In May, 1803, Captain Bolton acted as proxy for Lord Nelson at his installation as a K.B., and on that occasion received the honor of knighthood. He married his first cousin, Catherine, second daughter of the above mentioned Thomas Bolton, Esq. of Cranwich, Norfolk, (whose eldest son is presumptive heir to the Nelson Earldom).
Agents.– Messrs Cooke, Halford, and Son.
SIR JAMES ALEXANDER GORDON.
Knight Commander of the Most Honorable Military Order of the Bath.
[Post-Captain of 1805.]
This officer is the eldest son of Charles Gordon, of Wardhouse, in Aberdeenshire, Esq. by a daughter of the late Major James Mercer, of Auchnacant, in the same county.
He appears to have entered the naval service about the commencement of the French revolutionary war, and to have had the honor of sharing in the partial action off Frejus, July 13, 1795; and the great battles of Feb. 14, 1797, and Aug. 1, 1798[1]. In 1800, we find him serving as second Lieutenant of le Bourdelais, a post-ship, under the command of Captain Thomas Manby, by whom he was particularly mentioned as having signalized himself in an engagement already described at p. 205 et seq. of this volume. His conduct in other actions on the Jamaica station will be seen by the following letter from the late Captain Austin Bissell, of the Racoon brig, to the commander-in-chief, dated off that island, July 16, 1803:
- ↑ See Vol. I. pp. 254, 20 et seq. and note † at p. 180 et seq.