Adolph Burdon (1886-1917)
Hartlepool labourer served as a stoker in the Royal Navy on HMS Staunch
Little is known of Adolph Burdon’s life before he joined the Royal Navy. Navy registers record he was born on 10 July 1886 in Hartlepool. His mother was Mary Jane “Dolly” Burdon later Lincoln who was also born in Hartlepool. Adolph joined the Royal Navy as a 16-year old boy on 3 December 1902 and on his eighteenth birthday elected to serve for 12 years as an ordinary seaman. He was rated as a stoker 2nd class on 10 August 1905 and stoker 1st class on 27 September 1906. Adolph appears to have had disciplinary issues throughout his naval career and his record details ten periods spent in cells and a period of 90 days hard labour in a civil prison.
Adolph was serving on the destroyer HMS Staunch when it was torpedoed by a German submarine off Deir el Belah off the coast of Palestine. He was one of eight men killed when Staunch was sunk. His body was not recovered for burial and he is honoured on the Chatham Naval Memorial.
Adolph Burdon was awarded the Victory Medal and the British War Medal for his service in World War One.
Civil Parish: Hartlepool
Birth date: 10-Jul-1886
Death date: 11-Nov-1917
Armed force/civilian: Navy
Residence: Hartlepool (Birthplace)
Family: Parents: Mary Jane Burdon
Military service:
Royal Navy
Service Number 223995
Stoker 1st class
HMS Staunch
Medal(s): Victory Medal
British War Medal
Memorial(s): Chatham Naval Memorial
Gender: Male
Contributed by David D, Stanley, Co Durham