Service Life:

Campaigns:

• The First World War 1914-1918, World-wide.

Natural causes is attributed those deaths due to causes that were not directly associated with the war. Included in this are wartime deaths resulting from, for example, theSpanish Influenza pandemic and its associated pneumonia problems and other attributions such as age and exhaustion. It also groups those who through Post Traumatic Stress committed suicide as a result of their experiences.

Detail :

CRAVEN HERALD, Craven Wensleydale Article Date: 08 February 1918 SILSDEN - THE LATE CAPTAIN JOHN BLAND In the current issue of the Silsden Parish Magazine, the vicar, Rev. E. E. Peters, makes the following reference to the late Captain John Bland:- Everyone in Silsden heard with much sorrow of the death of Captain John Bland. He was regarded here amongst his relatives and many intimate friends with warmest affection. His success did not cause him to be envied; he was not the mark of jealousy because he was so manifestly a man who placed himself and his advantage very far behind the public well-being. His volunteering for active service when he was well over military age, and not in the soundest of health, was a striking example of the highest form of patriotism. His acceptance of the Lord Mayoralty of Bradford, when the serious illness which he had contracted from the severity of life in the trenches had not entirely left him, was another proof that he was influenced above all else by his sense of public duty. His brief but eventful term of office gave him opportunity, notably in his wonderfully successful activities in connection with the Tank, for the sacrifice of himself in the common interest. It may be very truly said of him, 'He died on the field of honour'. We offer our respectful sympathy to his relatives and friends.

Probate record shows: BLAND, John of Steephill House, Emm Lane, Bradford - Captain, 18th battalion West Yorkshire regiment, died 28 January 1918. Probate London 5th November to Alice Purcell (wife of John Purcell) and Feather Ogden Whiteley, treasurer. Effects £89,415 1s. 8d.

Masonic :

Past Provincial Grand Deacon
The records are not easy to follow, but we start with the recorded Ionic Lodge No. 3210. The records here show John William Bland was a petitioning and founder member of this Bradford, Yorkshire based lodge, warranted 19th December 1906. It clearly shows J.W. Bland tracing back to Acacia Lodge No. L2321 and the date of death matches in the register. Acacia's records show that John William Bland became a member in 1892.

Source :

The project globally acknowledges the following as sources of information for research across the whole database:

• The Commonwealth War Graves Commission
• The (UK) National Archives
• Ancestry.co.uk - Genealogy, Family Trees & Family History online
• ugle.org.uk - The records of the United Grand Lodge of England including the Library and Museum of Freemasonry

Additional Source:

• Founder Researchers : Paul Masters & Mike McCarthy
• Researcher : Bruce Littley