Gordon, Samuel

Gordon, Samuel

Able Seaman

No. J/24779 Royal Navy HMS Vivid I   

Died of disease on Friday 14 December 1917 (aged 21)

Buried:

Dundonald Cemetery, Belfast (Section F4 Grave 617)

Commemorated:

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

BIOGRAPHY

Samuel Gordon was born on 18 March 1896 in East Street, Newtownards and he was a son of Samuel and Jane Gordon (nee Clarke, sometimes Clark) who were married on 27 July 1889 in Newtownards Methodist Church.  Samuel Gordon (aged 32), a weaver from Shuttlefield, Newtownards was a son of William Gordon, a weaver.  Jane Clark (aged 28) from East Street, Newtownards was a daughter of William Clark, a labourer.

William and Jane Gordon (nee Clarke) had seven children:

Jane (born 22 March 1890 in East Street, Newtownards; married William Peden on 12 July 1913 in Belfast Registrar’s Office)

Alice (born 2 June 1892 in East Street, Newtownards)

Margaret (Maggie born 6 November 1893 in East Street, Newtownards)

Samuel (born 18 March 1896 in East Street, Newtownards)

David (born 4 March 1898 at 17 Factory Street, Belfast)

Unnamed male (born 25 February 1901 at 11 Bread Street, Belfast; died of debility 1 March 1901)

William (born 22 July 1903 at 11 Bread Street, Belfast)

After leaving school, Samuel Glover worked as a machine boy in a mill.

Samuel Gordon joined the Royal Navy as a Boy Seaman on 17 May 1913, and on his 18th birthday, it was recorded that he was 5 feet 7¼ inches tall with brown hair, grey eyes, and a fresh complexion.  He had two linear scars about 4½ inches long on the outer side of his left leg below the knee.

Able Seaman Samuel Gordon (No. J/24779) was stationed at Devonport (HMS Vivid) and also served aboard ships that included the battleship HMS Colossus.  It was from HMS Colossus that he was transferred to hospital on 1 July 1916, after he contracted tuberculosis.  Assigned to HMS Vivid I, he was discharged on 4 April 1917.

Samuel Gordon died as the result of acute pulmonary tuberculosis on 14 November 1917 at 36 Bloomfield Street, Belfast.  His sister, Jane Peden, was with him when he died.