Death and Disease in Dublin: The Great Pandemic

The Great Pandemic: The 1918-19 Flu by Dr Ida Milne. 

Recorded on Tuesday 6 April 2021 as part of Dublin City Archives City Hall Lunchtime Lecture Series. 

The ‘Spanish’ flu (1918/19) has the largest death toll of any influenza pandemic on record. As it spread through the city, communities would go silent, public buildings and schools were closed, trade stilled, events were cancelled and sports fixtures postponed. It struck at the core of families, often flattening every member and sometimes killing multiple members of one family.  During this talk, Dr Milne will look back to that event, and compare it with the Covid-19 pandemic, and reflect on how the city’s chief medical officer at the time, Sir Charles Cameron, and other authorities reacted to reduce the impact.