Ulster Genealogy and Local History Blog

 The Spanish Flu in Limavady - a case study Analysis of deaths registered in the Limavady District that record influenza as a primary or secondary cause of death 1918-1919. In total from the period 26 June through to 14 October 1919 there were 42 deaths with influenza recorded as a primary or secondary cause of death in the Limavady District (I did not include the data for pneumonia only deaths although most likely there was a correlation). Only occasionally did deaths occur in small clusters but more typically deaths would be spaced out over weeks. Of the 42 deaths that record influenza on the death certificate 17 were female and 25 male. Only five were less than four years old. The age range was from 10 weeks through to 81 years old. Ages of deceased: 6 less that 10 years old 6 between 11 and 20 9 between 21 and 30 4 between 31 and 40 5 between 41 and 50 2 between 51 and 60 3 between 61 and 70 6 between 71 and 80 1 between 81 and 90 The majority were unmarried (30

SPANISH FLU 1918-1919 - the greatest pandemic in History: Estimated death total worldwide = 50 to 150 million The last major global pandemic occurred 100 years ago in the summer of 1918. Spanish flu was first reported in the early summer of   1918 by newspapers in Spain, unaffected by wartime censorship. By then, the US, French, British and German armies were already troubled by it. In Ireland 20,057 people were reported as having died of influenza in 1918 and 1919 (the average annual rate for the preceding years of the war had stood at 1,179). In addition, an increase in deaths caused by related illnesses, most notably pneumonia (from which over 3,300 died above what would usually have been expected), can be attributed to the epidemic.Sir William Thompson, the registrar-general, admitted that the official influenza mortality rate was a conservative estimate, and there are reasonable grounds to assume that additional influenza deaths in Ireland were uncertified, att