Strange, bizzarre and unlucky deaths

[flintwich]

Whist investigating one of the CWGC graves in Chelmsford, a GWF colleague posted this about the incident.

Chelmsford Riverside Leisure Centre, 95 years later, still has inside and outside swimming available.

Maybe I should point out the coroners comments to the present council.

Al

[Martin Bennitt]

see post eight of this topic for details of two unusual deaths in Gallipoli, one of them a distant relative of mine

http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=159889&st=0&p=1548770&fromsearch=1entry1548770

cheers Martin B

[NigelS]

Here are a couple from immediately post war summarised from reporting in the Surrey Advertiser:

12th February 1919

37 year old Private William Walter Tilley, an RAF Air mechanic stationed at Brooklands, reported sick with a cold. Sgt Taylor was instructed to give him 1 oz of cough mixture but instead administered 1 oz of carbolic acid. The carbolic acid (reported as not being a scheduled poison) & cough mixture bottles – with the exception of the stoppers - were said to be similar in shape and colour & the liquids were also similar in appearance. A few minutes before the incident Sgt Taylor had been ordered to prepare a lotion of 30% carbolic acid and the bottle containing the carbolic acid hadn’t been returned to its cabinet. The Coroner gave death as being due to carbolic acid poisoning administered by accident and made recommendations that bottles containing carbolic acid should be more readily distinguishable from those containing less harmful liquids.

CWGC

Name: TILLEY

Initials: W W

Nationality: United Kingdom

Rank: Air Mechanic 1st Class

Regiment/Service: Royal Air Force

Unit Text: 10th Aircraft Acceptance Park

Date of Death: 08/02/1919

Service No: 45238

Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead

Grave/Memorial Reference: 2557.

Cemetery: WALTON AND WEYBRIDGE (WEYBRIDGE) CEMETERY

3rd March 1919

At 3 o’clock on Tuesday afternoon a loud explosion was heard at Witley Camp; On investigation, Capt Campbell found Private John Hurley, age 49,of the 8th Reserve Canadian Battalion lying on the ground in extreme agony bleeding from the thigh and other parts of his body with his face blackened and eyebrows singed. After temporary treatment he was taken by ambulance to Bramshott Military Hospital where he was operated on that evening, but the case was ‘practically hopeless from the first', and the man died at 2 o’clock the next morning. Death was due to many wounds and extreme shock. Except for clothing fragments, no foreign bodies were found in the wounds. The deceased had managed to tell Sgt WR Powers soon after admission to hospital that he’d discovered a small brushwood fire, and, as he had no matches, he had layed down on the ground in order to light his pipe. No sooner had he done so than the explosion occurred. Capt Campbell put forward the theory that some high explosive had been put on the fire and then covered by a green bough which the deceased had been lying on when the explosion occurred. No trace of a canister or bomb could be found. Evidence was given that, as far as was known, Hurley had no troubles and an open verdict was returned by the Jury.

CWGC

Name: HURLEY

Initials: J

Nationality: Canadian

Rank: Private

Regiment/Service: Canadian Infantry (Central Ontario Regiment)

Unit Text: 8th (Reserve) Bn.

Date of Death: 26/02/1919

Service No: 3030602

Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead

Grave/Memorial Reference: C. 17.

Cemetery: GRAYSHOTT (ST. JOSEPH) ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCHYARD

NigelS

[1st AIF]

A swimming carnival of the AIF in the Somme Canal in 1918. One competitor dived in and did not resurface in front of a huge crowd.

A group of diggers , 5 or 6 watching one digger chiselling the driving band off an unexploded shell. Bang.

Another group in reserve started a small cooking fire and sat around the fire. Unfortunately just over the top of an UXO, Bang.

[little bob]

Robert Handel Mendelsohn Griffiths , Boy 10623 3rd Bn., border Regiment was killed whilst travelling in a troop train from Pembroke Dock. Another lad James O'Brien, was injured at the same time, and died at the Tenby Cottage Hospital four days later.The train passed through Lamphey Station at a speed of 40m.p.h. There were four boys in the compartment and all of then were looking out of the windows.The lads Griffiths and O'Brien were apparently struck by the open door of a van which was standing on the siding at the station,and received terrible injuriess.

