Alexander Gordon of Great Myless

Alexander Gordon (c.1779-1839), son of Charles Gordon (3rd of Cluny) and the brother of John Gordon (4th of Cluny). To date no will or probate has been traced for him.

1. According to the Gordon of Cluny Papers, these estates (Bacolet, Trois Rivieres and Spey Side) were purchased by Alexander Gordon (d. 1801, q.v. under Alexander Gordon the elder), the uncle of John Gordon of Cluny and his brother Alexander, and administered by the first Alexander Gordon and his brother James (c.1749-c.1776), 'later run by Alexander Gordon (1779-1839).' Disposed of by Capt John Gordon of Cluny V.

2. A counterclaim on Betty's Hope in Tobago shows Alexander Gordon of Hillingdon Middlesex counterclaiming with John Gordon of Cluny as mortgagee on the estate. For two of their awards, the two men are characterised as 'of London and Scotland'.

3. Adm. Fell.-Com. at ST JOHN'S, July 8, 1801. [2nd] s. of Charles, Esq., of Braid, near Edinburgh. Schools, Norwich [and Harrow]. Matric. Michs. 1801; B.A. 1806. Resided for a time at Terregles House, Kirkcudbright. Of Gt Myless, Essex, Esq. Married and had issue. Died Sept. 13, 1839, at Nunton, in the Hebrides (Oct. 12, 1839, is the date given on the Gordon mausoleum at Edinburgh). Brother of John (1797). (St John's Coll. Adm., IV. 273; J. M. Bulloch, Gordons of Cluny; G. Mag., N.S., XII. 550.)

4. The baptism of his eldest son Charles Henry Gordon in Edinburgh in 1816 gives Alexander's wife as Eleanor, daughter of John Henry Baker Esquire, merchant in London. The Gordons of Cluny gives the births of Alexander's twin sons in 1822 and daughter in 1825. All six sons attended Harrow; he is referred to as "of Terregles" in the Harrow School Register.

See separate entry for John Gordon, 4th of Cluny, for more family background.

1. GB 0231 Aberdeen University Special Libraries and Archives MS 3600/1/14 Gordon of Cluny: papers relating to estates held in Tobago 1847-1990s.

2. T71/891 Tobago No. 64; T71/891 Tobago Nos. 72 and 75.

3. Ancestry.com, Cambridge University Alumni, 1261-1900 [database online].

4. GROS OPR Births 685/2 140 288 St Cuthbert's; John Malcolm Bulloch, The Gordons of Cluny from the Early Years of the Eighteenth Century down to the Present Time (privately printed, n.d.) pp. 20-21, 23, 24.

We are grateful to Derrick Johnstone for his assistance with compiling this entry.