Thomas Gordon and his family came from Dundalk, Ireland to settle in Belfast in the 1920s. With him came wife Elizabeth, sons Hugh, Samuel, and William, and daughters Georgina, Kathleen, and Margaret.
At the time, Belfast was a booming city and the Gordons hoped it would be easier to secure work for the boys and girls in their large family there.
Thomas and Elizabeth settled in 29 Hogarth Street to the north of the city. Other family members lived nearby and the Hogarth Street house became a hub for the Gordons.
Thomas Gordon in the Belfast Blitz
On Easter Tuesday 1941, Belfast suffered bombing from the Nazi Luftwaffe. In what became known as the Belfast Blitz, huge swathes of the north of the city were reduced to rubble. German planes targeted the waterworks but bombs fell on housing.
In the surrounding areas of Duncairn and Tiger’s Bay, terraced streets such as Hogarth Street were all but wiped out. Eight members of the Gordon family perished in an instant. The damage to their family home so great that bodies were never recovered.
Thomas Gordon, wife Elizabeth, and family are listed on a Belfast Blitz memorial on Hogarth Street. The permanent reminder features a mural depicting the raid and commemorates those who died in the Tiger’s Bay area. He was 67 years old.