In the last year of WWI, the world was devasted by a pandemic of Spanish flu. Killing up to 100m people worldwide, Spanish flu was the deadliest outbreak since the Black Death. Spanish flu killed troops on both sides of the conflict, but what the impact for those left behind on Civvy Street? In this talk, Catharine Arnold discusses the effects of Spanish flu on Hackney. Already vulnerable due to poverty, deprivation, and four long years of war, how did Hackney respond to the invisible enemy, killer flu? Catharine Arnold is the author of Pandemic 1918, the story of the deadliest influenza in history. Catharine’s books include Necropolis, London and its Dead and Bedlam, London, and its Mad.