From an account of the send-offs for local men from the Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette: "The next was the send-off of Michael Flannery, a favourite of the district. There was a very large gathering and an enjoyable evening was spent in song and dance. During an interlude the opportunity was taken to present Mick with a very handsome purse of £l2 odd, in which Mr Kant acted as the speaking man. This makes the third son out of this family, the only remaining son failing to pass."
Mick Flannery's send-off was the sequel to an appeal made to the Military Service Board, sitting at Alexandra in May 1917, in which he claimed that his job as manager of the family farm and other properties at Poolburn - comprising 4740 acres in all - was a vital one to the country. His father stated that he was under doctor's orders not to spend the coming winter on the farm. Two of his four sons were already gone to the war. His appeal was dismissed but his enlistment deferred. Mick was able to plant his wheat before leaving for the War.
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| Flannery family grave, Omakau Cemetery. |
Mick left New Zealand that November and was marched into the Otago Infantry Regiment's 4th Reserve Battalion at Sling Camp, Salisbury Plain, on January 9th, 1918.
On February 2nd, Mick was admitted to Tidworth Hospital with a diagnosis of rubella, or german measles. A week later he was listed as "seriously ill" then two days later "dangerously ill." On the 23rd just after 4am he died in the isolation ward, of scarlet fever and bronchial pneumonia. Was there a misdiagnosis in the case of Private Michael Flannery? And, with the lack of anti-biotics for treatment, would it have mattered? At least they got his religion right, the Rev. W Skinner RC is recorded as conducting Mick's burial service.
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