JACKSON Reuben

Reuben Jackson was born in Shipton-under-Wychwood, Oxfordshire, in 1893, his father was employed as a mason. In 1901 he was resident at home in Chipping Norton.  The family had moved to Blockley by January 1904 when a daughter, Ethel, was born there.  It is assumed that Reuben moved with them.

In January 1910, at the age of 16, Reuben joined the Royal Navy and was posted to Portsmouth.  Prior to this he had been working as an agricultural labourer.  A list of his postings – ships and shore establishments – show his progress from Boy Sailor through Ordinary Seaman to Able Seaman.  On his eighteenth birthday in 1911 he signed on for 12 years’ service.  For the greater part of the first World War Reuben was based at HMS Attentive II, which was the shore base of the Dover Patrol.  From September 1916 he served as an Able Seaman on Tribal-class destroyer HMS Gurkha, a short-range vessel operating from Dover as part of the Dover Patrol.  He was on board when it struck a German mine off Dungeness and sank.  Reuben was one of the 74 of 79 crew who perished.

From RN Registers of Seamen’s Services:
Reuben Jackson
born 10/11/1893 near Oxford, occupation farm labourer
height 5ft 3¾ inches (at age 18, 5ft 5in), chest 35in (36½ inches), eyes blue (grey), fresh complexion, scar on forehead
signed on 10/11/1911 for 12 years.

Ship/Establishment Rank Dates
Impregnable Boy II-Boy I 6/1/1910-3/9/1910
Berwick Boy 1 14/9/10-20/1/11
Hampshire Boy I 21/1/11-3/4/11
? Boy I 4/4/11-9/11/11
(same as above) Ord 10/11/11-15/12/11
Victory I Ord 16/12/11-14/9/12
Vindictive Ord 15/9/12-18/10/12
Cochrane Ord 19/10/12-(2/7/13)
Cochrane B 3/7/13-28/3/14
Excellent AB 29/3/14-16/8/14
Queen AB 17/8/14-25/10/14
Excellent AB 26/10/14-21/12/14
Attentive II AB 22/12/14-15/9/16
Victory I Gurkha AB 16/9/16-30/9/16
Attentive II Gurkha AB 1/10/16-8/2/17
Lost in HMS Gurkha

From the Royal Navy WW1 Graves Roll:
Reuben Jackson
Rank: A[ble] S[eaman]
Official number Port Division J6520 (Po)
Born 10/11/1893 near Oxford
Died 8/2/1917 HMS Gurkha, body not recovered
Father John, Upper Terrace, Blockley

Reuben Jackson has no known grave, the photograph available shows his name on Portsmouth Naval Memorial.