Of Auchlunies, the natural son of George, third earl of Aberdeen; he was tutored by Sydney Smith before pursuing a military career and inheriting Ellon Castle, Aberdeenshire in 1840. He was the father of the illustrator Eleanor Vere Boyle.

REFERENCES TO Alexander Gordon:

Sydney Smith to Georgiana Meynell Ingram, November 1822 in A Memoir of the Reverend Sydney Smith. By his Daughter, Lady Holland. With a Selection from his Letters, edited by Mrs. Austin 2 vols (London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1855)