Jordan, Robert Rogers (served as Gordon, Robert Rogers)
Private
No. 1361, 4th Battalion, Australian Infantry, AIF
Killed in action between Friday 6 and Monday 9 August 1915 (aged 35)
No known grave
Commemorated:
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Australian War Memorial
Lone Pine Memorial, Gallipoli, Turkey (Panel 22)
Bangor and District War Memorial
Groomsport and District War Memorial
Royal British Legion (Bangor Branch) Memorial Plaque
Comrades of the Great War (Bangor Branch) Album in North Down Museum
Trinity Presbyterian Church Bangor
Family grave headstone in Bangor Cemetery, Newtownards Road, Bangor
BIOGRAPHY
Robert Rogers Jordan was born on 16 August 1880 at 77 Lepper Street, Belfast and he was a son of John and Jane Jordan (nee Barnes, sometimes Barron) who were married on 13 June 1879 in Duncairn Presbyterian Church, Belfast. John Jordan, a sailor from Belfast, was a son of Robert Jordan, a cotton spinner. Jane Barnes, a servant from Belfast, was a daughter of David Barnes, a sailor.
John and Jane Jordan (nee Barnes) lived in Hill Street, Groomsport.
Robert Rogers Jordan and Mary Ann Tanner were married on 21 May 1907 in Helen’s Bay Presbyterian Church. Robert Rogers Jordan from Groomsport was a sailor. Mary Ann Tanner from Groomsport was a daughter of William Tanner, a shoemaker.
Robert Rogers Jordan and Mary Ann Jordan (nee Tanner) had at least four children:
William (born 3 May 1907 at 42 Beatrice Road, Bangor)
Agnes Jane (born 26 April 1908 at 39 Beatrice Road, Bangor)
Robert (born 17 April 1910 at 39 Beatrice Road, Bangor)
Gladys Eveline (born 9 August 1913 at 39 Beatrice Road, Bangor)
Prior to the outbreak of the Great War Robert Jordan served for a short time with the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers. Then he worked as a sailor and he was in Australia at the outbreak of hostilities. He enlisted on 5 February 1915 at Liverpool, New South Wales and served with the 4th Battalion Australian Infantry.
In his attestation papers, it was noted that he was 5 feet 9 inches tall with a fair complexion, blue eyes and fair hair and that he had tattoos on both arms.
In May 1915, Private Robert Rogers Jordan suffered a gunshot wound in his chest and shoulder and then sometime between 6 and 9 August 1915 he was killed in action at Chocolate Hill on the Gallipoli Peninsula. His effects comprised a Bible, a safety razor, a letter and a compass.
Robert Rogers Jordan has no known grave and he is commemorated on the Australian War Memorial; on the Lone Pine Memorial in Gallipoli; on Bangor and District War Memorial; on Groomsport and District War Memorial; in the Comrades of the Great War (Bangor Branch) Album in North Down Museum (Page 48) and on the War Memorial Plaques in the RBL (Bangor Branch) and Trinity Presbyterian Church Bangor. He is also commemorated on the family grave headstone in Bangor Cemetery, Newtownards Road, Bangor.
Robert’s mother Jane died on 30 April 1924 and his widow Mary Ann died on 2 March 1955.