Gordon, THE FAMILY OF. This great Scottish historical house takes its origin and name from the lands of Gordon in Berwickshire. The first traces of it are found in the beginning of the 13th century, when Gordons witnessed charters by the Earls of Dunbar and March, and granted lands and pasturages to the monks of Kelso. In 1305 Sir Adam of Gordon held under King Edward I. of England the office of joint-justiciar of Lothian, and sat at Westminster as one of the representatives of Scotland. He was among the last to join the banner of Bruce, who rewarded his adherence by a grant of the northern lordship of Strathbogie. The grant failed of effect at the time; but it was renewed by King David II. in 1357, and by King Robert II. in 1376. Under this last renewal Sir John of Gordon, the great-grandson of Sir Adam, entered into possession, and so transferred the chief seat of the family from the Merse and Teviotdale to the banks of the Dee, the Deveron, and the Spey. The direct male line came to an end in his son Sir Adam, who fell at Homildon in 1402, leaving an only daughter to inherit his lands, but transmitting his name through two illegitimate brothers—John of Gordon of Scurdarg, and Thomas of Gordon of Ruthven—to a wide circle of the gentry of Mar, Buchan, and Strathbogie, who, calling themselves
'Gordons,' styled the descendants of their niece 'Seton-Gordons.'
DUKES OF GORDON.—Elizabeth of Gordon, the heiress of Sir Adam, married before 1408 Alexander of Seton (son of Sir William of Seton), who before 1437 was created Lord of Gordon. Their son Alexander, who took the name of Gordon, was made Earl of Huntly in 1449, and Lord of Badenoch a few years afterwards. He acquired by marriage the baronies of Cluny, Aboyne, and Glenmuick in Aberdeenshire; and had grants from the crown of the lordship of Badenoch and other lands in Inverness-shire and Moray. He died in 1470, and was succeeded by his second son George, who had married Annabella, daughter of King James I., and who added to his territories the lands of Schivas in Aberdeenshire, and Boyne, Enzie, and Netherdale in Banffshire. He was chancellor of Scotland from 1498 to 1501, and, dying soon afterwards, was succeeded by his son Alexander, the third earl, who acquired Strathaven (or Strathdoun) in Banffshire, and the Brae of Lochaber in Inverness-shire. He commanded the left wing of the Scottish army at Flodden. Dying in 1524, he was succeeded by his grandson George, the fourth earl, who acquired the earldom of Moray, held the offices of lieutenant of the north and chancellor of the realm, and was reputed the wisest, wealthiest, and most powerful subject in Scotland. The crown, counselled to clip his wings lest he should attempt, like the Douglasses in the previous age, to overawe the throne, stripped him of the earldom of Moray, and, rushing into revolt, he fell (or died of apoplexy) at Corrichie in 1562. Sentence of forfeiture was pronounced upon his corpse, but was rescinded in 1565, and his son George succeeded as fifth earl. He died in 1576. His son George, the sixth earl, was conspicuous as the head of the Roman Catholics in Scotland. He defeated at Glenlivet a royal force sent against him under the Earl of Argyll in 1594, but, submitting to the king, obtained an easy pardon, and was made Marquis of Huntly in 1599. He died in 1636. His son George, the second marquis, espoused the royal cause in the great civil war of his time. 