Hidden away above the busy A371 to the north of Axbridge, Somerset is an unassuming graveyard. Overgrown and haunting, with headstones lining the boundary of the copse, this is the cemetery for the former St Michael’s Sanatorium, now the St Michael’s Cheshire Home. In the middle of the plot, next to the central memorial, is a headstone dedicated to Sidney Gordon, notably buried somewhere else in the grounds.

Sidney Vincent Gordon was born in Upton Park, Essex, on 7th May 1897. There is little information about his early life, other than his mother’s name, May.

The 1911 census recorded Sidney as being an inmate at the Scattered Home for the West Ham Union, the workhouse that covered the area. At 13 years of age, he was one of the older of the thirteen students boarding in the home, which was overseen by Emma Caroline Simpson, the House Mother.

When Sidney completed his schooling, he managed to find employment as an undertaker’s boy. But he sought out bigger things and, on 8th June 1914, he enlisted in the Royal Navy. His service records note that he was 5ft 6ins (1.68m) tall, with brown hair, blue eyes and a fresh complexion.

Being under-age when he enlisted, Sidney was given the rank of Boy. He was first sent to HMS Pembroke, the Royal Naval Dockyard in Chatham, for training, and remained there for a couple of months. In August 1914, Boy Gordon was moved down the coast to HMS Actaeon, a torpedo school based in Sheerness, Kent.

After five months, he moved to HMS Wildfire, another part of the Sheerness base, and it was while there he turned 18, and could formally join the Royal Navy. He was given the rank of Officer’s Steward 3rd Class and remained at Wildfire until the end of 1915. After a short stint back in Chatham, Sidney was given a new posting on board the supply ship HMS Tyne, where he remained until the following May.

Officer’s Steward Gordon returned to HMS Pembroke once more, and was assigned to his final sea-going ship, the newly launched monitor, HMS Erebus. She was to be his home until June 1917, when, having become unwell, he was posted back to HMS Pembroke.

Sidney had contracted pulmonary tuberculosis, which led to him being invalided out of the Navy on 1st August 1917. At this point his trail goes cold once more, but it is likely that, by the start of 1919, his condition had led to his admission to St Michael’s.

When he died there, on 5th March 1919, Sidney was just 21 years old. Given his background, it seems probable that his mother, if she was still alive, would not have been able to afford for his remains to be brought back to Essex. Sidney Vincent Gordon was laid to rest in the sanatorium’s cemetery, in the foothills of the Mendips, finally at peace.

---