Alexander Gordon

Alexander Gordon (1781–1873) was a British military officer associated with the Napoleonic Wars. He served as a captain in the 15th Hussars and participated in the Peninsular War. His correspondence during the Corunna Campaign has been compiled and published in the early 20th century.

Biographical details indicate that Gordon was the son of George Gordon, the 3rd Earl of Aberdeen, and his mistress, Penelope Dearing. He received a military commission in 1803, purchased for him, and he subsequently served in the Peninsular War. Gordon sold his commission in 1811 upon marriage.

He married Albinia Elizabeth Cumberland on 20 May 1811. She was the daughter of Richard Cumberland and granddaughter of Richard Cumberland and George Hobart, the 3rd Earl of Buckinghamshire. The marriage produced five sons and four daughters.

Their children included:

- **George John Robert Gordon (1812–1912)**, who served as a Justice of the Peace and Deputy Lieutenant of Ellon Castle, Aberdeenshire. He was a diplomat in Sweden and Germany, married Rosa Justina Young, and had three children: Cosmo Frederick Maitland Gordon (b. 1843), Alicia Albinia Georgiana Gordon (1845–1930), and Arthur John Lewis Gordon (1847–1918).

- **Sophia Albinia Georgiana Gordon (born 1813)**.

- **Bertie Edward Murray Gordon (1813–1870)**, an army officer who married Katherine Alicia Hacket.

- **Richard Louis Hobart Gordon (1815–1835)**, a naval officer who drowned in the wreck of HMS Challenger.

- **Harriet Albinia Louisa Gordon (1816–1854)**, who married Charles Elphinstone-Dalrymple and had one son, William Robert Elphinstone-Dalrymple (b. 1854), an army officer.

- **William Everard Alphonso Gordon (born 1817)**, a naval officer.

- **Catherine Louisa Caroline Gordon (born 1819)**.

- **Charles Alexander Boswell Gordon (born 1823)**, an army officer who married Eweretta Rosa Johnstone.

- **Eleanor Vere Gordon (1825–1916)**, an artist and author, married the Reverend Richard Cavendish Boyle. They had three sons—Richard Boyle (b. 1848), Charles John Boyle (b. 1849), and Algernon Edward Richard Boyle (b. 1854)—and one daughter.

Alexander Gordon died at Ellon in Aberdeenshire on 21 March 1873.

A bibliography of his published works includes "A Cavalry Officer in the Corunna Campaign, 1808–1809: The Journal of Captain Gordon of the 15th Hussars," edited by H.C. Wylly and published in 2009 (originally from 1909). This collection provides an eye-witness account of the Corunna Campaign, regarded as a valuable record of the period by scholars and institutions such as the National Army Museum.

**References**:

- James Godsman, "A history of the Burgh and Parish of Ellon, Aberdeenshire," (1958).

- Gareth Glover (ed.), "From Corunna to Waterloo: the letters and journals of two Napoleonic Hussars," (2007).

- The National Army Museum reviewed "A Cavalry Officer in the Corunna Campaign," emphasizing its significance.