[Spud Trevor]

An unexpected death in Turkey in 1920 of a RGA Sgt Major, was after a post mortem examination found needle marks in his arm, recorded as narcotic poisoning.

Regards,

Spud

[edwin astill]

If you read local 19th Century newspapers (so much more interesting than current ones) it is surprising how many people managed to meet their end in odd ways.

Edwin

[Guest exuser1]

a few years ago at my local WFA meeting the talk that week included the incedent of a 18 year old Highlander who whilst celebrating the armistace ,and he had just completed his basic training fell and hit his head on a kerb stone and died ,also earlier it was mentioned of lads suffering carbon monoxyde posioning in dugouts from stoves whilst attempting to keep warm ,in 1973 in The East London Advertiser it had a coroners report of a elderly solider from the Great war who when unable to warm his council flat resorted to a trick he learned in the trenches to keep warm ,and yes was found dead from carbon poisioning !

[Sidearm]

Robert Handel Mendelsohn Griffiths , Boy 10623 3rd Bn., border Regiment was killed whilst travelling in a troop train from Pembroke Dock. Another lad James O'Brien, was injured at the same time, and died at the Tenby Cottage Hospital four days later.The train passed through Lamphey Station at a speed of 40m.p.h. There were four boys in the compartment and all of then were looking out of the windows.The lads Griffiths and O'Brien were apparently struck by the open door of a van which was standing on the siding at the station,and received terrible injuriess.

Good grief - I can hardly think of a more peaceful place than Lamphey station!

Gwyn

[Perth Digger]

Private Alfred England, G/8933, of, successively, 11th, 10th and 8th Royal West Kent, was a serial AWOL man and served time in prison for striking a superior officer. He survived the war, being wounded with the 11th on 15/9/1916 and with the 10th in May 1918, and was in Germany with the 8th when given leave in April 1919. Between Waincourt and Frissenville he fell from the train, fractured his skull and died. He was buried in Janval cemetery, Dieppe. His brother William was killed with the 11th on 15/9/1916.

[little bob]

"Mr W.L.Williams,the North Pembrokeshire coroner,conducted an inquest at St David's on the body of Pte Frederick Harold Cale, 2nd/7th Welsh Cyclists of Cardiff ,who met his death by falling over the cliff at Porthllewog near St David's. Pte Percy Moore , who was present when the accident occurred, said the deceased and hinself were together on Wednesday evening,about 5.30 doing patrol duty, about a quarter of a mile the other side of Whitesand Bay towards St David's Head.They were both walking close to the cliff,which was very steep, deceased walking nearer the edge. There is no pathway. Deceased suddenly slipped and disappeared over the precipice, giving a loud shout as he fell. The grass was quite wet where he slipped. The cliff was about 100 feet high , and nearly perpendicular. It was stated that the deceased received terrible injuries,his neck being broken,skull smashed, and his face disfigured. A pledge card was found in his pocket,Cale having signed the pledge whilst at St David's. A verdict of "Accidental Death"was recorded."

Bob

[clive_hughes]

A couple of Anglesey casualties:

An RWF soldier in training at Llandudno early in 1915 was discharged on medical grounds. Apparently he had to stay on at the camp awaiting some sort of paperwork, and decided to go to the Public Baths for a wash. He got into a bathtub and somehow managed to open a tap of scalding hot water. Possibly the shock prevented him from leaping out, and an attendant found him in the tub, badly burned. He was taken to hospital but died four days later. For those who like technicalities, he has no SDGW entry because he'd been formally discharged: but his resting place is a War Grave even though he'd legally left the Army and his death wasn't connected with his service!

