William Gordon

He did not long enjoy the honour of high office. Disease of the brain, caused by increasing irritation of his Crimean wound, set in, and the suffering which finally destroyed his judgment was borne patiently and in silence. Accompanied by his friend Colonel Charles George Gordon, he was on a visit to his brother-in-law, Colonel Hutchinson, at Westward Ho! in February 1870, when he slashed his throat with a razor. He died of blood loss the following day, on 8 February 1870, aged 55 years. An inquest issued a verdict of suicide while of unsound mind.

After the war he served with the Royal Horse Guards, commanded the defensive works at Plymouth and briefly commanded engineers in Canada when British involvement with the American Civil War became a possibility. During this period he was an appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB), promoted to Major General and became a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers. In 1869 he was appointed the Inspector-General of Engineers, the head of the Corps of Royal Engineers. However, in 1870 Gordon committed suicide, attributed to insanity brought on by his wounds from the Crimean War, in Westward Ho!, Devon while visiting family. He also was in India for East India Company.

In 1856 he was appointed deputy adjutant-general at the Royal Horse Guards, a position which he held for five years. While at the Horse Guards he was elected a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers. Gordon's next appointment was Commanding Royal Engineer of the Southern District, where the works for the defence of Portsmouth had recently been commenced. His command at Portsmouth was broken temporarily by a call to Canada to command the engineers on occasion of the Trent affair at the end of 1861. While at Portsmouth he was made a K.C.B.. Soon after leaving that command, on 3 August 1866, he was promoted to Major-General. On 1 June 1869 he was selected for the appointment of Inspector-General of Engineers, the head of the Corps of Royal Engineers. The previous holder of the position, Edward Frome, had been titled "Inspector-General of Engineers and Director of Work" but the positions were split. There was, however, no Director of Work during Gordon's life.

During the siege of Sevastopol, while directing siege operations during a sortie on 22 March 1855, Gordon was severely wounded when a ball passed through both arms. Although he soon returned to duty and commanded the Royal Engineers in the Kerch expedition, he had eventually to be invalided before the fall of Sevastopol.

He obtained a brevet majority on 12 December 1854, a brevet lieutenant-colonelcy 24 April 1855, and a brevet colonelcy 29 June 1855. He was also made a C.B. and aide-de-camp to the queen.

He passed the first twenty years of his service at various stations at home and in North America. On his promotion to Captain in July 1845 he was appointed to command the 1st company, Royal Engineers, which he took shortly afterwards to Bermuda; he remained there six years.

Gordon obtained a commission in the Royal Engineers in 1823 and served in the United Kingdom, North America and Bermuda before the outbreak of the Crimean War.

Major-General Sir John William Gordon KCB (4 November 1814 – 8 February 1870) was a British Army officer and Inspector-General of Engineers.