[2]

Bradley enlisted on 19 July 1918 in Providence and soon afterwards joined the Canadian Army Service Corps Depot at Ottawa, Ontario, where he was allocated the regimental number 2688553. On 2 September 1918 he was posted for service with the Canadian Siberian Expeditionary Force. Continue reading →