Spanish Flu victims to be remembered in exhibition at cemetery

THE Spanish Flu pandemic that occurred in Ireland a century ago will be remembered at Glasnevin Cemetery.

The virus, which arrived in 1918, killed between 20,000 and 40,000 people and 50 million to 100 million worldwide.

It is often seen as a forgotten period due to the political turbulence, despite it killing up to 5% of the population.

Maps developed by historians at the School of History and Humanities in Trinity College Dublin and Glasnevin Cemetery illustrate the impact of the deadly flu virus here.

They will be presented at a exhibition which began yesterday.

Glasnevin Trust professor Dr Georgina Laragy said: “The Great Flu pandemic poses significant challenges for historians and museums.

“Coming at a time of immense death and destruction on the Western Front, flu was infinitely less emotive.

“And it was on the face of it, less political.

“Little cultural material has survived, making it a challenge for a museum.

“It is only in recent years historians in Ireland have begun to examine the phenomenon as part of the wider developments in Irish historiography that focuses on social, cultural and medical history.

“Moving beyond a purely political and military narrative of the revolutionary years, this helps expose the public to a much more nuanced version of past Irish society.’’