Sir Alexander Cornewall Duff-Gordon, 3rd Baronet

Sir Alexander Cornewall Duff-Gordon, 3rd Baronet (3 February 1811 – 27 October 1872) was a British civil servant and Baronet of Halkin. He was the husband of Lucie, Lady Duff-Gordon, a translator and writer best known for her correspondence on Egypt.

Early life

Duff-Gordon was born on 3 February 1811 the eldest son of Sir William Duff-Gordon, a younger son of the House of Aberdeen and his mother, Caroline, who was a daughter of Sir George Cornewall. He succeeded to his father's title on 8 March 1823.

Marriage At a society ball at Lansdowne House, the London home of the Marquess of Lansdowne, in 1838, he met Lucie Austin who was ten years his junior. Lucie was the daughter of literary translator Sarah Austin and legal philosopher John Austin. The couple married on 16 May 1840 in Kensington Old Church, despite the initial objections of his mother over Lucie's lack of a dowry. his will was probated 6 November, and was valued at less than £15,000.

Sir Alexander's gravestone is in the churchyard of St Dunstan's Church, Cheam, Surrey. It records "his beloved wife Lucie, only daughter of John and Sarah Austin, who died and was buried in Egypt." There is also an inscription regarding Sir Alexander and Lucie's youngest child, Urania, who was born in November 1858 and died on 22 September 1877. The inscription is, in some places, very difficult to read.

Personal life He and his wife had four children. Their daughter Janet Ann Ross was born in 1842 and died in 1927. Their second child was born in 1849 but died after only a few months of life. Their third child and only son Maurice (1849–1896) became Sir Maurice Duff-Gordon and succeeded to his father's title, becoming the 4th Baronet. Their fourth child, Urania, was born in 1858 and died on 22 September 1877.

His granddaughter, via Maurice, Caroline "Lina" Waterfield (1874–1964), became an author and foreign correspondent for The Observer. She was the mother of author Gordon Waterfield and grandmother of the historian Sir Antony Beevor.