George Gordon was born in Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumberland, England, on the 3rd April 1889, the son of George and Martha Gordon (née Scott). His father was employed as a lamplighter, and the family home was initially at 51. Carlton Street, in the city.
His mother died in 1897, aged 34 years, and his father remarried in late 1898. The family at this time were residing at 50. Church Street, Westgate, Newcastle upon Tyne. George sold newspapers on the street as a teenager, while still attending school, and after completing his education, he found employment as a fruit salesman for a local fruit merchant.
On the 6th April 1913, he had immigrated to Canada presumably in search of work and fortune and had settled in Calgary, Alberta. He had sailed from Liverpool on the
Scandinavian to Halifax, Nova Scotia.
In the spring of 1915, however, perhaps because of the war in Europe, he decided to return home to England and as a result, booked third class passage on the
Lusitania, on the sailing from New York to Liverpool. At the end of April, he left Calgary by train and joined the vessel at the Cunard berth at Pier 54 in New York, before she sailed from there for the last time, just after mid-day, on 1st May 1915.
She was actually scheduled to depart at 10.00 a.m., but her sailing was delayed because she had to take on board passengers, crew and cargo from Anchor Liner
Cameronia which the British Admiralty had requisitioned for use as a troop ship at the end of the previous month. Then, six days later, on the afternoon of 7th May, the
Lusitania was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-20 off the southern coast of Ireland and only hours away from her Liverpool destination.
George Gordon was lucky enough to be counted amongst the survivors, although he did injure his ribs at some time during his escape. After being rescued from the sea and landed at Queenstown, he was consequently taken to hospital where he remained for several days before being discharged. He was able, eventually, to make it back to Newcastle, where he found work with Armstrong’s.
He later successfully applied to The Lusitania Relief Fund for financial help. This fund was set up in Liverpool by its Lord Mayor and other local businessmen, in May 1915, to help those survivors or relatives of the dead who found themselves in financial difficulties as a result of the sinking. The award committee can not have thought that he was in too much financial distress, however, as they only granted him a single payment of £3-0s-0d.!
Shortly after arriving back in Newcastle, George found himself in Newcastle Police Court, charged with an offence under the Married Women Act for failing to pay maintenance to his wife! It would appear that an order had been made against him prior to him travelling to Canada, and by the time he had returned, he was £39-1s.-6d. (£31.07½p) in arrears.
From what can be established, George Gordon either married before leaving for Canada in 1912, or fathered a child with a woman. He then had a son with a woman named Georgina Glasper Teasdale in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1916, and lived the remainder of his life with his common law wife, Georgina, and son, William. He worked as a clerk and manager at a printing office, and resided at 43. Jesmond Park West, Newcastle upon Tyne.
George Gordon died in Newcastle upon Tyne on the 26th November 1963, aged 74 years.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, 1891 Census of England & Wales, 1911 Census of England & Wales, 1939 Register, Canadian Passenger Lists 1865 – 1935, Cunard Records, Newcastle Journal, Liverpool Record Office, PRO BT 100/345, UniLiv.D92./1/8-10, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.