Help with Cause(s) of Death

[PJS]

Can anyone help decipher the cause of death in the two cases below from the HM HS VITA War Diary?

 

August 5, 1917

KASBA. Left anchorage at 8:30am. Crossed the Bar and put to sea for BOMBAY. Fitter MILLS No. 40803 Labour Died. Pneumonia ?? upon Bronchitis. Buried at Sea. Father COULES CF Officiating.

August 10, 1917

At Sea. No. 15376 Pte. McELROY T. 6th KORL died at 4:20am. Effects of heat and ??. Buried at Sea. O.C. officiating.

 

 

Thank You

Peter

[Michelle Young]

McElroy second word is dorsalis.

 

Michelle 

[PJS]

1 minute ago, Michelle Young said:

McElroy second word is dorsalis.

 

Michelle 

 

Thank You. Do you know how that might be a contributing cause of death?  Google is not helping me much ...

 

Peter

[esco]

Try Tabes Dorsalis apparently a neurosyphilis .

[Dai Bach y Sowldiwr]

1) "Pneumonia intervening upon Bronchitis."

2) " Effects of heat. Tabes Dorsalis." A late serious complication of syphilis, damaging the posterior columns of the spinal cord and in those days untreatable.

Edited 24 July , 2019 by Dai Bach y Sowldiwr

[PJS]

10 minutes ago, esco said:

Try Tabes Dorsalis apparently a neurosyphilis .

 

Just now, Dai Bach y Sowldiwr said:

1) "Pneumonia intervening upon Bronchitis."

2) " Effects of heat. Tabes Dorsalis." A late serious complication of syphilis, damaging the posterior columns of the spinal cord and in those days untreatable.

 

Thank you both. So, he must have contracted Syphilis before the war since this a late stage condition (~10 years into it?) and his death was in Aug 1917.

 

Peter

[Dai Bach y Sowldiwr]

2 hours ago, PJS said:

 

 

Thank you both. So, he must have contracted Syphilis before the war since this a late stage condition (~10 years into it?) and his death was in Aug 1917.

 

Peter

Yes I would think so.

[PhilB]

Odd that he is on the Basra Memorial? Or maybe he qualifies as "Missing, no known grave, from the Mesopotamia campaign".

[PJS]

6 minutes ago, PhilB said:

Odd that he is on the Basra Memorial? Or maybe he qualifies as "Missing, no known grave, from the Mesopotamia campaign".

 

HM HS VITA left Basra on August 4th. He died at sea on August 10th. He was invalided from Mespot and died on the way to Bombay so it is a little odd (since we know he didn't die of wounds) but it's not unreasonable. I don't know exactly what the criteria was for being listed on the Basra Memorial.

 

August 3, 1917

Went alongside Hospital Pier at 9:20am.

 

August 4, 1917

Commenced embarking convoy at 5:30am. Completed 8:30am.

British Officers 9

N.S. 4

British Warrant Officers 8

British Other Ranks 400 (including 6 mentals)

Total 421 (241 stretcher cases admitted)

1 NCO and 10 men embarked as mental guard.

Left Hospital Pier at 8:45am. Anchored at KASBA 2:45pm.

 

August 5, 1917

KASBA. Left anchorage at 8:30am. Crossed the Bar and put to sea for BOMBAY.

 

 

Peter

[PhilB]

According to CWGC-

 

"The Basra Memorial commemorates more than 40,500 members of the Commonwealth forces who died in the operations in Mesopotamia from the Autumn of 1914 to the end of August 1921 and whose graves are not known."

 

Since he didn't die in those operations, I take it that he shouldn't be on that memorial.

 

 

[DavidOwen]

As he would have been buried at sea and last land contact was Mesopotamia then isn't it reasonable he would be remembered on that memorial?

[PhilB]

It`s a reasonable way of solving the problem of where to memorialize him though it does say "died in the operations in Mesopotamia" - that doesn`t include the Bay of Bengal!  But I take your point.