William Gordon

Early life Gordon was born in 1814, the eldest son of Colonel Thomas Gordon of Harperfield, Lanarkshire. The estate came to him while still young on his father's death, and through his mother, Jane Vigor Nisbet of Carfin, niece of Andrew, last Earl of Hyndford, he inherited Carfin and Mauldslie Castle. From a private school at Bexley he passed into the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, and obtained a commission in the Royal Engineers on 1 December 1823.

During the siege of Sevastopol, while directing siege operations during a sortie on 22 March 1855, Gordon was severely wounded when a ball passed through both arms. Although he soon returned to duty and commanded the Royal Engineers in the Kerch expedition, he had eventually to be invalided before the fall of Sevastopol. On 1 June 1869 he was selected for the appointment of Inspector-General of Engineers, the head of the Corps of Royal Engineers. The previous holder of the position, Edward Frome, had been titled "Inspector-General of Engineers and Director of Work" but the positions were split. There was, however, no Director of Work during Gordon's life.

A full-length portrait of him hangs in the headquarters mess of the Royal Engineers at Chatham.

Character According to Robert Hamilton Vetch, writing in the Dictionary of National Biography, "[Gordon] was a man of great height and strength, and careless of danger; his earnest religious convictions governed his whole conduct, though his warmth of feeling was hidden under a cold exterior."

Regarding his earlier posting in Bermuda, Vetch also adds, "his name was remembered in the islands long after his departure, not only for his athletic feats, but for a liberality to the poor which continued for many years after he had left the place."