Ww1 Deaths

[bhg481]

There is an article on BBC's website today which lists WW1 deaths.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-46145199

It gives 886346 troops and 109,00 civilian deaths for the UK. Can someone please enlighten me as to why there are so many UK civilian deaths when none of the conflicts occurred on UK soil? Were medical staff in the trenches classed as non-military perhaps, or are there other reasons?

[aelmpvw]

don't know the figures but many merchant seamen perished ...

[bhg481]

Thanks aelmpvw, I hadn't thought of the boats shipping the supplies across the Channel. Apparently U-boats sank over 5000 supply ships, so that can explain the figures.

[emmie]

what a terrible waste of life, lest we forget, i wonder how many will remember them this Centenary.

[Bertrum]

What is probably not shown are the deaths such as my maternal grandfather who survived WW1 but died in 1927 from chronic bronchitis (Gassed in war) hemoptysis

[retrocop]

My Grand father returned from Gallipoli to run the family business. He caught cerebral malaria whilst serving with the Army.
His condition worsened back in blighty and after a few years he ended up having treatment in a mental infirmary. One day, he found a bottle of Lye, a very caustic, corrosive, harsh cleaning medium, and drank it.
He died a very painful death. I still consider him a casualty of War although he died in the late 1920s. He was a volunteer (TA) and one of the first to be mobilised. He didn't have to go as he would of been classed as Essential Occupation.

[rowanwitch]

The figures do include those who died due causes directly attributable to the war, so someone invalidated out who died of wound infection would count as a civilian not a military casualty.j
The Merchant Navy would not be as high as you'd expect. Most merchant ships would not have enormous crews.
47,176 for Ww2 12,010 recorded for Ww1 when they were still called the Mercantile Marine.