ther proof of the wonderful faculty of memory which the Royal Family
are said to possess. How differently the Duke would have thought of
that little fair-haired boy with the blue penetrating eyes could he
have looked into the future! It was in 1843 that Mrs. Gordon brought
her son to England for the sake of his education. He went to school at
Taunton for a few years, and then to Mr. Jeffery's, Shooters Hill,
Woolwich, preparatory to entering the Royal Military Academy. His
father had been given an appointment at the Arsenal at Woolwich, so
that his holidays, as well as much of his school life, were spent at
that great garrison town. There was nothing about the youth at this
time that indicated what his future would be. Indeed, the very energies
which in after life made him undertake so much, finding no other vent,
gave him a turn for mischief and fun of all sorts. Later in life, and
even amid all his troubles in the Soudan, he would in his letters
recall with pleasure the boyish days spent at Woolwich.

* * *

In 1848 he entered the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich, where he
remained till 1852, when, at the age of nineteen, he received his
commission in the Royal Engineers. Although he was an adept at
surveying and at fortification, two branches of military knowledge
which served him well in after years, he was deficient in mathematics,
and consequently did not make much progress. An event which took place
here might have had very serious consequences, and shows that even then
he had the daring nature which afterwards characterised him. For some
reason it became necessary to restrain the cadets when leaving the
dining-hall, the approach to which was by a narrow staircase. At the
top of this staircase stood the senior corporal, with outstretched
arms, facing the cadets. This was too much for one so full of fun and
energy and so reckless of consequences as Gordon; so, putting down his
head, he charged, and butting the corporal in the pit of the stomach,
sent him flying down the staircase and through a window beyond.
Fortunately the corporal was unhurt, but Gordon was perilously near
dismissal, and having his military career cut short. The act of
insubordination was, however, overlooked by the authorities, but that
it did not subdue his spirit is evident from the fact that on another
occasion, when told by Captain Eardley Wilmot that he would never make
an officer, he tore the epaul