GORDON, John (1794-1843).

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1790-1820, ed. R. Thorne, 1986
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

1818 - 1820

Family and Education

b. 20 Oct. 1794, 2nd s. of Very Rev. George Gordon, DD, dean of Lincoln, by his w. née Tomlinson of Lincoln. educ. Rugby 1807; St. John’s, Camb. 1811. m. 21 Dec. 1820, Sarah Matthews, late of the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden, Mdx.,1 3s. 1da.

Offices Held

Vicar of Bierton with Buckland, Bucks. 1825-34; rector of St. Antholin’s, Watling Street 1827-35; preb. Easton in Gordano, Wilts. 1834-d.; vicar of Edwinstowe, Notts. 1835-d.

Biography

Gordon’s grandfather was precentor and his father dean of Lincoln and both were active in local politics.2 Gordon himself was returned for Athlone by its patron William Handcock*, Lord Castlemaine, who normally sold the seat to the Treasury. He was classed by Peel as a supporter of government and voted against Tierney’s motion for a committee on the state of the nation, 18 May 1819. His only reported contribution to debate, in support of the grant for the Windsor establishment, 25 Feb. 1819, was barely reported as Gordon ‘spoke in so low a tone’ that the reporters ‘could catch only fragments of sentences’. He voted against Catholic relief on 3 May and in the minority against the extension of the franchise at Penryn, 22 June. He also supported ministers on the seditious libel bill, 23 Dec. 1819.

Gordon, who was replaced at Athlone in 1820, subsequently entered the church. He died 7 May 1843.3

Ref Volumes: 1790-1820

Author: J. M. Collinge

Notes

For an account of the family see J. M. Bulloch's articles in the Huntly Express, Sept.-Oct. 1907.

  • 1. Scots Mag. (1821), i. 94.
  • 2. Sir F. Hill, Georgian Lincoln, passim.
  • 3. G. W. Marshall, Edwinstow Regs. 172; Gent. Mag. (1843), i. 213 gives 8 May.