GORDON, William R.N., Captain ¹

  General Notes:

'1386- William. 1726, Mid., R.N., "Berwick," afterwards mate; Mid., " Winchelsea"; Master's Mate, "Princess Louise"; Mid., "Captain," later Master's Mate, Mid., Mate. 1733, Mar. 23, passed as Lt, aged 31 (Adm. N. Board, Us. Passing Certif., P.R.O.). 1737, Oct. 7, 3 rd Lt., "Dunkirk". 1738, May i, 2nd Lt.; Sep. 23, discharged; Sep, 24, h.p. 1739, Jul. 3,
"Mercury". 1740, Jan. 30, ist Lt., "Sandwich"; May 30, discharged; May 31, h.p. 1742, May 22, Master and Comdr. "Hound" sloop. 1744, May, Post Capt.; he had the good fortune during his passage home from Virginia to capture a very valuable French merchant ship, homeward bound from Martinico called the " Happy Mary," laden with sugar, cocoa,
coffee and other valuable commodities, bound for Bordeaux (S.M., vol. iv. 243); Jul. 29, convoying, in company with the
"Vulture" sloop, the outward bound trade to Rotterdam, the " Hound," in sight of Goree "stood after a snow, which proved to be a French privateer of ten carriage guns and nine swivels with 81 men, which had been three days out of Dunkirk. She engaged the " Hound " for one and a half hours and then struck having five men killed and several mortally wounded. Capt. Gordon also re-took a ship, which the privateer had just taken (Admiralty report). In consequence of his very spirited behaviour on this occasion he was promoted Aug. 4, Capt. of the "Gosport," a fifth rate. He is erroneously stated in some accounts to have been about the same time appointed to the " Ludlow Castle" and not the "Gosport" (S.M., vol. 6, p. 395), but this is a mistake occasioned by his being very quickly removed into the " Sheerness " as
successor to Capt. Bridge Rodney, appointed to the " Ludlow Castle" (S.M., vol 6, p. 443 ; G.M., vol. 14, p. 506); no mention is made of him in the " Sheerness" till the year ensuing when he was at the end of the month of June, O.S., engaged with Lord George Graham in a very successful and spirited attack of some French privateers and their Prizes off Ostend.
Immediately after this enterprise he was appointed to the " Loo," 44 guns (S.M., vol. vn. p. 357 ; G.M., vol. 15, p. 389), and was in the course of the autumn [Nov. 2] removed into the "Chesterfield" a ship of the same force (G.M., vol. 15, p. 614). 1747, Nov. 23, appointed Captain of the "Assistance," 50 guns (S.M., vol. 9, p. 559 ; G.M., vol. 17, p. 593, vol. 18, p. 93). 1748, Dec. 20, paid off; Dec. 21, h.p. 1755, Sep. 19, "St. Albans," "a 20 gun ship, preferring a command so trivial to a life of absolute inactivity ". 1756, Nov., "Cambridge," 80 guns (S.M., vol. 18, pp. 574, 618; G.M., vol. 26, p. 596). 1757, Apr., "Princess Amelia," "a three-decked ship of the same force" (G.M., vol. 27, p. 241); May, "Devonshire" (S.M., vol. 19, p. 278). 1758, "served under Adm. Boscawen on the successful and memorable expedition against Louisburg; on his return from thence being overtaken by a violent storm the 'Devonshire' was with the greatest difficulty brought in and preserved from foundering" (Charnock's Nav. Biog., v. 300-1). 1759, served under V. Adm. Saunders at the siege of Quebec, returned with him to England (Schomberg's Nav. Chronology, iv. 37; Laird Clowes's Navy, III. 206, 565). 1760, Jul. 1, h.p. 1761, Aug. 5, "Blenheim," "a new second rate of 90 guns, and the following spring was advanced to be Commodore and Commander-in-Chief of the ships in the Medway, and at the Nore; this station he held during the remainder of the war " (Charnock's Nav. Biog.; G.M., vol. 31, p. 1761; vol. 32, p. 195). 1762, Oct. 21, R. Adm., ret. (Adm. Half Pay Lists,P.R.O.).
Son of William, merchant, Elgin, who was the son of John, Mill of Huntly, who was the grandson of Thomas, I. of Artloch (J. M. Bulloch in Banffshire Herald, 1911, Jul. 8, 22); b. about 1709. 1750, went to reside at Banff, where he occupied a prominent position; m. (i) an Englishwoman, who d. at Corse of Kinnoir (Mitchell MS.); and (2) in or before 1753, Elizabeth Forbes,"daughter of Corse, his own cousin " (ibid.), who entertained Wesley, on his visit to Banff in 1776; she d. at Banff, 1794, Mar. 17 (Abd. Jour.); had William, 1753-72; John, 1756-9; Elizabeth; and Margaret, who is remembered by the Strathspey " Miss Admiral Gordon," to which Burns wrote "O" a' the airts," and who m. James Forbes of Seaton, and d. 1841.
Gordon d. 1768, Apr. 25, at Banff, where he is commemorated by a stone, inscribed by Dr. Beattie (Cramond's Annals of Banff, II. 326).'

from Gordons Under Arms

William married 'an Englishwoman'. ('an Englishwoman' was born about 1710 and died in Corse of Kinnoir, Aberdeenshire, Scotland ¹.)

William next married Elizabeth FORBES before 1754.¹ (Elizabeth FORBES was born about 1720 and died on 17 March 1794 in Banff, Banffshire, Scotland ¹.)