1918 Influenza Epidemic

Stories: On My Mother's Side

The 'Spanish Flu' pandemic of 1918 remains one of New Zealand’s worst recorded natural disasters, both in terms of mortality and the extent of disruption to everyday life. Between a third and a half of the population was infected with the flu between October and December 1918, and up to 8,600 people died.

Featherston was one of the hardest hit provincial towns. At Tauherenikau was the Featherston Camp, housing hundreds of soldiers just returned from the war in Europe. In the close conditions of the camp the virus infected soldiers and spread to their families and the local community.

On 18 November, at the peak of the pandemic, James Huntley died of heart failure as the result of pneumonic influenza. His entry in the register of deaths is marked with a penciled red tick, indicating his inclusion in government tallies of pandemic deaths. He was buried the next day at Featherston Cemetery.

Sources

Rice, Geoffrey, Black November: the 1918 Influenza Pandemic in New Zealand (Christchurch: Canterbury University Press, 2005).
Disasters and Mishaps - Influenza Epidemic of 1918, McLintock, A.H., An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand (1966)
The 1918 Flu Pandemic, New Zealand History Online
1918 Influenza Epidemic, Wairarapa History Stories, Wairarapa Archive.
Hospital at Featherston Military Camp. [between ca 1914-1918]., 1/2-005955-G, Part of Radcliffe, Frederick George, 1863-1923: New Zealand post card negatives (PAColl-4950), Alexander Turnbull Library