[1] The glacier was first mapped in 1957 by the CTAE, and named after George Patrick Pirie-Gordon, 15th Laird of Buthlaw (died 4 April 2011), who was a member of the Committee of Management and treasurer of the CTAE between 1955 and 1958.

It does not show positive evidence of movement such as crevassing, but its upper reach has a group of ice falls and the middle section has wide and deep undulations.

[3] Its upper section is fed from Fuchs Dome to its west and Shotton Snowfield to its east.

It flows between the La Grange Nunataks to the west and the Herbert Mountains to the east, entering Slessor Glacier between Wiggans Hills and Mount Sheffield.

[2][4] The valleys of the Gordon and Cornwall glaciers may reflect an underlying fault zone, and have been treated as a divide between the western and eastern portions of the Shackleton Range.