Influenza Pandemic 1918

 

Aden did not escape from the pandemic which spread quickly throughout the world towards the end of 1918. Looking at Registers of what was then the Imperial War Graves Commission, the deadly strain of influenza arrived in Aden in September 1918, with most of the deaths occurring in October and November that year. Looking at the dates of death it may have been brought to the Colony by Royal Navy personnel, at least one of whom died in September and three more in October.

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The British infantry battalion serving in Aden in the autumn of 1918 was from the Hampshire Regiment, at least four of whose men died in November and one in December. But by far the greatest number of deaths percentage-wise was in the Indian units. The following Table shows deaths from influenza for the one cavalry regiment, the five infantry battalions and the transport subunits serving in garrison at the time, for the main three months of the outbreak. The death rate amounts to approximately five percent of the strength of the units concerned.