Then, the Rifleman who "died of wounds after the Somme". Well he might have fought on the Somme, but late in 1916 he was at the "Cinder City" coastal Base Camp. A mate saw him with a bandaged hand and he explained that he'd cut his thumb on a bully beef tin. The wound quickly went septic and he was hospitalised. While the authorities there tried to put the customary Court of Enquiry together, he was invalided back to the UK and soon died of blood poisoning.

Clive

[frev]

I have researched four brothers of the AIF.

PTE Thomas Zeller missing later presumed KIA at Ypres Oct 1917 with the 26th Bn.

CPL George Zeller DoW after being hit by a gas shell when asleep in a dugout on the Somme April 1918 when serving with the 25th Bn.

PTE Richard Zeller badly gassed with the 42nd Bn at Villers Brettoneux in May 1918.

SPR Alfred Zeller served with the 8 Field Coy Engineers and came through unscathed.

Richard made it home, but when driving down a road near his property a branch fell through the roof of his car killing him instantly.

Thank you Tim – I’ve now added Richard Zeller to my accidental deaths database, which brings the total men listed to 890. Newspaper reports state that he ran his car into a tree to block it’s out-of-control momentum down a steep incline, before being struck by the falling limb, causing severe injuries – and died later of his injuries in Springsure Hospital.

The database of 890 men in the Australian forces covers those that died in accidents both during the war, and after.

Amongst the many plane crashes, drownings (not including the result of torpedoed ships), bomb training accidents and various types of run-ins with trains, horses & other vehicles – there are many other strange and unlucky ways our men died during (and after) the war.

A few include:

The 2 men struck by lightning (who I listed in the other thread linked in post #15)

Electrocution – one of these men actually died from skull fracture after falling from a ladder as a result of an electric shock, whilst hanging Christmas lights in the December after armistice (in camp in Belgium)

A couple of Captains were killed when they crashed during a sports-day horse race;

Many were kicked by horses, or fell from horses, one being thrown head first on to the hook of a gun limber; another actually had his horse fall on him

One man had his head run over by the wheel of a run-away Cook’s cart, whilst he was sleeping in camp

There are also a few ‘boxing match’ accidents, one due to a brain haemorrhage after being knocked unconscious

While another man also died from a brain haemorrhage after falling whilst sliding on ice with other patients, on an outing from an English hospital

There was a man crushed by a troopship latrine during a storm at sea

A snake bite in Palestine

Many men died in various ways whilst ‘under the influence’, including falling into rivers, on to pavements, from heights etc

There were a few blown up whilst bombing fish – and an ‘order’ was eventually issued to try and stop this practise

There were also quite a few cases of picking up & then dropping ‘dud’ German bombs – quite often killing a few at a time

Others were shot by their own nervous sentries; or shot themselves or others whilst cleaning their guns

Trains were a big killer – as well as those killed in train crashes, there were those run over by them and falling from them: one man fell from a train whilst urinating out the window

Another was struck by an overhead bridge whilst travelling on the roof; yet another stuck his head out the window to vomit & hit the side of a tunnel

There was also a man hit in the temple by a stone thrown up from a train wheel

Of the many sad accidents that happened just after the war, one man died only moments from home as he jumped from the moving train which didn’t stop at his station; another had his throat cut by the mooring wire whilst docked at Fremantle, as he had his head out the porthole, talking to a person on the wharf

Another returned man & his new English bride drowned together when their boat capsized whilst out sailing

And finally – in 1936, a returned man died when a bomb he had brought home from the war, finally exploded

Cheers, Frev

[James A Pratt III]

There was a case of a German observer who fell out of the 2 seater he was flying in possibly do to an unexpected manuver by the pilot.

The French had i think 100-200 men killed in a train wreck in the Italian-French border region

I also think there was a big train wreck in the UK during WW I where I think around 100 soldiers were killed.

[ander11]

There was a case of a German observer who fell out of the 2 seater he was flying in possibly do to an unexpected manuver by the pilot.

The French had i think 100-200 men killed in a train wreck in the Italian-French border region

I also think there was a big train wreck in the UK during WW I where I think around 100 soldiers were killed.

