John Henry Grimoldby

[temptage]

I found this mans name, J H Grimoldby, at the bottom of a Church wall Memorial. Every other name on the Memorial had tallied with names I already had in my research, but then his name turned up and I had no previous on him.

Through Ancestry I have found him on several family trees, and they have him as 21425 Private John Grimoldby, 7th Lincolnshire Regiment. So that gives a service number and Regiment.

I have looked in the local burial registers and located him buried in Grimsby Scartho Road Cemetery, plot 50/H/18 (unmarked) and a death date of 17/04/1919, aged 29. (I have just coroborated this with his death record at the GRO). His address in the burial register was given as 27 Clayton Street, Grimsby. This coroborates with his pension records too.

I found his Medal Index Card which gives the name of just John, but interestingly it also mentions him receiving the SWB, so he suffered some kind of injury or illness whilst serving.

I also found his Pension record which mentions his history of medical issues. There are mentions of the squits a couple of times, including an admission to a Hospital for it, and lower down it mentions Dysentry too.

Now on the next page of his pension records I found this, with reason of discharge. I read it as

Emphysema (complication Dysentry) 30% Dis:Permanent

Due to: exposure and infection on active service

with a discharge date of 07/03/1918.

Today I went in the library to have another look at their copy of the burial records and this one had a 'cause for death' column, and underneath it, it simply said 'OPERATION'.

Now I know that is a cop out reason. Would certainly had been better if it had included what the operation was for, but nope.

So frustratingly I have ordered his official death certificate from the GRO, just in case it elaborates on the cause of death.

 

If he died while he was having his lungs operated on because of the emphysema, would he be eligible as he is still within the qualifying dates?

 

Any help and extra info anyone can garner for this one will be very much appreciated.

 

T

 

Edited 3 March , 2023 by temptage

[PRC]

As the cause of death needs to be related in full or part to the cause for discharge, the crux will be what is on the death certificate.

Having said which, if he died on the operating table you would expect there to have been a coroners enquiry, and so most likely a newspaper report. While that won't override the details on the death certificate if it turns out the operation was for something else, it could be useful additional supporting evidence if the death certificate indicates the operation relates to the conditions with which he was discharged.

However it may be that he died of a post-operative infection, in which case unlikely to be an inquest.

Cheers,
Peter

 

[temptage]

14 hours ago, PRC said:

As the cause of death needs to be related in full or part to the cause for discharge, the crux will be what is on the death certificate.

Having said which, if he died on the operating table you would expect there to have been a coroners enquiry, and so most likely a newspaper report. While that won't override the details on the death certificate if it turns out the operation was for something else, it could be useful additional supporting evidence if the death certificate indicates the operation relates to the conditions with which he was discharged.

However it may be that he died of a post-operative infection, in which case unlikely to be an inquest.

Cheers,
Peter

 

Thanks Peter. I completely forgot to look for a newspaper report. They still have the original newspapers from the war years so I will have a look next week.

As you say, just the word 'operation' gives two options. Either he died during an operation, or he died because of complications of an operation.

We shall wait and see.

 

Edited 4 March , 2023 by temptage

[DavidOwen]

I have had a look at the newspapers on FMP and sadly found nothing helpful or otherwise.

[temptage]

2 hours ago, DavidOwen said:

I have had a look at the newspapers on FMP and sadly found nothing helpful or otherwise.

I just had a quick check on there and noticed if I searched for 'Grimoldby' in the Grimsby Newspapers, the Grimsby Daily Telegraph and Grimsby News, it only showed articles upto December 1900 and then nothing again until 1939, with nothin in between those dates, and NONE of the articles were from the Grimsby News.

I'll still go in and have a check in both newspapers, just in case.

[DavidOwen]

Just now, temptage said:

I just had a quick check on there and noticed if I searched for 'Grimoldby' in the Grimsby Newspapers, the Grimsby Daily Telegraph and Grimsby News, it only showed articles upto December 1900 and then nothing again until 1939, with nothin in between those dates, and NONE of the articles were from the Grimsby News.

I'll still go in and have a check in both newspapers, just in case.

Sound idea, my search was for all the newspapers, a couple of unrelated Louth articles popped up in the relevant time period but none relating to the death of your man.

[PRC]

While report off an inquest, if any, could turn up in a Grimsby newspaper as that was where he was residing, the actual death was registered in the Hull civil registration district.

Apologies if this is my lack of local knowledge showing, but the area covered by that district doesn't appear to cover Grimsby at any point during its existance. https://www.ukbmd.org.uk/reg/districts/hull.html

Would it be more likely that any coroners' inquest would be covered by the Hull newspapers who would then try to sell it on to other papers in the region as well.

Cheers,
Peter

 

[temptage]

1 hour ago, PRC said:

While report off an inquest, if any, could turn up in a Grimsby newspaper as that was where he was residing, the actual death was registered in the Hull civil registration district.

Apologies if this is my lack of local knowledge showing, but the area covered by that district doesn't appear to cover Grimsby at any point during its existance. https://www.ukbmd.org.uk/reg/districts/hull.html

Would it be more likely that any coroners' inquest would be covered by the Hull newspapers who would then try to sell it on to other papers in the region as well.

Cheers,
Peter

 

Thanks for that. I will check the Hull newspapers also. If he died over there, he will probably have gone over to Hull, which had a larger hospital, for the operation

Edited 4 March , 2023 by temptage

[temptage]

 

So, the cause of death was dysentery. Now I know many many soldiers died of dysentery during the war, but I have also seen many reports of soldiers dying post-discharge of dysentery and still being on the CWGC database. Its also strange how although it doesnt state his dysentery was attributed to War, they just happen to mention that he is ex-Lincolnshire Regiment, as if they are accepting it could have something to do with his death.

 

Any thoughts ladies and gents?

[PRC]

Information about his occupation and being ex 6th Lincolns would have come from his sister, the person who informed the Registrar of the death. It may also have been on the certificate of death provided by the Doctor at the Royal Infirmary where John died, as the treatment was being paid for by the Ministry of Pensions as a result of John being a War Disabled Pensioner. So a) it may have been uppermost in the doctors mind, b) he probably had to do paperwork for the Ministry of Pensions and wanted clarity so that he \ the hospital would get paid and c) he might have believed, rightly or wrongly, that emphasising the army connection might assist should there be a claim for a subsequent pension \ assistance with funeral fees, etc.

All just speculation - but in cases where pensions had not yet been claimed or awarded I've certainly seen civilian doctors go overboard with emphasising how long a condition had existed and whether in their opionion it was due to armed forces service.

What we don't know is if the pressure to do this came from the doctor or the family but certainly seems like a good case to submit to CWGC.

Good luck,
Peter

[temptage]

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! That's English for stop a horse!

 

Ive just re-read everything above and I noticed I had typed THIS

 

 

So he was discharged with a complication of dysentery............and his cause of death WAS dysentery.

 

Its a no-brainer isnt it?

@Terry Denham is this one worth submitting?

[Matlock1418]

Hi,

Any update on this chap?

M

[temptage]

In From The Cold have added him to their list to be put forward. Everything they required was forwarded to them so we can only wait.