Henry Percy Gordon

Life

He was the only son of Sir James Willoughby Gordon, 1st Baronet and his wife Isabella Julia Levina Bennet, daughter of Richard Henry Alexander Bennet.

Gordon entered Peterhouse, Cambridge in 1823 and was senior wrangler in 1827, placed ahead of Thomas Turner (1804–1883), Anthony Cleasby, Augustus De Morgan and William Hopkins. He was made 2nd Smith's prizeman, behind Turner, also becoming a Fellow of his college that year. He received an M.A. in 1830. He was admitted to Lincoln's Inn in 1828 and called to the bar in 1831. He became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1830. He was a Justice of the peace and deputy lieutenant for the Isle of Wight.

In 1851, Gordon succeeded to his father's title. He became also 13th laird of Knockespock. The lairdship was under an entail, and he inherited it on the 1854 death of James Adam Gordon.

Gordon died suddenly, at Blackhall, Kincardineshire, in 1876. At his death, the baronetcy of Gordon of Northcourt became extinct.

Family

In 1839 Gordon married Lady Mary Agnes Blanche Ashburnham, daughter of George Ashburnham, 3rd Earl of Ashburnham and Charlotte Ashburnham. They had a daughter, Mary Charlotte Julia Gordon (died 1926): she married General Robert William Disney Leith (1819–1892). She was a writer and translator, publishing as Mrs. Disney Leith.

Gordon was an engraver. He produced joint work with his sister, Julia Emily Gordon.

Notes

References

1. (1852). "A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire". Colburn & Company.
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4. Neale, Charles Montague. (1907). "The senior wranglers of the University of Cambridge, from 1748 to 1907". Groom and Son.
5. (1903). "A genealogical account of the family of Gordon of Knockespock / by Douglas Wimberley". D. Wimberley.
6. "Gordon, Sir James Willoughby, 1st bt. (1772–1851), of Niton, I.o.W., History of Parliament Online".
7. (1997). "Edwardian Fiction: An Oxford Companion". Oxford University Press.
8. Mitchell, Jeremy. (2023-05-11). "Gordon [married name Leith], Mary Charlotte Julia [known as Mrs Disney Leith] (1840–1926), novelist and Icelandic traveller". Oxford University Press.
9. "Sir Harry Percy Gordon, 2nd Bt".