Dunn: Boy Second Class John Gordon (J/45953)

Royal Navy – HMS Impregnable

John Gordon Dunn was born at Shipton-on-Stour, Worcestershire on 17 September 1899. He was the son of Fred and Helen Dunn and one of three children born to them. His father may have died in 1901, and he appears in the 1901 census (then aged one) as being cared for by other than his parents. In the 1911 Census he is shown as living in Chipping Campden as a ‘boarder’ along with his mother.

He joined the Royal Navy on 2 November 1915 and was posted to HMS Impregnable, a Training Establishment based at Devonport. His service lasted less than three months as he died on 16 February 1916, at the RN Hospital, Plymouth, from cerebrospinal meningitis. John was 16 years of age.

The UK Royal Navy and Royal Marine War Graves Roll 1914-18 shows his mother as his next of kin and living at All Saint’s Boys’ Orphanage, Glanville Park, Lewisham, south east London, which perhaps indicates that she had obtained a job in this institution.

His grave, in the churchyard of St. James, Chipping Campden, is marked with a stone cross, private memorial and next to it lies the grave of his mother (born 1860, died 1946) and sister, Gladys Margaret (born 1886, died 1978).

Researched by Graham Adams 7 July 2012

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