General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of highest military ranks, high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers t ...

Sir James Willoughby Gordon, 1st Baronet (21 October 1772 – 4 January 1851) was a general officer in the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

. He notably served as most long-standing

Quartermaster-General to the Forces The Quartermaster-General to the Forces (QMG) is a senior general in the British Army. The post has become symbolic: the Ministry of Defence organisation charts since 2011 have not used the term "Quartermaster-General to the Forces"; they simply ...

, holding the position for some 40 years.

Early life

He was the eldest son of Captain Francis Grant-Gordon RN and Mary, daughter of

Sir Willoughby Aston, 5th Baronet ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as p ...

of Risley, Derbyshire. His younger brothers were Admiral Charles Gordon and Rear-Admiral Henry Gordon, who was twice mayor of

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

Military career

Gordon was commissioned into the

66th Regiment of Foot The 66th (Berkshire) Regiment of Foot was an infantry regiment of the British Army, raised in 1756. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 49th (Princess Charlotte of Wales's) (Hertfordshire) Regiment of Foot to form the Princess Char ...

in 1783.British Generals of the Napoleonic Wars 1793-1815
/ref> He was appointed Assistant Adjutant General in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

in 1795 and in 1801 under Colonel

William Henry Clinton General Sir William Henry Clinton (23 December 1769 – 15 February 1846) was a British general during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars as well as the First Miguelist War. He was also the grandson of Admiral George Clinton and elde ...

commanded the

85th Regiment of Foot The 85th (Bucks Volunteers) Regiment of Foot was a British Army line infantry regiment, raised in 1793. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 53rd (Shropshire) Regiment of Foot to form the King's Shropshire Light Infantry in 1881. H ...

Madeira ) , anthem = ( en, "Anthem of the Autonomous Region of Madeira") , song_type = Regional anthem , image_map=EU-Portugal_with_Madeira_circled.svg , map_alt=Location of Madeira , map_caption=Location of Madeira , subdivision_type=Sovereign st ...

following its capture. Later the same year he became Deputy Adjutant-General in the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

. After serving as Aide de Camp and Military Secretary to the Duke of Kent, he returned to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in 1803 to become Assistant Quartermaster-General. He was made Military Secretary to

Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany (Frederick Augustus; 16 August 1763 – 5 January 1827) was the second son of George III, King of the United Kingdom and Hanover, and his consort Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. A soldier by profess ...

, the

Commander-in-Chief of the Forces The Commander-in-Chief of the Forces, later Commander-in-Chief, British Army, or just the Commander-in-Chief (C-in-C), was (intermittently) the professional head of the English Army from 1660 to 1707 (the English Army, founded in 1645, was suc ...

in 1804, during which period he gave what

Thomas Creevey Thomas Creevey (March 17685 February 1838) was an English politician. He is best known for his insight into social conditions as revealed by his writings, which were published in 1903. Life Creevey was the son of William Creevey, a Liverpool me ...

regarded as "pompous, impudent evidence" to the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

enquiry into the

Mary Anne Clarke Mary Anne Clarke (born Mary Anne Thompson; 3 April 1776 – 21 June 1852) was the mistress of Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany., retrieved 24 November 2018 Their relationship began in 1803, while he was Commander-in-Chief of the arm ...

Affair. He was subsequently Commissary-in-Chief to the Forces from 1809. He was made Lieutenant General in 1825. He was

from 1811 to 1851. During this time, he was one of the many present for the Robert Adams' narration of his adventures as a Barbary slave in North Africa. Despite the veracity of this narration being questioned by many during this time, Gordon publicly proclaimed his faith in the truth of Adams' story, announcing that "if he proved an imposter, he will be the second only to Psalmanazar." Gordon's support of Adams was very significant, due to the controversial nature of ''

The Narrative of Robert Adams ''The Narrative of Robert Adams'' is a memoir by American sailor Robert Adams first published in 1816. The narrative is the story of the adventures of Adams, then a twenty-five-year-old American sailor who claimed to be enslaved in North Africa ...

''. 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 The Royal Hospital Chelsea is a retirement home and nursing home for some 300 veterans of the British Army. Founded as an almshouse, the ancient sense of the word "hospital", it is a site located on Royal Hospital Road in Chelsea. It is an in ...

in 1851 from a severe attack of

bronchitis Bronchitis is inflammation of the bronchi (large and medium-sized airways) in the lungs that causes coughing. Bronchitis usually begins as an infection in the nose, ears, throat, or sinuses. The infection then makes its way down to the bronchi. ...

. 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 Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

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 The Royal Guelphic Order (german: Königliche Guelphen-Orden), sometimes referred to as the Hanoverian Guelphic Order, is a Hanoverian order of chivalry instituted on 28 April 1815 by the Prince Regent (later King George IV). It takes its name ...

(GCH) in 1825 and

Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved bathing (as a symbol of purification) as one ...

(KGB) in 1831. He was also

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for Launceston from 1830 to 1831.

Family

On 15October 1805, Gordon married Julia Lavinia, daughter of Richard Henry Alexander Bennet of

Northcourt Manor Northcourt Manor is one of three manor houses, along with Woolverton and Westcourt, that is located in Shorwell, on the Isle of Wight, England. It was begun by Sir John Leigh, Deputy Governor of the Island, in 1615, but was unfinished at his d ...

, Shorwell, Isle of Wight. Their only son was

Henry Henry may refer to: People *Henry (given name) *Henry (surname) * Henry Lau, Canadian singer and musician who performs under the mononym Henry Royalty * Portuguese royalty ** King-Cardinal Henry, King of Portugal ** Henry, Count of Portugal, ...

who became the second and last baronet. A daughter, Julia Emily (13 October 1810 – 1896), was known as an artist, as her mother was.

Works

References

External links

* , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Gordon, James 1772 births 1851 deaths British Army generals Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom UK MPs 1830–1831 Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Launceston Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Fellows of the Royal Society 85th Regiment of Foot (Bucks Volunteers) officers British Army personnel of the French Revolutionary Wars