A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Gordon, William (a)
GORDON, M.P. (Rear-Admiral of the Blue 1846. f-p., 18; h-p., 32.)
The Honourable William Gordon is second son of George Lord Haddo (who died in Oct. 1791) by Charlotte, youngest daughter of Wm. Baird, Esq., of Newbyth; and next brother of the Earl of Aberdeen, late Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. He is brother, also, of Capt. Hon. John Gordon, R.N.; as likewise of Sir Alex. Gordon K.C.B., an officer of rank in the Army, and Aide-de-Camp to the Duke of Wellington, who was killed at Waterloo – of Lieut.-Colonel Sir Chas. Gordon, who died in 1835 – and of Robert Gordon, Ambassador Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary at Vienna. Capt. Gordon’s sister-in-law, the Countess of Aberdeen, is the mother, by a former marriage, of Lady Harriet Hamilton, wife of Capt. W. A. B. Hamilton, R.N., Second Secretary of the Admiralty.
This officer entered the Navy, 2 July, 1797, as Midshipman, on board the Romulus 36, Capt. Geo. Hope, whom he successively followed, on the Lisbon and Mediterranean stations, into the Alcmene 32 and Majestic 74. Between Dec. 1799 and Sept. 1803 he served, chiefly on the Home station, in the Immortalité 36, Capt. Hon. Henry Hotham, Dryad 36, Capt. Chas. John Moore Mansfield, Leda 38, Capt. Geo. Hope, Minotaur 74, Capt. John Louis, and Fisgard and Naiad 38’s, both commanded by Capt. Jas. Wallis. While under the latter officer he contributed to the cutting out, by the Naiad’s boats, on the evening of 4 July, 1803, of the French national schooner La Providence of 2 guns and 22 men, laden with timber and cannon, and lying near Brest; a service which was effected without casualty, notwithstanding a great rapidity of tide, and the difficulties offered by a number of rocks and shoals with which the enemy’s vessel was surrounded.[1] In Sept. 1804 Mr. Gordon joined the Trident 64, bearing the flag of Admiral Rainier, Commander-in-Chief in the East Indies; where he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant 2 July, 1804, and further served, until Feb. 1806, in the Arrogant 74, Capt. Hood Hanway Christian, and Culloden 74, flag ship of Sir Edw. Pellew. After a brief attachment, towards the commencement of 1807, to the Clyde 38, bearing the broad pendant off the coast of France of Commodore Edw. W. C. R. Owen, he obtained command, 24 April, 1807, of the Charwell sloop, in which vessel he visited South America, and then proceeded to the Cape of Good Hope. Being there posted, from the Sapphire into the Minerva hired armed ship, 12 March, 1810, Capt. Gordon, in the following autumn, visited the Isle of France. His after-appointments afloat were – 23 June, 1811, to the Laurestinus 24, on the South American station – 21 Aug. 1812, to the Magicienne 36, which frigate, after having captured the Thrasher American privateer, of 14 guns and 80 men, and witnessed the fall of St. Sebastian, he left, 20 July, 1814 – and, 5 March, 1827, to the Briton 46. The latter ship was employed on various particular services, and was ultimately paid off 27 April, 1830. Flag-rank was conferred upon Capt. Gordon 9 Nov. 1846.
The Rear-Admiral, who has for many years retained a seat in Parliament as Member for Aberdeenshire, held office as a Lord of the Admiralty from 1841 until 1846.
- ↑ Vide Gaz. 1803, p. 840.