Sir Thomas Edward GordonKCIEKCBCSI (12 January 1832 – 23 March 1914) was a Scottish soldier, diplomat, and traveller. A British Army officer, he fought in India, served as a diplomat in Tehran, and travelled across the Pamirs. He is primarily remembered as an author of several books about India, Persia (modern-day Iran), and Central Asia of the 19th century.[1]
Early life
Gordon was born on 12 January 1832 in Aberdeen and was a twin son of Captain William Gordon (1788–1834) of the 2nd Queen's Royal Regiment. His father had served in the Peninsular War and was married at Santarém, in 1818, to Marianna Carlotta Loi Gonçalves de Mello, daughter of Luiz Gonçalves de Mello, a Spanish government official in the province of Estremadura.
His father William Gordon was one of the sons of Adam Gordon (1750–1831) of Griamachary in the parish of Kildonan, Dingwall, whose sons and grandsons included thirteen commissioned officers, a Surgeon-General, Huntly George Gordon; and a Lord Advocate and MP, Edward Gordon, Baron Gordon of Drumearn.[1]
He and his twin brother, Sir John James Hood Gordon, were the youngest children in a family of four sons and a daughter. The twins were educated at the Scottish Naval and Military Academy, Edinburgh. Thomas Edward and John joined the British Army on the same day; both became generals and were knighted.[2]: 1–3
In 1889 he became Oriental Secretary to the British Legation in Tehran and was Military Attaché, 1891–93. During his visits to Persia Gordon decided to publish an account of his journey with the intention of displaying, through his observations and illustrations, evidence of the "progress and improvement" he found. In 1896 his work, Persia Revisited, was published.
"Chinese Taifurchis" (gunners) in Kashgar, T.E. Gordon's drawing in The Roof of the World
In 1862, Gordon married firstly, Mary Helen Sawers, daughter of Alexander Sibbald Sawers. They had four daughters, Helen Elizabeth (1863–1942), Alexa Anna (9 January 1867 – 18 November 1867), Jeanetta (1876–1963), and Violet Mary (1878–1972), and a son who died in childhood, Thomas William Gordon (1868–1876).[7][8][9][10]
Mary Helen died in 1879 and he married secondly in 1894, Charlotte Davison.[1]
He was also a painter, perhaps the first European to paint the landscapes of certain remote locations of the Pamirs.[11]
