Early years Gordon was born in
Lumphanan, Aberdeenshire, the eldest son of Samuel McRobbie (died 1896), a carpenter and farmer. Gordon retained his Aberdeen accent throughout his life. The family was musical and did not discourage the boy's ambitions for a career as a singer, although they worried that life on the stage would be precarious. Gordon left school early to help his father with carpentry work and, from the age of 17, worked in his cousins' carpentry business in Aberdeen; at the same time he continued to sing in choirs and to take music classes, and he formed a
concert party. He studied at the short-lived Aberdeen Conservatoire before moving to London in 1880 to begin his professional singing career. He took his mother's maiden name as a stage name to avoid embarrassing his more puritanical relatives, who disapproved of the theatre. After some concert-singing experience, Gordon soon joined the touring Grand National Opera Company, playing
baritone roles in such works as
La Sonnambula and
Fra Diavolo. In 1881 he was understudy to the baritone lead in the
West End production of
Audran's
La Mascotte. Further small roles in touring opera companies followed. He also toured in
Arthur Wing Pinero's play
The Squire. In 1883, while playing Marvejol in Audran's
Olivette, he married a fellow member of the company, May Piemonté; the two soon had a son. Later in 1883 Gordon joined one of the
D'Oyly Carte Opera Company touring companies as a member of the chorus in
Gilbert and Sullivan's
Patience. His first principal role was Mr Wranglebury in
Mock Turtles, a one-act
curtain raiser. He soon stepped into the part of Colonel Calverley in
Patience on the tour. In 1884
Richard D'Oyly Carte saw him perform and offered him the chance to join the main London company at the
Savoy Theatre as a chorus member and understudy. Gordon remained a member of the company until 1890, playing Piscator in the curtain raiser
The Carp, when it accompanied
Ruddigore (1887), and Harrington Jarramie in ''
Mrs. Jarramie's Genie (another curtain raiser), when it accompanied The Yeomen of the Guard (1888). He was in the chorus in the original runs of Princess Ida (1884), The Mikado (1885), Ruddigore
, The Yeomen of the Guard
and The Gondoliers (1889), and the 1885 revival of Trial by Jury and The Sorcerer'' at the Savoy.
1890 – 1910 In the 1890s, Gordon managed, and acted in, his own touring company, "The Gordon 'At Home' Party". It comprised variously four or five singers and an accompanist, playing a series of short pieces including
Mock Turtles. He also ran his own band. Throughout his freelance period Gordon maintained his links with D'Oyly Carte, coaching young singers for the touring companies and the Savoy in his spare time. After Carte's death in 1901, Gordon continued to coach singers for
Helen Carte after she took over the opera company. In March 1907 he served as
stage manager to the D'Oyly Carte touring company. At the Savoy in July of that year, during the D'Oyly Carte's first London repertory season, he directed the revival of
Iolanthe.
D'Oyly Carte stage manager and director In 1910 Gordon accepted Helen Carte's offer of a permanent position as stage manager to the company, and he gave up his freelance activities. She implored him to make sure that the touring company was performing the operas as the authors intended. Gilbert died in 1911, and Helen Carte died two years later. The opera company was inherited by her stepson,
Rupert D'Oyly Carte, who continued Gordon's employment with the company. Like his stepmother, Rupert D'Oyly Carte needed a stage manager who would maintain the company's production standards and preserve Gilbert's traditions and style. Gordon's skills, attention to detail and tenacity, together with his experience with the company under Gilbert's direction, were what Carte required. When
The Sorcerer was revived in 1916 after a long absence from the company's repertory, Gordon directed the production. His relations with
Malcolm Sargent, whom Carte brought in to conduct London seasons in 1926 and 1929–30, were less harmonious. Sargent's brisk tempos upset Gordon, who protested unavailingly that they interfered with the pacing of the stage action. Some senior company members agreed with Gordon, but Carte backed Sargent. Gordon retired in July 1939, but briefly came out of retirement in late 1939 and early 1940 to coach
Grahame Clifford, who had taken over at short notice from
Martyn Green as principal comedian. Through this society, he met
Arnold Hills, a promoter of
vegetarianism, who asked him to form a company to supply entertainment at vegetarian meetings. His only surviving daughter, Lily, preserved many of his papers with information about the company's productions. His memoirs, written after his retirement, were edited by his great-niece Elizabeth Benney and published by Pitcairn-Knowles in 2014. ==Reputation==