Hello James

here is the story of the train crash at Gretna Green

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-south-scotland-11404043

regards

Ian

[Guest Graham1975]

My great great uncle (Pte Robert Free G18256) was also with the 11th RWK's. Do you know where they were serving in Sept/Oct 1916? He went missing on 7th Oct and was presumed dead.

Private Alfred England, G/8933, of, successively, 11th, 10th and 8th Royal West Kent, was a serial AWOL man and served time in prison for striking a superior officer. He survived the war, being wounded with the 11th on 15/9/1916 and with the 10th in May 1918, and was in Germany with the 8th when given leave in April 1919. Between Waincourt and Frissenville he fell from the train, fractured his skull and died. He was buried in Janval cemetery, Dieppe. His brother William was killed with the 11th on 15/9/1916.

[johntaylor]

I've always felt sorry for Harry Adrian Vaughan,who had served in France in the Royal Engineers and was undergoing officer training in Cambridge when he drowned while punting in May 1915: http://www.cwgc.org/search/casualty_details.aspx?casualty=344528

His service file has survived and tells the whole sorry tale, with a newspaper article from the Cambridge Chronicle describing how he was "not larking about", but was turning the punt round when he overbalanced and fell in.

John

[phil andrade]

The War in East Africa produced a death toll that refllected the hazardous environrment.

I was astonished when I browsed through a book about it....the number of episodes involving soldiers coming to grief in encounters with wildlife.

Lions, buffalo, leopards, elephant and hippos - and, I daresay, a rhinoceros - were reported as having killed soldiers and porters.

I wish I could authenticate this by citing sources. I can't remember the book, but it might have been The Boiler Plate War

Edit : Sorry...I was talking rubbish, the Boiler Plate war was about tanks, not East Africa !

I promise that I read those accounts, though.

Phil (PJA)

[6th Shropshires]

I read the papers of a chap who was crushed to death by a run away railway wagan. He was in a guard post at bottom of a hill, the wagan break lose from it's train and ran down the hill and smashed through the puffers then smashed the guard post (which was made out sleepers), the poor chap was very mangled.

[phil andrade]

Young men are accident prone, aren't they ? And in war, that tendency, and its effects, are bound to be amplified.

Phil (PJA)

[Perth Digger]

Hi Graham

The 11th RWK was part of 122nd Brigade, 41st Division. The division landed in France on 3 May 1916 and after a few months acclimatising south of Ypres went south to the Somme in early September. They took part in the battle of Flers on 15 September, suffering massive losses. They were reinforced, but still could only put 421 men into the line for the attack on the village of Le Sars (a considerable number of each battalion were by now being held at the transport lines during an attack, I should note). The attack on Le Sars was slated for 5 October, but bad weather meant that the troops had to wait for two days, all the while being bombarded by artillery, with considerable losses. The attack on 7 October hardly began before German machine guns brought the advance to a halt, after only 100 yards. Again, losses were heavy.

There is a history of the 11th RWK, by Capt. R. O. Russell (1934) and a history of the regiment as a whole for the Great War, available in reprint from Naval and Military Press.

Longboat of this Forum had a relative wounded on 7 October 1916 in the 11th, who left a memoir.

The service number of your relative suggests that he was not part of the original battalion volunteering between May and December 1915.

I hope this helps.

Mike

My great great uncle (Pte Robert Free G18256) was also with the 11th RWK's. Do you know where they were serving in Sept/Oct 1916? He went missing on 7th Oct and was presumed dead.

[NigelS]

Here's one from Flight of 5th September 1918 (not by any means an unusual cause of death for the time, but certainly unusual circumstances):

An Extraordinary Accident

Whilst a pilot was practising machine-gun shooting at a target which was floating on the Elstree Reservoir on August 8th, his gun missed fire and killed a resident who was standing in a cottage garden close by. A medical man stated that a bullet had pierced his heart, and he had other injuries.

