Frederick Gordon (22 July 1835 – 22 March 1904) was a British

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values th ...

and businessman, known primarily as a hotelier.

Biography

Early life

He was born on 22 July 1835 in

Ross-on-Wye Ross-on-Wye (Welsh: ''Rhosan ar Wy'') is a market town in England, near the border with Wales. It had a population of 10,582 according to the 2011 census, estimated at 11,309 in 2019. It lies in south-eastern Herefordshire, on the River Wye and ...

, the eldest son of Charles John Gordon, who established himself as a decorator and paperhanger in the City of London. Frederick began by assisting his father, but then trained in the law, and always called himself a solicitor. Gordon turned in his thirties to the promotion of elegant restaurants, hitherto not fully developed in Victorian London. With

Horatio Davies Lieutenant Colonel Sir Horatio David Davies (1842–18 September 1912) was a London businessman, politician, magistrate and a driving force behind the establishment of Pimm's as an international brandname. Early life Son of H. D. Davies Esq, h ...

, later owner of

Pimm's Pimm's is an English brand of gin-based fruit cup but may also be considered a liqueur or the basis of a sling or punch. It was first produced in 1823 by James Pimm and has been owned by Diageo since 1997. Its most popular product is Pimm's No ...

and

Lord Mayor of London The Lord Mayor of London is the mayor of the City of London and the leader of the City of London Corporation. Within the City, the Lord Mayor is accorded precedence over all individuals except the sovereign and retains various traditional powe ...

he formed Messrs. Gordon and Company. Their first success came with the conversion in 1868 of the fifteenth-century Crosby Hall,

Bishopsgate Bishopsgate was one of the eastern gates in London's former defensive wall. The gate gave its name to the Bishopsgate Ward of the City of London. The ward is traditionally divided into ''Bishopsgate Within'', inside the line wall, and ''Bishop ...

in the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London fr ...

into a fashionable eating place with an open layout in the vast Great Hall instead of the traditional boxes. Waitresses were employed, and there were facilities for women visitors. The King's Head in

Fenchurch Street Fenchurch Street is a street in London linking Aldgate at its eastern end with Lombard Street and Gracechurch Street in the west. It is a well-known thoroughfare in the City of London financial district and is the site of many corporate office ...

followed, also richly decorated. Gordon's wider fame began with his creation in 1874 of the Holborn Restaurant further west. The Holborn was expanded in 1879 and again in 1883–4. Illustrated brochures depicted a series of richly decorated saloons embellished with marble, fresco work and stained glass. A favourite venue for institutional dinners and parties, the Holborn survived until it was bombed in the Second World War.

Hotels

After 1890 Gordon moved into hotels, founding the Gordon Hotels chain and becoming known as "The Napoleon of the Hotel World". Among those in his ownership were the Grand Hotel in

Trafalgar Square Trafalgar Square ( ) is a public square in the City of Westminster, Central London, laid out in the early 19th century around the area formerly known as Charing Cross. At its centre is a high column bearing a statue of Admiral Nelson commemo ...

and the Metropole Hotel in London; the Burlington Hotel, Eastbourne; the Brighton Metropole; the Hotel Metropole, Cannes; and the

Hotel Metropole, Monte Carlo The Hotel Metropole Monte-Carlo, is a five-star hotel at 4, Avenue De La Madone, Monte Carlo, Monaco. History The Hotel Metropole was built in 1889, designed by Hans-Georg Tersling. Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark died there in 1944. Ital ...

. He was also chairman of The Frederick Hotels Company Limited, and held directorships at a wide variety of companies including

Ashanti Goldfields The Ashanti Goldfields Corporation is a gold mining company based in Ghana that was founded by Joseph Ellis and Joseph Biney both from Cape Coast. The Ashanti Mine, located at Obuasi, 56 km south of Kumasi, has been producing since 1897. Dur ...

Pears soap Pears transparent soap is a British brand of soap first produced and sold in 1807 by Andrew Pears, at a factory just off Oxford Street in London. It was the world's first mass-market translucent soap. Under the stewardship of advertising pionee ...

, and

Bovril Bovril is the trademarked name of a thick and salty meat extract paste similar to a yeast extract, developed in the 1870s by John Lawson Johnston. It is sold in a distinctive bulbous jar, and as cubes and granules. Bovril is owned and distribut ...

