New Spalding Club > House of Gordon > Gordons under arms

OORnONS UNnER ARMS — CONTINENT. 435
28. As " Capt. at arms," he took the communion at Nymeguen, 1761, Mar.
29, 1762, Mar. 21, 1763, Mar. 27 (again as Corporal); at Namur, 1764, Mar.
18 (again as Corporal) ; at Tournay, 1770, Sep. 23, 1772, Sep. 27 ; got pay
in 1773, after which he disappears (F"erguson's Scots Brigade, in. 131, 133,
i34> 135. 137. i4o> 142. 166).
M. 1761, Apr. 17, at Nymeguen, Francina (or Francientje), dau. of James
Cavalier, Drum-Major, Majoribanks' Reg. (ibid., in. 158), and had Donald,
bap. 1762, Feb. 14, at Nymeguen; Jacoba, bap. 1764, Mar. i at Nov'' {sic);
Mary, bap. 1767, May 77, at Tournay; Margaret, bap. 1769, Nov. 12, at
Tournay; Robert, bap. 1771, Nov. 2, at Tournay (ibid., ni. 82,87, 93. 98>
loi, 102).
1731- J. 1830, Capt., Swiss Guards in Paris, who were defeated, Jul.
28, and disbanded Aug.
Gordon is a mysterious person about whom much has been written, but
of whom very little is known. He may have been a son of Robert Jacob,
1810- He usually signed his letters "Gordon," but his flute diatonique bears
the inscription " par J. Gordon ". Christopher Welch, who has written a big
book on History of the Boehm Flute, (3rd ed. iSg6, pp. 504), calls him a " Swiss
gentleman of English extraction ". He began experimenting with the con-
struction of the flute in Paris in 1826, and produced in 1831 an instrument in
which he had bored a lateral hole for the lower E and had covered it with a key,
while he had replaced the key for F with a ring. He improved on this with
new models in 1832 and 1833. At this time, Theobald Boehm [d. 1904), the
Bavarian, was also experimenting and the two men compared notes. Boehm
made greater headway, and Gordon (disappointed, it is said) went mad, flung
his flute into the Lake of Geneva, and died in an asylum between 1839 and
1847. A fierce controversy has waged round the claims of Gordon and
Boehm, and is discussed at great length by Mr. Welch, who says: "that
Gordon exercised an influence on Boehm is undeniable, but to what extent
will never be known". He was a pupil of Drouet. His wife, " M. Gordon,"
wrote a pathetic letter about him, 1838, May 20 [History of the Boehm Flute,
127-9; Bulloch's Gay Gordons, 247-252).
1732- Jacob. Cornet in the Dutch Dragoon Guards {G.M., vol. 66,
pt. I, p. 442), "but on account of his Scotch name and [his father] the burgo-
master's strong influence," he obtained a Coy. in W. P. Colyear's Reg.,
Scots Brigade, 1724, Nov. 21 (Ferguson's Scots Brigade, 11. 121); the G.M.
says that the Scots officers in the Brigade resented his service, as he was
practically a Dutchman. 1730, Mar. 20, Brevet Maj. 1736, Sep. 18, Brevet
Col. and Major {ibid., 11. 122). 1747, Sep. 14, captured by the French at