IN JUNE 1918 the Argus had reported that ‘a strange new disease’ had broken out in Tredegar. It soon became clear that this was ‘Spanish Flu’, part of a worldwide pandemic that during 1918 and 1919 killed around 50 million people and affected a quarter of the population of Britain, killing over 220,000.

Within a few weeks the disease seemed to be dying out but in the autumn it returned with a vengeance. Cruelly, it seemed to target younger people, many of whom had served in the forces. Death could come very quickly. Miss Alice Taylor, a teacher at Talywain, died only three days after falling ill.

In Abertillery during the first three weeks of November, 55 people had died of Spanish ‘flu. They were all aged between 19 and 39.

Although Newport escaped relatively lightly, there were still numerous deaths in the town and a large number of non-fatal cases. In November almost of the collection department of the gas company were ill, so consumers were asked to come into the office the pay their bills.

Doctors were overwhelmed and with the war clearly in its closing stages, there were calls for medical examinations for new conscripts to be abandoned so that the doctors could be released to treat flu victims.

It must have been doubly heart-breaking for families to lose loved ones at a time when peace was being celebrated. Amongst the bereaved were David Llewellyn-Jones, vicar of Maindee, and his wife Frances, who lost their daughter, also called Frances. She was a driver with the RAF and died at in Mexborough Military Hospital, Yorkshire two days after the armistice. She was 22 years old.

In Abergavenny, two days after the armistice there were two funerals on the same day of soldiers who had died of ‘flu. Corporal H Gwyther of Monk Street had survived being wounded in France and had been discharged from a military hospital in Dewsbury, only to contract the illness shortly after. Lieutenant Matthew Morgan, of North Street, had died in hospital in Liverpool, leaving a widow and two young children.

The Argus reported that, in Usk, ‘the town has been sorely stricken’. Mr Johns lost his wife, son and daughter, while Abraham Williams lost a son and a daughter within half an hour of each other. A Sinn Feiner held in in Usk prison also died.

With the illness continuing to stalk the land, influenza cast a dark cloud over the first months of peace.