.{{cite web, title=The Harrow and Stanmore railway, url=http://www.stanmoretouristboard.org.uk/the-harrow-and-stanmore-railway/the-stanmore-branch-line.html, website=www.stanmoretouristboard.org.uk, publisher=The Stanmore Tourist Board, access-date=7 February 2018, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180207094027/http://www.stanmoretouristboard.org.uk/the-harrow-and-stanmore-railway/the-stanmore-branch-line.html, archive-date=7 February 2018, url-status=live He bought the Apollinaris mineral water business in 1897 from its founder Edward Steinkopff and his co-partners for nearly £2,000,000, (very approximately £2-4 billion in 2016).{{cite journal , journal=The Chemist and Druggist , volume=LXVIII , issue=10 , date=10 March 1906 , page=399 , title=Deaths: Edward Steinkopff , url=https://archive.org/stream/b19974760M1431#page/n37/mode/2up/

Stanmore

Gordon is credited with developing

Stanmore Stanmore is part of the London Borough of Harrow in London. It is centred northwest of Charing Cross, lies on the outskirts of the London urban area and includes Stanmore Hill, one of the highest points of London, at high. The district, which ...

from a rural village to a London suburb. In 1890 he opened his own railway line, the Harrow and Stanmore Railway, to serve his luxury country hotel there,

Bentley Priory Bentley Priory is an eighteenth to nineteenth century stately home and deer park in Stanmore on the northern edge of the Greater London area in the London Borough of Harrow. It was originally a medieval priory or cell of Canons Regular, Augus ...

. He also built a residential avenue of suburban houses in Stanmore, which he named ''Gordon Avenue'', to attract wealthy Londoners to come to live in the country and commute into the city on his new railway. He also laid out Stanmore Golf Course. Neither the Bentley Priory Hotel nor the railway were commercially successful, and in 1899 he wound up the Harrow and Stanmore Railway and sold it outright to the

LNWR The London and North Western Railway (LNWR, L&NWR) was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. In the late 19th century, the L&NWR was the largest joint stock company in the United Kingdom. In 1923, it became a constituent of the Lond ...

for £35,000. Gordon took up residence with his family at Bentley Priory.

Death and legacy

Frederick Gordon died on 22 March 1904 while staying at his Hotel Metropole in

Cannes Cannes ( , , ; oc, Canas) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a communes of France, commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions I ...

. His body was brought back to Britain and buried in the family grave at the church of

St John the Evangelist, Great Stanmore St. John the Evangelist's Church, Great Stanmore is an Anglican church located in Great Stanmore (now simply Stanmore), Harrow, Middlesex. The name has been held by two churches: a red-brick church dating to 1632, now abandoned and in ruins, a ...

. The Gordon Hotels chain continued after Frederick's death. In 1963 it became part of Grand Metropolitan Hotels. In 1997 the company merged with

Guinness Guinness () is an Irish dry stout that originated in the brewery of Arthur Guinness at St. James's Gate, Dublin, Ireland, in 1759. It is one of the most successful alcohol brands worldwide, brewed in almost 50 countries, and available in ove ...

and is now part of

Diageo Diageo plc () is a Multinational corporation, multinational alcoholic beverage company, with its headquarters in London, England. It operates from 132 sites around the world. It was the world's largest distiller before being overtaken by Kweich ...

Family life

Frederick Gordon's sister Elizabeth (Lizzie) married his business partner

in 1867, who bought

Pimms Pimm's is an English brand of gin-based fruit cup but may also be considered a liqueur or the basis of a sling or punch. It was first produced in 1823 by James Pimm and has been owned by Diageo since 1997. Its most popular product is Pimm's No ...

from its original owner/founder. She died on 14 November 1907.Whitaker's Peerage (1908): Obituaries for 1907 "Davies, Lady, wife of Sir Horatio Davies, KCMG — Nov. 14."

References

{{reflist

External links

* {{PM20, FID=co/047592, TEXT=Documents and clippings about, NAME=Gordon Hotels Ltd. {{authority control {{DEFAULTSORT:Gordon, Frederick 1835 births 1904 deaths People from Ross-on-Wye Stanmore 19th-century British businesspeople British hoteliers People associated with transport in London