School: Barkhall (roll number 8343)
- Location:
- Letterkenny, Co. Donegal
- Teacher: J. L. Browne
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 1083, Page 324
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- XML “An Epidemic of Influenza”
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- The last really bad epidemic in Letterkenny was the "Flu" in 1920.It lasted almost 14 months and there was hardly a house in the town and country round about that escaped it. All the schools were closed for weeks and the hospital was full of patients.Over in the Roman Catholic Church, High Mass was not held on Christmas Eve Night because there were so many people ill.Everyone in the town was in a panic as those who were not very bad with the "flu" did their best to nurse and bring strength back to those suffering.Doctors and nurses were constantly running from house to house, and many of them seldom got to bed except perhaps for an hour or so when someone would knock them up and ask them to come and visit some dying relation.Such was the plight of 1920 and I hope it will be many years yet before another epidemic comes.
Sylvia Russell,
Woodbank,
Letterkenny
- Collector
- Sylvia Russell
- Gender
- Female
- Address
- Letterkenny, Co. Donegal
