Sir Henry Percy Gordon, 2nd Baronet, FRS (21 October 1806 – 29 July 1876) was a barrister and artist.

Sir Henry Percy Gordon, 2nd Baronet, 1862 photograph

Life

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He was the only son of Sir James Willoughby Gordon, 1st Baronet and his wife Isabella Julia Levina Bennet, daughter of Richard Henry Alexander Bennet.[1]

Gordon entered Peterhouse, Cambridge in 1823 and was senior wrangler in 1827, placed ahead of Thomas Turner (1804–1883),[2] Anthony Cleasby, Augustus De Morgan and William Hopkins. He was made 2nd Smith's prizeman, behind Turner, also becoming a Fellow of his college that year.[3][4] He received an M.A. in 1830. He was admitted to Lincoln's Inn in 1828 and called to the bar in 1831. He became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1830. He was a Justice of the peace and deputy lieutenant for the Isle of Wight.[3]

In 1851, Gordon succeeded to his father's title. He became also 13th laird of Knockespock.[3] The lairdship was under an entail, and he inherited it on the 1854 death of James Adam Gordon.[3][5]

Gordon died suddenly, at Blackhall, Kincardineshire, in 1876.[5] At his death, the baronetcy of Gordon of Northcourt became extinct.[6]

 
Memorial to Sir Henry Percy Gordon, 2nd Baronet, in St Peter's Church, Shorwell, Isle of Wight

Family

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In 1839 Gordon married Lady Mary Agnes Blanche Ashburnham, daughter of George Ashburnham, 3rd Earl of Ashburnham and Charlotte Ashburnham.[3] They had a daughter, Mary Charlotte Julia Gordon (died 1926): she married General Robert William Disney Leith (1819–1892). She was a writer and translator, publishing as Mrs. Disney Leith.[5][7][8]

Gordon was an engraver. He produced joint work with his sister, Julia Emily Gordon.[9]

Notes

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  1. ^ Burke, John (1852). A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire. Colburn & Company. p. 441.
  2. ^ "Turner, Thomas (TNR822T)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
  3. ^ a b c d e "Gordon, Henry Percy (GRDN823HP)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
  4. ^ Neale, Charles Montague (1907). The senior wranglers of the University of Cambridge, from 1748 to 1907. Bury St. Edmunds: Groom and Son. p. 31.
  5. ^ a b c Wimberley, Douglas (1903). A genealogical account of the family of Gordon of Knockespock / by Douglas Wimberley. Inverness: D. Wimberley. p. 87.
  6. ^ "Gordon, Sir James Willoughby, 1st bt. (1772–1851), of Niton, I.o.W., History of Parliament Online". www.historyofparliamentonline.org.
  7. ^ Kemp, Sandra; Mitchell, Charlotte; Trotter, David (1997). Edwardian Fiction: An Oxford Companion. Oxford University Press. p. 239. ISBN 978-0-19-811760-5.
  8. ^ Mitchell, Jeremy; Powney, Janet (11 May 2023), "Gordon [married name Leith], Mary Charlotte Julia [known as Mrs Disney Leith] (1840–1926), novelist and Icelandic traveller", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.013.90000382399, ISBN 978-0-19-861412-8, retrieved 1 September 2023
  9. ^ "Sir Harry Percy Gordon, 2nd Bt". Tate.
Baronetage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Baronet
(of Northcourt)
1851–1876
Extinct