GORDON, Lewis, Major

  General Notes:

"1093- Lewis. 1782, May or Jun. 15 or 29, Ens., N. Fenc. Highlrs. (L.G.; W.O., Notifications, P.R.O.). 1783, Apr., reg. disbanded, no h.p. allowed to the Offs. (W.O., 0/s. Services, 1828, P.R.O.). States 'he was enrolled and served as a Volunteer Private in the first Volunteer Corps formed in Scotland at Edinburgh from 1794, Aug. 1797, Mar., receiving no pay'. 1796, Feb. 13, Ens., 1st Strathspey Fencibles, previously Vol. (L.G., 163). 1797, Mar. 10, or Apr. 15, Lt., Edinburgh Highland Vols., (ibid., 337) 'receiving no pay', as the Officers' pay was spent on clothing the men'; Aug. 31 or Sep. 5, Capt. and Adj. (ibid., 848), 'his pay as Captain again spent on clothing for the men, he only received 3/9 per day as Adjutant'.

1801, Aug. or Sep., res. Adjcty., 'received no half pay for his services as Adjutant, and the regiment was discontinued early in 1802 at the peace of Amiens'. 1801, Nov. 19, or 1802, Feb. 16, Ens., 8th W.I. Reg. (L.G., 156). 1802, May 27, or Jun. 1, Lt., by purchase (ibid., 554),' placed on half pay, 35th Foot, Oct. 25, upon reduction of the 2nd Batn. and allowed the old half pay rate only, 42, and some odd shillings per ann.'. 1803, Jun. 2 or 4, Capt., Edinburgh Highland Vols. (ibid., 651) 'receiving five days pay per week, 9/5, for some years, until this was withdrawn by a new regulation'. 1809, Mar. 17 or 23, Maj., Edinburgh Highland Mil. (ibid., 624), 'receiving no pay except when on permanent duty; this regiment disembodied in 1814; not desirous of service as (1828) the very bad state of his health rendered him altogether unequal to the fatigue' (A.L., 1803-42; Hart's A.L., 1840-58; Richard Trimen's 35th Foot, 202).

Son of John, IV. in Minmore (Bulloch's Gordons and Smitlis, 14-17); b 1767; for some years Secy, of the Highland Soc., wrote two letters to the Sec. at War in 1820 from the Soc. Chambers, Edinburgh, on behalf of the family
of his brother, John, 907 (W.O., Letters, Compass. Fit, id, P.K.O.). 1823, went to live in Aberdeen, where he d. unm. 1839, Jan. 23; memorial in Tombae R.C. Chapel. Brother of Henry, 618, and William, 1407-"

from Gordons Under Arms


'...he had been associated with the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland, the service of which he entered in 1792 (Ramsay's " History of the Society,'' pp. 520-1). In 1795, he was appointed depute-secretary, and was admitted a member of the Society in 1799.....Ill-health compelled him to relinquish his post in 1821.
During his term of office he "discharged the varied official duties of the situations he filled in such a manner as to merit the uniform approbation of every member of the Society. Few officers, in like situations, have evidenced so much zeal, united with so sound a discretion, in the exercise of their official duties as Mr Gordon; and when the state of his health obliged him to retire "to the country," the directors recorded a vote of thanks to him and presented him with a piece of plate valued at £60. He took up his residence in Aberdeen, and died there unmarried on January 23, 1839, at the age of 72, and the directors of the Society recorded in their minutes "the deep sense entertained of the great zeal, assiduity, and attention uniformly evinced by him during the long period of his connection with the Society, which it was known to several directors present had contributed in no inconsiderable degree to the extension of the numbers and
usefulness of the Society." He is commemorated by a stone in the Roman Catholic Chapel at Tombae.'

from The Gordons and Smiths at Minmore


In Downan graveyard, in the parish of Inveravon Banffshire is this memorial:

"IHS. Sacred to the memory of Mary Stewart, spouse of Capt. William Gordon, Minmore, who died 1 Oct., 1842, aged 63 years; of their son, Capt. John Gordon, H.E.I.S., who died at Singapore 4th July, 1833, aged 27 years; of their daughter, Elizabeth Stewart Forbes, who died at the Convent of Mercy, Glasgow, 10 April, 1834, aged 32; of their 3 sons and daughters, who died in infancy. Of Lewis Gordon, Esq., for many years Secretary to the Highland Agricultural Society of Scotland, who died at Aberdeen 23 January, 1839, aged 72. And of Sir Charles Gordon, who died at Edinburgh 25th Sep., 1845, aged 52. Requiescant in pace."

from History of the Province of Moray ^{1 2 3}