GORDON, ALEXANDER [SSNE 3911]
- Surname
- GORDON
- First name
- ALEXANDER
- Title/rank
- MAJOR GENERAL
- Nationality
- SCOT
- Region
- AUCHINTOUL, ABERDEENSHIRE
- Social status
- OFFICER
Text source
Alexander Gordon came to Russia from the French army in 1695. He was accepted as a major and had risen in rank by 1697 when he was made a colonel. In 1700 he was wounded and seized by the Swedes at Narva, but exchanged in 1707. The following year he became major general and was sent to Poland in command of the Russian infantry coprs which he thought "nothing inferior to the best disciplined troops in Europe". Gordon returned to Scotland on his father's death in 1711 and was 'Out' in 1715, where he commanded the Jacobite centre at Sheriffmuir. He was married to Katherine, daughter of Patrick Gordon. He wrote 'History of Peter the Great, Emperor of Russia', (2 vols, Aberdeen, 1755).J.W. Barnhill and Paul Dukes, 'North-east Scots in Muscovy in the seventeenth century' in Northern Scotland, I, I, p.61; S. Murdoch, 'Soldier, Sailor, Jacobite Spy: Russo-Jacobite Relations 1688-1750' in Slavonica, 1996/7, 3/1, pp.7-8; J. M. Bulloch, The Gay Gordons. Some Strange Adventures of a Famous Scots Family (London, 1908), p.65; D. Fedosov, The Caledonian Connection (Aberdeen, 1996); Steve Murdoch, Network North: Scottish Kin, Commercial and Covert Associations in Northern Europe, 1603-1746 (Brill, Leiden, 2006), p.317.
Service record
- FRANCE, FRENCH ARMY
- Arrived 1695-01-01, as OFFICER
- Departed 1695-12-31, as OFFICER
- Capacity OFFICER, purpose MILITARY
- RUSSIA, RUSSIAN ARMY
- Arrived 1695-01-01, as MAJOR
- Departed 1710-12-31, as COLONEL
- Capacity OFFICER, purpose MILITARY
- SWEDEN, SWEDISH ARMY
- Arrived 1700-01-01, as PRISONER
- Departed 1707-12-31, as PRISONER
- Capacity OFFICER, purpose MILITARY
- RUSSIA, POLAND
- Arrived 1708-01-01, as MAJOR GENERAL
- Departed 1708-12-31, as MAJOR GENERAL
- Capacity OFFICER, purpose MILITARY
- SCOTLAND, JACOBITE ARMY
- Arrived 1715-01-01, as COMMANDER
- Departed 1715-12-31, as COMMANDER
- Capacity OFFICER, purpose MILITARY