Background
Gordon was born 24 April 1762 at Ardersier, Inverness-shire, where his father, the Review Harry Gordon, was minister of the parish. After his father"s death (15 March 1764) his mother went to live with her father, the Revd Walter Morrison, in Banffshire.
Education
Young Gordon was educated at the parish school of Banff, and subsequently at the University of Aberdeen, where he did not remain long, obtaining a commission in the marines at the age of fifteen.
Career
He was principally employed in recruiting, and seems to have seen no active service except a few cruises, which yielded him, he says, £17 in prize-money. In 1792 he obtained a commission in a regiment raised by the Duke of Gordon, and after five years" service in Scotland was allowed to accompany his friend Lord Montgomery, an invalid, to Italy, where he remained until 1801, returning to find his regiment disbanded. This rendered him independent of military service.
After living at Banff Castle and in Sloane Street, London, he went to Sicily with Lord Montgomery in 1811, and remained there until 1813, when he was prostrated by a sunstroke.
The following year, after the peace, he took up his residence at Brussels, where he remained until his death. He died in Cheltenham on 2 September 1845.