A plaque commemorating Ian Greenless Herdman is on the north perimeter wall of Edinburgh’s Dean Cemetery. Ian died the week before Christmas, on December 16, aged seventeen, at 1 Belford Park, Edinburgh, after a seventeen-day battle with influenza and pneumonia.
Ian Greenless Herdman was born on June 21 1901, at 28 Murrayfield Avenue, Edinburgh. He was the second son of John James Herdman, Writer to the Signet, and Annie (nee Greenlees).
When the 1911 Census was taken, Ian, aged nine, and his family had relocated to the prestigious Belford Park, where he would spend the rest of his short life. The family had grown with the addition of his sister, Annie Jr. By this time, Ian was attending school. In addition to living in a prestigious neighbourhood, the family employed three servants in a house with sixteen rooms. At the time of writing, the property was on the market. His father’s position as a Writer to the Signet, an exclusive society of solicitors, suggests that the family was relatively affluent. Ian’s death from Spanish influenza is testimony to the fact that all classes were susceptible to infection regardless of status, wealth and privilege.
Sources: Ancestry, Rettie, Scotland’s People, Wikipedia
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