Gordon Monument

The Gordon Monument is a neoclassical monument to a slain warrior on the battlefield of Waterloo. The person commemorated is Lt Colonel Sir Alexander Gordon (1786–1815). It was erected in 1817 by the siblings of the deceased who included a future Prime Minister, Lord Aberdeen. The monument takes the form of a severed column, or colonne brisée to use the French term, reached by a flight of steps. It was designed by the British architect John Buonarotti Papworth, and executed in a type of limestone known as Belgian blue stone (French: pierre bleue). The pedestal features inscriptions and reliefs, including the badge of the Scots Guards, the regiment in which Gordon served, with its motto Nemo me impune lacessit