Cause of death for Private John Allan

[LMChapman]

I'd be grateful for any help with or theories on the following story:

Private John Allan, service number 6314, of the 2/2 Lovat Scouts is buried in Crieff Cemetery, Perthshire.

I have found a limited service record on FindMyPast which shows he attested on December 2nd 1915 in Glasgow, age 22. He was considered fit at this time and posted to the 2/2 (second line) Lovat Scouts. My thoughts on this are that he was to be trained in order to later be transferred to the first line, after their losses at Gallipoli.
The 2/2 were I believe stationed in Norfolk as a home service battalion.

Private Allan was then discharged on March 1st 1916, no longer fit for service due to sickness. He did not serve abroad.
He died in Crieff on July 1st 1918. He is described as a Colliery Clerk, though I'm not certain whether this was his job before or after army service (on the 1911 census he was a railway ticket checker). He had married Elizabeth Fleming in December 1917.

I've attached the cause of death section from his death certificate as this is where it gets a bit confusing. It mentions 'gas effects in service' but also that this is 'uncertain'.
According to a pension document for him in the FindMyPast file, he was considered 100% disabled from tuberculosis by the time of his death. However, I don't know if he was initially given a 100% pension from the time of his discharge, or whether it was revised up as his condition worsened...

I'm quite confused by the death certificate mentioning 'gas effects in service' and the meaning of 'Uncertain' in this context? Was the Dr not sure if gas effects was a cause? Though he knows enough to know that something happened 2 1/2 years previously... He was a local doctor, so maybe should be expected to have some previous knowledge of a chronically ill patient? Why is tuberculosis not actually mentioned?
The only way I can see for gas effects actually being the cause is if there was some kind of live gas training accident, but I don't know if that's something the army was doing extensively at this time?

Not sure if the questions can really be answered, but any theories welcome!

[Rockford]

Hello,

I think that it might be the duration of 2½ years that is being noted as uncertain, rather than the cause, especially if the army accepted that he was 100% disabled.

Best wishes

Rockford

[LMChapman]

Hello,

I think that it might be the duration of 2½ years that is being noted as uncertain, rather than the cause, especially if the army accepted that he was 100% disabled.

Best wishes

Rockford

Ah, it might be that. But still not sure if/how he would have been exposed to gas.

[Rockford]

Hello,

If he did only serve at home, that is a mystery. 

You could try posting your query at https://www.greatwarforum.org/  , there will be people there with expertise on the Lovat Scouts, use of gas and home service, so maybe they can shed more light.

Best wishes

Rockford

[jim1]

To receive an Army pension it had to be proved the disability that led to discharge
was "war attributed".
As he did receive a pension you can safely assume the Army did regard it as such.
Poison gas was first used by the Germans in April 1915.
Following this the Army quickly set up "gas schools" for the men at the front &
also included it in basic training in the UK so by Dec. 1915 gas training would
have been well established.
As he didn't see overseas service his exposure to gas must have occurred during this period.
You might be surprised at the number of men who received disabling injuries during training.

[Viktoria]

Is it at all possible there are two men?
It seems odd to me that he was gassed yet did not serve yet got a pension .
I am prepared to admit I an confused by the slightly unusual facts .
Viktoria.

[Jomot]

The death certificate mentions Haemoptysis (and I think the next word is recurrent) which is coughing up blood, so that's possibly where the TB is covered.

The pension bit of the record says phthisis aggravated by [his service], so he possibly already had it but it wasn't picked up at the time of his medical, then went through gas training which triggered the active symptoms.

[AllanUK]

My thoughts on the doctor's notation of 'Gas effects in Army Service - Uncertain 2 1/2 years is that the doctor was aware of the length of time that John Allan was in the Army (2/12/15 to 1/3/16) and that when he died it was roughly 2 1/2 years since he had been effected by gas during his training.

Paperwork on Find My Past states that John Allan had received a 100% pension and that it stopped at the end of the week in which he died.

John's widow, Elizabeth, applied for a widows pension but this was turned down as the marriage took place after John had been discharged from the Army. (snippet image courtesy of the Western Front Association)

There is a record of John's burial on FindAGrave that shows his headstone.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/145953962/j-allan

[LMChapman]

Is it at all possible there are two men?
It seems odd to me that he was gassed yet did not serve yet got a pension .
I am prepared to admit I an confused by the slightly unusual facts .
Viktoria.

His father Andrew Allan is the informant on his death certificate and gives his address as 18 White Vale Street, Glasgow. This is the same as the next of kin info provided for Private Allan on his service record (available through FindMyPast).