GORDON, Sir Alexander Hamilton- (2 son of 4 Earl of Aberdeen 1784–1860). b. 11 Dec. 1817; ed. at Harrow; ensign Grenadier guards 2 May 1834, captain 10 April 1849 to 17 Oct. 1856; D.Q.M.G. at head quarters 1855–60; brigadier general Dublin district 1861–66; commanded Bombay division 1867–70; col. 100 foot 5 July 1872 to death; general 1 Oct. 1877; placed on retired list 1 July 1881; C.B. 5 July 1855, K.C.B. 24 May 1873; M.P. for East Aberdeenshire 1875–85; author of Remarks on national defences, volunteers and rifles 1853; An enquiry into the organization of the Army 1875. d. 34 Lennox gardens, London 18 May 1890. Pictorial World 29 May 1890 p. 697, portrait.
GORDON, Archibald. Ed. at Univ. of Edin., M.D. 1834; assistant surgeon in army 28 June 1836, surgeon major 1854; principal medical officer of 2nd division in Crimea 1854–55; inspector general 9 March 1867 to 1 July 1870; C.B. 4 Feb. 1856; hon. surgeon to Queen 9 Aug. 1871 to death. d. West Hoathly, Sussex 3 Aug. 1886.
GORDON, Charles (son of Francis Grant, captain R.N., who assumed name of Gordon 1768 and d. 1803). Entered navy June 1796; captain 21 Dec. 1807; C.B. 4 July 1840; R.A. 23 Nov. 1841; admiral on half pay 20 Jany. 1858. d. Duke st. Bath 3 Oct. 1860 aged 79.
GORDON, Charles. Entered navy 19 June 1810; captain 17 April 1828; retired admiral 24 April 1865. d. Huntly, Aberdeenshire 19 May 1876.
GORDON, Charles George (4 son of lieut. general Henry William Gordon d. 1865). b. Woolwich 28 Jany. 1833; 2 lieut. R.E. 23 June 1852; lieut. col. 1 Oct. 1877 to death; served in Crimea 1854–56; went to China June 1860; commander of the ‘Ever Victorious Army’ in China 1863–64 when in 33 engagements he stamped out the Taiping rebellion, received from emperor yellow jacket and peacock’s feather of a mandarin of first class, always known afterwards as Chinese Gordon; hon. C.B. 9 Dec. 1864; governor of equatorial provinces of Central Africa where he suppressed slavery 1874–76; created Pasha by Khedive of Egypt 1877; governor general of the Soudan, Darfour, the Equatorial provinces and the Red Sea littoral 1877–79; taken prisoner by King John of Abyssinia, Nov. 1879; private sec. to marquis of Ripon viceroy of India, May 1880; adviser of Chinese government in their relations with Russia, Sep. 1880; commander of troops in Mauritius 1881–82; M.G. 23 March 1882; commandant of colonial forces Cape of Good Hope 1882; author of Colonel Gordon in Central Africa 1881; Reflections in Palestine 1883; General Gordon’s Letters from Crimea, Danube and Armenia 1884; sent by the English government to the Soudan to withdraw the garrisons and evacuate the country, arrived at Khartoum 18 Feb. 1884, besieged by the Mahdi 12 March; killed in the storming of Khartoum 26 Jany. 1885, monu. by Hamo Thornycroft erected in Trafalgar sq. 15 Oct. 1888, Gordon Boys’ Home for homeless boys founded 1889. A. E. Hake’s Journals at Khartoum of C. G. Gordon (1885); A. Forbes’ Chinese Gordon (1886), portrait; Events in life of C. G. Gordon, By Sir H. W. Gordon (1886); Letters of C. G. Gordon (1888); Chesney’s Essays in modern military biography (1874) 163–213; D. C. Boulger’s China iii, 578–628 (1884), portrait.
GORDON, Charles William. b. 19 March 1817; captain Madras cavalry; contested Berwick-on-Tweed, March 1857; M.P. for Berwick-on-Tweed, April 1859 to death. d. Pall Mall, London 15 June 1863.
GORDON, Cosmo (youngest son of Alexander Gordon, Lord Rockville 1739–92). b. 28 Nov. 1777; ensign 71 foot 6 Dec. 1792; major 94 foot 12 Feb. 1807 to 20 July 1809; lieut. col. 63 foot 20 July 1809 to 1810 when placed on h.p.; granted service reward 1 July 1851; general 20 June 1854. d. Exton, Hants. 7 March 1867.
GORDON, Douglas William Cope (3 son of 10 Marquis of Huntley 1792–1863). b. 11 Oct. 1851; lieut. Coldstream Guards 1871–1880; contested Hunts. 1874; M.P. for West Aberdeenshire 1876–80, for Hunts. 1880–85. d. Green Park chambers, 90 Piccadilly, London 4 Aug. 1888.
GORDON, Elizabeth, Duchess of Gordon (dau. of Alexander Brodie, M.P. Elgin 1796–1802. d. 15 Jany. 1812). b. London 20 June 1794; owner of great wealth on father’s death 1812. (m. 11 Dec. 1813 George Gordon, marquis of Huntley, who became 5 duke of Gordon 1827 and d. 28 May 1836); the unblushing vice she found in high quarters led her to make a renunciation of the world 1826; left the episcopal ch. and joined the Free ch. of Scotland and held an important position in the evangelical party 1847; a great patron of open air preaching. d. Huntly lodge, Strathbogie 31 Jany. 1864. A. M. Stuart’s Life of duchess of Gordon (1865), portrait; Wylie’s Disruption Worthies (1881) 271–78, portrait.
GORDON, Gabriel. Ensign 60 foot 6 Jany. 1781, lieut. col. 9 March 1802 to 4 Jany. 1808 when placed on h.p.; col. 91 foot 19 April 1837 to death; general 9 Nov. 1846. d. Higher Ardwick lodge near Manchester 7 Aug. 1855 aged 92.