JORDAN, Edwin
| Service Number: | 79 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | Not yet discovered |
| Last Rank: | Corporal |
| Last Unit: | 4th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Lancashire, England, 13 March 1891 |
| Home Town: | Marrickville, Marrickville, New South Wales |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Railway Labourer (Water Supply) |
| Died: | Killed in Action, France, 15 April 1917, aged 26 years |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" Villers-Bretonneux Memorial |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Haymarket NSW Government Railway and Tramway Honour Board, Sevenhill & Penwortham District War Memorial WW1, Villers-Bretonneux Memorial (Australian National Memorial - France) |
World War 1 Service
| 18 May 1916: | Involvement Private, 79, 3rd Division Cyclist Company, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '3' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Demosthenes embarkation_ship_number: A64 public_note: '' | |
|---|---|---|
| 18 May 1916: | Embarked Private, 79, 3rd Division Cyclist Company, HMAT Demosthenes, Sydney | |
| 15 Apr 1917: | Involvement Corporal, 79, 4th Infantry Battalion, --- :awm_ww1_roll_of_honour_import: awm_service_number: 79 awm_unit: 4th Australian Infantry Battalion awm_rank: Corporal awm_died_date: 1917-04-15 |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by John Oakes
Edwin JORDAN (Service Number 79) was born in Lancashire, England, on 13 March 1891. He joined the NSW Government Railways as a fitters’ labourer in the Water Supply section at Eveleigh workshops in September 1915. He had previously been employed casually as a labourer in Water Supply. In April 1916 he enlisted in the AIF in Sydney.
After two weeks of training at Goulburn, he was allotted to the Cyclist Corps. He embarked from Sydney in May 1916 aboard HMAT ‘Demosthenes’. He transferred to the 4th Battalion of infantry in England in September and was sent to France with them at the end of that month. He spent most of November in hospital in France suffering from Influenza, re-joining his unit ‘in the field’ on New Year’s Eve. In January 1917 he was promoted to Temporary Corporal, and promotion to Corporal was confirmed in March.
On 15th April 1917 he was reported missing in action. Within the month this report was altered to ‘killed in action’, but his remains were never recovered. He is remembered with honour on the Villers-Bretonneux Memorial.
Sergeant G H O’Connor reported:
‘He had been in action at Hereuil with me up to 3 a.m. on 15.4.17. I was then relieved, but he remained on an outpost. This post was wiped out. He was unofficially reported as killed, but I subsequently heard from a man called L.L. Hannon, who had been in the same platoon as Jordan and who was taken Prisoner at Hereuil. This letter came from Hamburg and reached me in July 1917 and informed me that Jordan had been killed but gave no details. Hannon was on the same outpost as Jordan but was wounded and taken prisoner. Jordan’s people seem quite satisfied with the information I gave them.’
A younger brother was killed in action in Belgium later in the year. War pensions with respect to each of them were granted to their mother, in Marrickville.
- based on the Australian War Memorial Honour Roll and notes for the Great Sydney Central Station Honour Board
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