Gordon was educated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and was a student at St Bartholomew's Hospital from 1908. he obtained the diplomas of M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P. in 1914, and graduated M.B., B.C. in 1913. Gordon served as house-surgeon to Mr Waring at Bartholomew's Hospital until he joined the R.A.M.C. He entered the war in France on the 10th May 1916. Gordon was the son of Joseph Flint East and Jessie Wood East of Kingston-on-Thames.