Born into an illustrious political pedigree, Gordon was a great-grandson of William Gordon, the second earl of Aberdeen, and thereby a cousin of George Hamilton Gordon, the fourth earl and prime minister. Prior to entering public life he was a captain of the Madras light cavalry in the service of the East India Company, of which his uncle was a director.1Berwick in Parliament: a history of the representation of Berwick in the House of Commons, 1529-2001 (2001), 108.
At the 1857 general election Gordon was brought forward by local Conservatives for Berwick-upon-Tweed. Fearing a lack of success he withdrew before the nomination, but was nevertheless proposed in his absence and was only narrowly defeated by two votes.2Berwick Warder, 3 Apr. 1857. He offered again at the 1859 general election, when he warned the electorate that the ‘democratic appetite in the Liberal party could not easily be satisfied’ and that under their leadership, the working-classes could gain ‘absolute and exclusive power’.3Ibid., 6 May 1859. After a heated contest riddled with corruption, he was elected at the head of the poll.4M. Wickham, ‘Berwick-upon-Tweed: a venal borough?’, Journal of Liberal History, 48 (2005), 26-30. Not surprisingly, his return was contested on the grounds of a fictitious majority, 8 June 1859, but the petition was later abandoned, 15 July 1859. However, his reputation was damaged by the subsequent royal commission investigating bribery at Berwick-upon-Tweed, which concluded that, out of the four candidates, only Gordon ‘was privy to and cognizant of’ bribery.5PP 1861 [2766], xvii. 21.
Gordon made little impact in the Commons. He made no known speeches, and although he attended frequently in his first two sessions, illness generally curtailed his presence thereafter. A stated supporter of Derby, he voted with the Conservatives on the address, 10 June 1859, but frequently divided with the Liberal ministry on commercial and fiscal matters, such as the customs acts, 15 Mar. 1860, and the re-imposition of income tax, 24 Feb. 1860. However, he remained wary of Liberal attempts to extend the franchise, and voted against Locke King’s county franchise bill, 13 Mar. 1861, and the borough franchise bill, 10 Apr. 1861. He also opposed church rate abolition, 13 July 1859, and the ballot, 20 Mar. 1861. In June 1863 he died in harness, unmarried, at his home in Pall Mall, London.6Daily News, 18 June 1863.