Robert Gordon (diplomat)

For other people named Robert Gordon, see Robert Gordon (disambiguation).

Not to be confused with Robert Gordon (ambassador).

Sir Robert Gordon GCB GCH PC (1791 – 8 October 1847) was a British diplomat.^[1]

Sir Robert Gordon Lithograph by Josef Kriehuber, 1846

Gordon was a younger son of George Gordon, Lord Haddo (himself the eldest son of the 3rd Earl of Aberdeen) and a brother of the 4th Earl of Aberdeen. He was educated at St John's College, Cambridge.^[2] From 1826 to 1828, he was Envoy Extraordinary to Brazil (during which time he negotiated the British-Brazilian Treaty of 1826), to the Ottoman Empire from 1828 to 1831 and to Austria from 1841 to 1847.^[1] He took leave twice during his stay in Vienna, with John Fiennes-Twisleton-Crampton (September to October 1842) and Arthur Magenis (31 July 1845 to April 1846) taking charge in his place.^[3]

In 1830, he acquired a long-term lease of Balmoral Castle. He died in 1847 as the result of choking on a fish bone. Prince Albert bought the estate from his trustees a year later as a gift for his wife, Queen Victoria.^[1]

References

1. Stephen, Leslie; Lee, Sidney, eds. (1890). "Gordon, Robert (1791-1847)" . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 22. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
2. "Gordon, Robert (GRDN809R)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
3. Bindoff, S.T. (1934). British Diplomatic Representatives(1789-1852). p. 17. Retrieved 12 June 2019.

Diplomatic posts
Preceded by Sir Frederick Lamb	British Ambassador to the Austrian Empire 1841–1846	Succeeded by The Viscount Ponsonby