Brummie On Exmoor
master brummie
I have been researching the quite tragic story of one of my maternal relatives, a young Aston-born lad called Elvino CLOWES (descended from the old Warwickshire MOLESWORTH family). Elvino's parents moved themselves & their large family down to London in the late 1890s and promptly died. Elvino, aged 14 yrs 5months, joined The King's (Liverpool Regiment) in April 1900 and served first in Ireland and then from Dec. 1902 in Burma with the 1st Battalion. (The King's Regiment had been heavily engaged in the 3rd Burmese War at the end of the 19th C.) He died there on 5 Nov 1903 in Meiktila (later very famous in WW2). I have found out a lot about him and where he served, and have just received his Death Certificate. It leaves me with 3 questions, and I would be very grateful for any advice that forum members can offer.
1. The Informant on the Cert. (which is of course an Overseas Death Cert., like but not identical to a normal one) is W F NASH, Major Comdg. Wing 2/Bomr. Regt. Meiktila. Does anyone have any idea who this would have been? In particular, what was Wing 2/Bomr.?
2. I know that the bodies of those killed in Meiktila in WW2 and buried there initially, were later moved to a proper War Cemetery close to Rangoon. This is of course maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Does anyone know what would have happened to graves from earlier conflicts? - there were apparently quite a number of British military fatalities there in the late 19th-early 20th Cs, and pres. they were properly buried in a little British graveyard.
3. Finally, the cause of Elvino's death was Pneumonia. Or actually, as it appears on the Cert. "Pneumonia". There is noone medically qualified named on the Cert. and Elvino had got himself into trouble when he first got out to Burma and served 56 days Hard Labour in May-July. I really wonder whether Pneumonia was at best a catch-all for perhaps Malaria or some other tropical fever, and as there was little medical cover, they just used it as a term but qualified it. Or could it be a term covering something more sinister, such as a beating or an accident caused by poor command decisions or some such. The " and " seem to draw the eye to the cause of death, with the suggestion that it is not necessarily exact or accurate or perhaps, true. Can anyone please comment on this.
Many thanks and best wishes
Jane
1. The Informant on the Cert. (which is of course an Overseas Death Cert., like but not identical to a normal one) is W F NASH, Major Comdg. Wing 2/Bomr. Regt. Meiktila. Does anyone have any idea who this would have been? In particular, what was Wing 2/Bomr.?
2. I know that the bodies of those killed in Meiktila in WW2 and buried there initially, were later moved to a proper War Cemetery close to Rangoon. This is of course maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Does anyone know what would have happened to graves from earlier conflicts? - there were apparently quite a number of British military fatalities there in the late 19th-early 20th Cs, and pres. they were properly buried in a little British graveyard.
3. Finally, the cause of Elvino's death was Pneumonia. Or actually, as it appears on the Cert. "Pneumonia". There is noone medically qualified named on the Cert. and Elvino had got himself into trouble when he first got out to Burma and served 56 days Hard Labour in May-July. I really wonder whether Pneumonia was at best a catch-all for perhaps Malaria or some other tropical fever, and as there was little medical cover, they just used it as a term but qualified it. Or could it be a term covering something more sinister, such as a beating or an accident caused by poor command decisions or some such. The " and " seem to draw the eye to the cause of death, with the suggestion that it is not necessarily exact or accurate or perhaps, true. Can anyone please comment on this.
Many thanks and best wishes
Jane
