James Willoughby Gordon

Early life

He was the eldest son of Captain Francis Grant-Gordon RN and Mary, daughter of Sir Willoughby Aston, 5th Baronet of Risley, Derbyshire. His younger brothers were Admiral Charles Gordon and Rear-Admiral Henry Gordon, who was twice mayor of Bath.

Military career

Gordon was commissioned into the 66th Regiment of Foot in 1783.

He was appointed Assistant Adjutant General in Ireland in 1795 and in 1801 under Colonel William Henry Clinton commanded the 85th Regiment of Foot in Madeira following its capture. Later the same year he became Deputy Adjutant-General in the West Indies. After serving as Aide de Camp and Military Secretary to the Duke of Kent, he returned to England in 1803 to become Assistant Quartermaster-General. He was made Military Secretary to Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany, the Commander-in-Chief of the Forces in 1804, during which period he gave what Thomas Creevey regarded as "pompous, impudent evidence" to the House of Commons enquiry into the Mary Anne Clarke Affair. He was subsequently Commissary-in-Chief to the Forces from 1809. He was made Lieutenant General in 1825.

He was Quartermaster-General to the Forces from 1811 to 1851.

He was given the colonelcy of the 85th (Bucks Volunteers) Regiment of Foot (Light Infantry) from 1815 to 1823 and of the 23rd Regiment of Foot (Royal Welsh Fusiliers) from 1823. He was promoted full general on 23 November 1841.

Gordon died at his residence in the Royal Hospital Chelsea in 1851 from a severe attack of bronchitis. His body was subsequently taken by railway and buried in the family vault at Knighton on the Isle of Wight.

Honours

He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1801. He was made Baronet Gordon of Northcourt in the Isle of Wight in 1818 and awarded Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Guelphic Order (GCH) in 1825 and Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (GCB) in 1831.

He was also Member of Parliament for Launceston from 1830 to 1831.

Family

On 15October 1805, Gordon married Julia Lavinia, daughter of Richard Henry Alexander Bennet of Northcourt Manor, Shorwell, Isle of Wight. Their only son was Henry who became the second and last baronet.

Works

References

References

1. "GORDON, Sir James Willoughby, 1st bt. (1772-1851), of Niton, I.o.W". UK Parliament.
2. (2018). "Modern English Biography"&pg=PA1884-IA188). Litres.
3. (1896). "The History of the Island of Antigua: One of the Leeward Caribbees in the West Indies, from the First Settlement in 1635 to the Present Time". Mitchell and Hughes.
4. [http://www.napoleon-series.org/research/biographies/BritishGenerals/c_Britishgenerals56.html British Generals of the Napoleonic Wars 1793-1815]
5. Adams, Charles Hansford. (2005). "The Narrative of Robert Adams: A Barbary Captive". Cambridge University Press.
6. "85th, or The King's Regiment of Light Infantry (Bucks Volunteers)". regiments.org.
7. "The Royal Welch Fusiliers". regiments.org.
8. (11 January 1851). "Obituary". Hampshire Advertiser.
9. (13 January 1851). "The Army". Edinburgh Evening Courant.
10. "Library Archive". Royal Society.
11. "Leigh Rayment".
12. (1828). "Debrett's Baronetage of England". C. and J. Rivington.
13. H. L. Mallalieu. (1986). "The Dictionary of British Watercolour Artists up to 1920". Antique Collectors' Club.