NigelS

[AlW]

I read in the Morpeth Herald a report from 1916 registering the death of a private from the T/S or T/I whilst swimming (drowning) with a bathing party (his mates?) in a river in France. It will take me ages to find it again but if anyone needs it I am more than happy to try!

AlW

[bts1970]

2 accidents that i can add

COOK, Elijah.

Enlisted: Trowbridge.

Age given: Born 15/01/1900, Greenhill.

Address / Next Of Kin, family details: Purton. Son of Thomas and Ellen Cook of Pavenhill, Purton.

MIC details / Medal entitlement.

58106 Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry.

43258 2/8th Battalion, Worcestershire Regiment (Territorial Force).

British War Medal, Victory Medal.

Extracts from: Worcester Regiment museum / Regimental History.

24/11/1918 The War was over and after spending time in Cambrai orders came for Elijah’s Division to move back for training, and rest. The 182nd Brigade entrained and was carried back by way of Denain and Douai to Arms.

25/11/1918 Train journey continued, through St. Pol and Frevent to Auxi-le-Chateau. Just outside the station occurred a disastrous accident.

26/11/1918 Elijah was killed in a tragic train accident. The railway engine left the line, coaches violently collided and one of them was crushed. Percy and 4 others were killed and six more were seriously injured. Along with his Regimental colleagues Elijah was originally buried in Cramont village where the Battalion found billets after the accident, later they were moved to the large communal cemetery in northern France at Terlincthun British Cemetery on the cliffs overlooking the English Channel and England’s shore.

Death / Burial / Memorial details.

Died aged 18 on the 26th November 1918 in a train accident. Elijah is buried in TERLINCTHUN BRITISH CEMETERY, WIMILLE, Grave Reference: VIII. A.A. 22. (Pas De Calais, France). His headstone was originally recorded as G. COOK. CWGC have replaced his headstone after I brought this incorrect detail to there attention. The memorial book in St Mary’s states burial somewhere in France.

AND

LEACH, Cpl Albert.

Enlisted: Manchester.

Age given: Born Purton 13/12/1887.

Occupation: GWR.

Address / Next Of Kin, family details: Swindon. NOK Mrs Ruth Leach (Wife, married 1913), of 14, Elmina Road, Swindon. Son of Thomas H and Sarah Leach, Wootton Bassett Road Purton, Swindon.

MIC details / Medal entitlement.

48657 Manchester Regiment.

305115 15th Battalion, Tank Corps.

British War Medal, Victory Medal.

08/08/1918 Battalion tanks in action before being brought back to rest on the 10th. They had been in action supporting an attack by the Canadians and Australians south of Villers-Bretonneux.

10/08/1918 According to the 15th Battalion regimental history, the Battalion rallied at Warfusee Valley on the 10th

August and were there for almost one week. This time was spent preparing the tanks for action. This was an unhealthy place to work and many Tank Corps men became sick and Hun Night Bombing Squadrons paid particular attention to it.

11/08/1918 War Diary states the Battalion was at Dog Wood, days were "Spent in resting, cleaning, salving and

repairing tanks ready for further use." Family tale records that Albert was run over by his tank whilst he was sleeping underneath it along with another tank man.

Death / Burial / Memorial details.

Died of wounds aged 31 on the 11th August 1918. He is buried in ADELAIDE CEMETERY, VILLERS-BRETONNEUX, Grave Reference: II. L. 11. (Somme, France). The Remembrance book states burial at White Chateau, Achy, France, Killed In Action. White Chateau has been identified as being near the village of Cachy. Individual graves and small cemeteries were moved to larger communal cemeteries after the War by the Imperial War Graves Commission (IWGC) and battlefield clearance teams. The original burial site for Albert was found to be located to the West of the Adelaide Cemetery.

[James A Pratt III]

Thanks Ianander for the information on the Grotha Green train wreck. The French train wreck occored on 12 December 1917 near Modane, in Southern France over 1000 men died and several hundred more were injured when this severly overloaded train when out of control and jumped the tracks.