Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Gordon, Adam (1726?-1801)
GORDON, Lord ADAM (1726?–1801), general, colonel of the 1st royal regiment of foot, governor of Edinburgh Castle, fourth son of Alexander, second duke of Gordon [q. v.], by his wife Lady Henrietta Mordaunt, daughter of the famous Earl of Peterborough, was born about 1726, and entered the army as ensign in the 18th royal Irish foot, in Scotland, soon after Culloden. In 1753 he became lieutenant and captain 3rd foot guards, and was returned to parliament as member for Aberdeenshire the next year. He sat for that constituency till 1768, and afterwards represented Kincardineshire from 1774 to 1788, when he vacated his seat. In 1758 he served with his company of the guards in the expedition to the French coast under General Bligh. In 1762 he became colonel 66th foot, and took that regiment out to Jamaica. Returning home in 1766 he was entrusted by the Florida (?) colonists with a memorial of grievances to lay before the secretary of state. He was made colonel of the Cameronians in 1775, governor of Tynemouth in 1778, and colonel first royal regiment of foot in 1782. The same year he was appointed commander of the forces in Scotland (North Britain), when he took up his residence at Holyrood Palace, which he repaired extensively. In 1796 he became a full general and governor of Edinburgh Castle. In 1798 he vacated the command of the forces in Scotland, in which he was succeeded by Sir Ralph Abercrombie, and died at his seat, The Barn, Kincardineshire, on 13 Aug. 1801.
Gordon married Jane, daughter of John Drummond of Megginch, Perthshire, and widow of James Murray, second duke of Athole, by whom he left no issue. She is said to have been the heroine of Dr. Austen's song ‘For lack o' gold she left me, O.’
[Anderson's Scottish Nation, ii. 319; Foster's Members of Parliament, Scotland, 150; Cannon's Hist. Record 1st Royal Regiment of Foot.]