General Lord Adam Gordon (c. 1726 – 13 August 1801) was a British Army officer and politician. He was a younger son of Alexander Gordon, 2nd Duke of Gordon, and Lady Henrietta Mordaunt.
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Early life and education
He entered the army as an ensign in the 2nd Dragoons in 1741, and attended Eton from 1742 to 1743. That year he was promoted to lieutenant, and in 1746 became a captain of the 18th Regiment of Foot.
Seven Years' War
Gordon was returned for Aberdeenshire in 1754, and was made lieutenant-colonel of the 3rd Foot Guards in 1756. He supported the recently fallen Duke of Newcastle during the parliamentary inquiry into his ministry's role in the loss of Menorca.
In 1758, he took part in the descent on Cherbourg, and fought bravely at the Battle of St. Cast, leading the grenadier company of the Guards as part of the rearguard there.
Gordon continued in Parliament after the 1761 election as a supporter of the rising Lord Bute. On 19 January 1763, he was made colonel of the 66th Regiment of Foot, and the next year, toured the West Indies, the American colonies, and Canada, looking to invest in land. He returned to England in 1765.
On 2 September 1767, he married Jean, Dowager Duchess of Atholl (daughter of John Drummond), and laid aside his American projects. He left Parliament in 1768, but returned again for Kincardineshire in 1774. He had, by 1772, been promoted major-general.
