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The Rev Robert Gordon 4: England, 1867-85
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According to an undated item from
England in the Falmouth Post of August 13, 1867, Robert Gordon had arrived in Southampton
in the RMC 'Rhone' on 'Wednesday last': the Tyne, on which he had left Jamaica, and the Rhone, were both ships of the Royal
Mail Company, so this was probably merely an error in the name of the ship. The item also stated that Gordon had been the
guest of Edward Palk, J.P; this is interesting as Palk, who was a local politician, an Alderman and Mayor in Southampton,
was also a well-known abolitionist. Gordon had apparently stayed with Palk earlier, on his previous visit to England, though
the reference is unclear: 'of whose hospitality he was also a recipient prior to his departure for Jamaica after his ordination.'
So when was that?!
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Last seven years:
I have not found any information
on Robert Gordon's final years. After his last actions at St John the Evangelist, Drury Lane, in September 1878, there seems
to be no information until his death in March 1885. I searched records physically when I was doing research in London in the
1990s, and I have tried all the sources I can think of on the Internet, still without success. I have not been able to identify
any further record of his service at any church, and, strangely, I have been unable to find any record of him in the 1881
U K census records, though he was recorded in the 1871 census. On his death certificate his address was given as 59 Guildford
Street, Russell Square, but there is no way of telling how long he had lived there. The address was a 'good' one at the time,
and it is possible he was being supported by some of his English friends. According to that certificate,he died of 'Phthisis
pulmonalis Pneumonia' and it seems that a post mortem was done by J K Fowler, the doctor at the Middlesex Hospital who signed
the death certificate. When 'Phthisis pumonalis' or tuberculosis is untreated, and there were no effective treatments in the
1880s, 50% of its victims die within two years of diagnosis, so it is likely that Gordon had been obviously ill for a year
or more, but it is not possible to say that illness was the reason for the lack of evidence of his service at any church.
I hope more information will materialise on this period of his life.
Two interesting notes can be made on some of
this information:
James Kingston Fowler became a well-known authority on TB and visited Kingston in July 1924 to attend
an important conference on Tropical Medicine.
The Trinidadian writer J J Thomas followed much the same path as Gordon
five years later:
'In 1888 he [J J Thomas] was forced to go to England for treatment. He spent the winter and the following
spring living in Guildford Street, off Russell Square and within easy reach of the British Museum, an area of London to become
so familiar to later generations of West Indian students. It was at this point having conquered Froude as it were that Thomas
turned his attention once again to the Creole Grammar. . . . He never completed it. He was admitted to King's College Hospital
and diagnosed with tuberculosis. He died the same year. Thomas was 49.
http://www.triniview.com/TnT/080705.html
Apart from one report in September 1867 shown
below, there appears to have been no further interest in the Jamaican press in Robert Gordon until the brief report of his
death in 1885.
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Daily Gleaner, September 6, 1867
THE REVD.
ROBERT GORDON.
The arrival of the Revd. Robert Gordon
in England has attracted the attention of the home authorities. A private letter received in this city, states that much surprise
has been expressed in England that Mr. Gordon should have been allowed to leave Jamaica without having received any address
from the inhabitants. Immediately on it becoming known to Sir Henry Storks that the Revd. gentleman had arrived in England,
Sir Henry warmly interested himself in behalf of Mr. Gordon and wrote to his Grace the Duke of Buckingham, recommending Mr.
Gordon to his attention; His Grace therefore communicated with Mr. Gordon inviting him to an interview, and desiring that
he should bring his credentials with him. Mr. Gordon had a lengthy interview with his Grace at the Colonial Office. The Duke
promised the Revd. gentleman that he would do all in his power to forward his interest. His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury
has licensed Mr. Gordon to preach in the United Church of England and Ireland, under the broad seal of the Primate;
and the Bishop of London had sent an affectionate letter to Mr. Gordon. Mr. Gordon had been invited by several Clergyman of
note to preach in their respective places of worship.
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I wll follow up some of the issues mentioned
in this report, but it is of interest to note that Robert Gordon had been responsible for writing a farewell address
to Gov. Storks when he left Jamaica in 1866.
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The Rev. Robert Gordon, 1836-85,
| DEATH CERTIFICATE |
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| CLICK ON IMAGE FOR LARGER VIEW |
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Colonial Standard
May 5, 1885
The Rev Robert Gordon, a coloured clergyman
belonging to Jamaica, who used to describe
himself as "the only black
clergyman in the
London diocese" has just passed away. He
served several London curacies, being an
especial favorite
at the East End of London,
where he worked hard among the sailors. He
was no mean scholar. At one time he was
master
of a school in his native island and
he had published several works, including a
short account of the Church in Jamaica.
At
the time of his death he was engaged on a
history of Jamaica. He was buried in
Finchley Cemetery.
from European Mail, April 17, 1885
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The Rev Robert Gordon was buried in a public
grave in the Finchley Cemetery on the East End Road. Since this was an unmarked grave there is no indication of the
precise location, but it is possible to identify the general area which was designated E3/57. I visited the Finchley Cemetery
back in the 1990s, having been driven there by my son and daughter-in-law; I was able to find the area where Gordon was buried
quite easily, using this plan. I hope that anyone who may be interested could do the same.
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| PLAN OF FINCHLEY CEMETERY |
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| CLICK ON IMAGE FOR LARGER VIEW |
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Church Review, April 2, 1885, p160.
The London correspondent of the Manchester Guardian says :-
The Rev. Robert Gordon, a native of Jamaica,
a full-blooded negro, an accomplished linguist, and a high-principled gentleman, died on Monday last, and was buried this
afternoon at Finchley. He served several curacies in London, and was for many years one of the clergy of the Church of St
John of Wapping, his connection with which led him to preach a sermon in denunciation of the 'Claimant.' Mr. Gordon was the
author of a small work on 'The Jamaica Church, why it has failed,' and a writer of an introduction to 'The Wonders of Creation
and other Poems' by Matthew Josephs, a negro and a country schoolmaster in Jamaica, who had been brought under Mr. Gordon's
notice when the latter was headmaster of Wolmer's Grammar School, Kingston, Jamaica. At the time of his death he had been
for a considerable period sedulously engaged in the production of a work on the history of his native island. Mr. Gordon never
obtained preferment, and it is feared that he died a victim of the fascination of a culture and civilisation for which he
was so eminently fitted personally, but from which he was racially supposed to be excluded. The cure of white souls was systematically
withheld from a priest, who used to describe himself with some pathos and sense of neglect as 'the only black clergyman in
the diocese of London.'
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Reynolds' Newspaper, March 29, 1885,
p 4
Again, what is the Church doing for even its own members? It is notorious that curates are the poorest-paid class
of men in the community. The rectors and vicars who are mostly poor relations of their patrons, appropriate the great bulk
of the Church's revenues, and the curates, who do all their work, are left to starve or half-starve. No later than last week
a curate, the Rev. Robert Gordon, died at Middlesex Hospital from the effects of starvation. He had been connected with the
diocese of London for twelve years, was a person of great accomplishments (he could preach in either French, German or English),
and was a man of irreproachable character; but because his skin was dark (he was descended from a Zulu chief), no one would
employ him, and he died for want of food. When this is the way the Church treats its own members, what possibly can the nation
at large expect at its hands? It is an institution rotten to the very core, and we, therefore, heartily join with the members
of the Liberation Society in desiring its abolition, and the appropriation of its revenues to other and more beneficial purposes.
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