As his death was indirectly a result of his ABW service, and it was an unusual death, I thought it might be of interest to post a press report of the inquest. No mention of his date of death, but he would seem to have lived in the Herne Bay, Kent, area.
DRUG TAKER'S DEATH.
An inquest was held at Southwark on the body of William Oscar Gridley, forty-five, a hop merchant, who died in Bethlem Hospital.
The evidence showed that deceased had his spine injured in the South African war, and subsequently suffered from sciatica, and the pain was so excruciating that his doctor had to prescribe injections of heroin. He promised the doctor that he would take only the very small doses prescribed, but last year there was a suspicion that he was taking more, so the supply was promptly stopped. The doctor later received an urgent call, and found his patient suffering terrible pain. Deceased said he had had nothing for forty-eight hours, as the chemist would not supply him with drugs "because this unfortunate Billie Carleton case had put the wind up."
The widow in her evidence stated that after the doctor had injected heroin deceased used to inject the drug himself four or five times a day to ease his pain. She did not know where he got the drug from. Eventually deceased was sent to the Norwood Sanatorium, and later to the Bethlem Hospital.
Dr. Bowes, of Herne Bay, said he had prescribed heroin injections for the deceased, and had given him tablets, but he stopped the supply because he suspected deceased was getting drugs elsewhere. Other medical witnesses were called, including Dr. Spillsbury, who said that the post-mortem showed no evidence of poisoning. Death was caused by syncope due to influenza and pneumonia. The taking of drugs over a number of years might have weakened the general system, and thus hastened death. The treatment adopted at both the institutions mentioned and by the private doctor was quite the right one so far as he could judge.
The coroner said the public could obtain drugs too readily, and the Government should take action in the interests of the community.
A verdict of "Natural causes" was returned.
Abergavenny Chronicle, 28th February 1919
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Possibly him that's mentioned (first column, at the bottom) in The Gazette, January 1904.
www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/27633/page/137/data.pdf
Oscar Gridley is mentioned as being a speaker at a demonstration by people from the hop-growing industry in 1908. Cattley, Gridley, & Co. was a firm of hop merchants, said to have been based in London.
newspapers.library.wales/view/4187854/4187857/71/
Billie Carleton was a then-well known musical comedy actress, who had died from a cocaine overdose in November 1918.
www.epsomandewellhistoryexplorer.org.uk/Carleton.html
