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Alexander Cumming-Gordon

Scottish politician

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionMar 5, 2026
Entity authorityQ7525928
Source-derived summary

Sir Alexander Penrose Cumming-Gordon, 1st Baronet (19 May 1749 – 10 February 1806) was a Scottish politician.

Early life

Alexander was born on 19 May 1749 into Clan Cumming. He was the eldest son of Alexander Cumming of Rosehill and Penrose, Cornwall. Among his siblings was brother George Cumming, also MP for Inverness Burghs.

Career

In 1761, he succeeded to his father's estates; in 1775, he succeeded to Altyre, Forres, his great-uncle George Cumming's estate; and in 1795, he then succeeded to Gordonstoun, the estate of his cousin Sir William Gordon, 6th Baronet, after which he took additional surname of Gordon.

Cumming-Gordon sat as member of parliament for Inverness Burghs from 1802 to 1803 after which he was succeeded by his younger brother George Cumming. In 1804 he was created a baronet, of Altyre near Forres.

Personal life

On 9 September 1773, he was married to Helen Grant, a daughter of Sir Ludovick Grant, 7th Baronet, of Castle Grant, and the former Lady Margaret Ogilvy (a daughter of James Ogilvy, 2nd Earl of Seafield). Together, they were the parents of seven sons and nine daughters, including:

Sir William Gordon Gordon-Cumming, 2nd Baronet (1787–1854), MP for Elgin Burghs, who married Eliza Maria Campbell, eldest daughter of Col. John Campbell.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Alexander Cumming-Gordon” is scottish politician. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Alexander, Cumming-Gordon and Scottish, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewStrongest as a route into the people, institutions and dated events that shaped the subject’s public record. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1749, 1806, 1761, 1775—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1749-05-19. For this dossier, Alexander, Cumming-Gordon and Scottish is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “scottish politician” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 5, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7525928. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1749, 1806, 1761 and 1775.

Critical limits

Later biographies can compress uncertainty and repeat inherited reputations, so apparently settled claims may still require comparison. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
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Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Alexander Cumming-Gordon”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Alexander Cumming-Gordon primary sources, Alexander Cumming-Gordon archive and Alexander research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

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  2. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
  3. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Alexander Cumming-Gordon” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.