John Hogan was born in Seaton Carew Hartlepool on the July 14th 1882. His mother was Annie born around 1860 in Ireland. After the death of her husband Annie remarried in 1901. John is living with her and his stepfather John Cunningham in South Shields. At this point he was a sailor, given on the census as a sea engineer's steward.
In 1906 he married Robina Green in South Shields and by 1911 had returned to West Hartlepool and was living in Christopher Street with his wife and two young daughters Annie and Edith. At this point he was a dockgate man, later dock pilot.
In the very early part of World War 1, John joined the RNR and after completing his naval training, he enrolled in the Royal Navy Reserve, from 1st September to 30th November 1904, aboard HMS Andromache, a cruiser drill ship for R.N.R. at Harwich.
Date of enrolement in Royal Navy Reserve 1st December 1904
Official Service Number B 2505
During this time, he was required to undergo the following periods of training:
HMS Cressy - Armoured Cruiser
HMS Pembrooke - 28th May 1909 to 24th June 1909
HMS Irresistable - Battleship 31st May 1911 to 27th June 1911
HMS Vengeance - Battleship 26th March 1913 to 22nd April 1913
On September 22nd 1914, the ship, together with her sister ships, HMS Cressy and HMS Hogue were attacked by the German submarine U9 in the Battle of Heligoland.
In total 1397 men were lost, 527 from Aboukir and amongst them John Hogan.
His wife Robina and 4 children Annie, Edith, John and Bernard were informed of his death at the family home, which by 1914 was in Blake Street, West Hartlepool. The day the ship went down was in fact the 8th wedding anniversary of John and Robina.His body was not recovered.