ordon Sir Thomas Edward
(Aberdeen, Scotland 1832 - 1914)
Lake Victoria, Great Pamir, May 2nd, 1874
Biography
General Sir Thomas Edward Gordon was born on 12th January 1832 in Aberdeen, and was the twin son of Captain William Gordon (1788-1834), 2nd Queen’s royal regiment. His father served through the Peninsular war, and married at Santarem in 1818 Marianna Carlotta Loi, daughter of Lois Congalvea de Mello, a government official in the province of Estremadura. His twin brother was Sir John James Hood Gordon. They both entered the army, joining the 29th foot on 21st August, 1849, and served in the Indian Mutiny campaign of 1857-58. Sir Thomas Edward Gordon became Military Attache and Oriental Secretary to Her Majesty's Legation at Tehran. During his visits to former 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 he published Persia Revisited. He died in 1914.