Cruising Association members killed in WW1

[Twister_Ken]

This is on the public pages of the CA website - members who were killed plus some biographic info and some boat details.

https://www.theca.org.uk/news/CA_WW1_memorial_plaque

 

[dom]

Wonderful human stories, perhaps telling our fates had we been around then.

 

[JumbleDuck]

I used to be a member of the Arlington Baths Club in Glasgow, a private swimming pool founded in the 19th century. In the bar there is a photograph of the ABC 1914 swimming team - about twenty fit and cheerful looking young men. Out of interest, I compared it with the club's WW1 memorial. All but three of the team were killed.

 

[AntarcticPilot]

I used to be a member of the Arlington Baths Club in Glasgow, a private swimming pool founded in the 19th century. In the bar there is a photograph of the ABC 1914 swimming team - about twenty fit and cheerful looking young men. Out of interest, I compared it with the club's WW1 memorial. All but three of the team were killed.

The casualty rate of the armed forces in WW1 was around 12% - horrifying, but not as horrifying as anecdotes like this indicate. The reason for statistics like this is that people signed up in groups, and served together (the Accrington Pals being a famous example). If a group was unlucky enough for to be on the front line when there was a big push, then that group would take terrible casualties. Another possible factor is social class - I don't know the organization, but did it attract middle or upper-class members? If so, there was a good chance of them being junior oficers, who would take high casualties because they were expected to lead from the front.

Worth noting that the casualty rate from the Spanish Flu epidemic that immediately followed WW1 was comparable to the military casualty rate.

I hasten to say that I'm not belittling those who served - far from it; both my grandfathers served in WW1, my father served in WW2 and I lost a friend and neighbour in the first Gulf War as well as having connections withe Falklands War through my profession. I also conducted the Remembrance service in a village near where I live. But because of the custom of people signing up in groups, we sometimes get the impression that casualties were even higher than they actually were. But there was a well-established rotation of troops between the front line and rearward postings, and I think - I haven't got the information to hand - that soldiers spent about one week in three actually at the front. Of course, if the generals chose to attack while you were at the front, your chances weren't good! But again, such major attacks didn't involve the whole front - they were geographically limited.

 

[Poignard]

Worth noting that the casualty rate from the Spanish Flu epidemic that immediately followed WW1 was comparable to the military casualty rate.

So I've heard. Didn't that kill one of those on the memorial plaque, the courageous B.B. Quiller Couch, who died in 1919, during the flu epidemic? I expect the hardships he suffered in the war left him ill-prepared to cope with a serious illness. Anyway it's good to see his name on the plaque; undoubtedly a victim of the war.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bevil_Quiller-Couch

 

[AntarcticPilot]

So I've heard. Didn't that kill one of those on the memorial plaque, the courageous B.B. Quiller Couch, who died in 1919, during the flu epidemic? I expect the hardships he suffered in the war left him ill-prepared to cope with a serious illness. Anyway it's good to see his name on the plaque; undoubtedly a victim of the war.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bevil_Quiller-Couch

The odd thing about the Spanish Flu epidemic was that it was mainly young people who were killed by it; very atypical for influenza where usually the caualtyrate is highest amongst the elderly.

 

[JumbleDuck]

The casualty rate of the armed forces in WW1 was around 12% - horrifying, but not as horrifying as anecdotes like this indicate.

Indeed, and I should have said that my example was intended as a horrifying outlier rather than as a typical example. I don't know why, though. They would probably have been officers, who I believe had a much higher casualty rate.

WW1 memorials in Germany are sobering places. They lost around three times as many as Britain did, despite have only about a 25% larger population. It makes their willingness to fight another one so soon even more amazing.

 

[chrisclin]

WW1 memorials in Germany are sobering places. They lost around three times as many as Britain did, despite have only about a 25% larger population. It makes their willingness to fight another one so soon even more amazing.

German war memorials are much more hidden away than British ones. The one that I saw in a village in Bavaria struck me that the numbers in WW2 were much higher than WW1 that I attributed to the Eastern front. However, it may have been another example of pals joining up together.