Gordon Drummond

General Sir Gordon Drummond, GCB (27 September 1772 – 10 October 1854) was a Canadian-born British Army officer and the first official to command the military and the civil government of Canada. As Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada, Drummond distinguished himself on the Niagara front in the War of 1812 and later became Governor-General and Administrator of Canada. Early years Gordon Drummond was born in Quebec City on 27 September 1772. He was of Scottish descent, the son of Colin Drummond (1722–1776), of Megginch Castle, Perthshire, and his wife Catherine Oliphant of Rossie. His sister, Elizabeth married Lord Hervey, one brother, John Drummond married a daughter of John Fane, 9th Earl of Westmorland and another brother, Vice-Admiral Sir Adam Drummond, KCH, married Lady Charlotte Murray, eldest daughter of John Murray, 4th Duke of Atholl. Gordon's father first came to Lower Canada in 1764 as the Quebec agent to the London firm of Sir Samuel Fludyer, Adam Drummond (his brother) & Franks, contractors for victualling the troops in North America. At Quebec, Colin Drummond became a business partner of Jacob Jordan and served as Commissary General, deputy Paymaster General to the Forces in the Province of Quebec and Legislative Councillor. Gordon was three years old when Quebec City was unsuccessfully sieged by American forces in 1775. Four years after Colin Drummond's death, in 1780 the family left Quebec and Gordon received his education at Westminster School in England before entering the British Army as an ensign with the 1st Foot in 1789. In 1794, he served as a junior lieutenant-colonel in the Netherlands, commanded by the Duke of York. At the siege of Nijmegen Drummond was commended in the successful repelling of a French sortie. In 1801 Drummond led the 8th Regiment of Foot ashore at the Battle of Abukir and fought in a number of engagements in Egypt including the Battle of Alexandria and the Capture of Cairo. He also saw service in the Mediterranean and the West Indies. In 1805, at the age of 33 years, Drummond had attained the rank of major general.