'You may take my head from my shoulders,' he said, in answer to tempting offers from the Covenanters, 'but not my heart from my king.' When he resided in Aberdeen in 1639 he was attended daily by twenty-four gentlemen, of whom three were barons, while eight gentlemen guarded his mansion by night. He was beheaded at Edinburgh in 1649. His son Lewis, the third marquis, was restored by King Charles II. in 1651, but died in 1653. His son George, the fourth marquis, was created Duke of Gordon in 1684. He held the castle of Edinburgh for King James VII. at the Revolution; and, dying in 1716, was succeeded by his son Alexander, the second duke, who died in 1728. He lived, Boswell says, 'in sequestered magnificence, corresponding with the grand-dukes of Tuscany,' with whom he believed that he could count kindred. His son Cosmo George, the third duke, died in 1752, leaving three sons. The youngest, Lord George Gordon (q.v.), led the Protestant mob which sacked London in 1780; the eldest, Alexander, who became fourth duke, was the author of the well-known song, 'Cauld Kail in Aberdeen.' His wife, the sprightly Jane Maxwell, daughter of Sir William Maxwell of Monreith, was even more noted for her beauty than her wit, and was known as the 'beautiful Duchess of Gordon' (died 1812). The fourth duke died in 1827, and was succeeded by his son George, the fifth duke, on whose death, without issue, in 1836, the title of Duke of Gordon (being limited to the heirs-male of the body of the first duke) became extinct, the title of Earl of Huntly fell into abeyance, and the title of Marquis of
Huntly was adjudged to the Earl of Aboyne, as heir-male of the body of the first marquis. The estates went to the duke's nephew, Charles, fifth Duke of Richmond and Lennox, grandson of the fourth Duke of Gordon. Elizabeth, Duchess of Gordon (1774-1864), widow of the fifth duke, long survived her husband, and was a woman of noble character and eminent piety (see her Life and Letters, by A. M. Stuart, 1866). The title of Duke of Gordon was revived in 1876 in the person of the sixth Duke of Richmond.
MARQUISES OF HUNTLY.—Lord John Gordon, second son of the first Marquis of Huntly, was made Viscount of Melgund and Lord Aboyne in 1627. Three years afterwards he was burned to death in the tower of Frendraught. In 1632 his elder brother George was made Viscount of Aboyne, which title, on his succession to the Marquisate of Huntly in 1636, devolved on his son Lord James, who distinguished himself on the king's side during the wars of the Covenant, and died, it is said, of a broken heart, a few days after the execution of King Charles I. in 1649. His younger brother, Lord Charles Gordon, was made Earl of Aboyne in 1660; and his great-great-grandson, George, who had been a favourite at the court of Marie Antoinette, succeeded as fifth Earl of Aboyne in 1794, on the death of his father, and as ninth Marquis of Huntly in 1836, on the death of the fifth Duke of Gordon. In 1853 the ninth marquis was succeeded by his eldest son Charles, tenth marquis, who died in 1863, and the marquisate of Huntly and earldom of Aboyne fell to his eldest son Charles, eleventh marquis.
EARLS OF SUTHERLAND.—About the year 1512 Adam Gordon of Aboyne, second son of the second Earl of Huntly, married Elizabeth, the heiress of Sutherland, and was progenitor of the Gordon Earls of Sutherland, who bore the surname of Gordon till the beginning of the 18th century, when they exchanged it for that of Sutherland, which had been borne by the earlier earls.
LOCHINVAR AND KENMURE.—William of Gordon (1306-29), the second son of Sir Adam of Gordon, was the progenitor of the knightly family of Lochinvar, which in 1633 was raised to the peerage by the titles of Lord of Lochinvar and Viscount of Kenmure. William, the sixth viscount—the 'Kenmure's on and aya' of Jacobite song—was beheaded in 1716 for his share in the rising of the previous year. The peerage, then forfeited, was restored in 1824, but has been in abeyance since the death of Adam, the ninth viscount, in 1847.
EARLS OF ABERDEEN.—According to old tradition this house descends from one of the illegitimate brothers of Sir Adam of Gordon, who was slain at Homildon in 1402. Its first authentic member was Patrick Gordon of Methlie, who died on the banks of the Ythan in 1445. In 1642 its chief, Sir John Gordon of Haddo, was created a baronet of Nova Scotia. He was beheaded at Edinburgh in 1644, bequeathing the name of 'Haddo's Hole' to one of the aisles of St Giles' Church, which had been his prison. His son, Sir George Gordon of Haddo, became a Lord of Session in 1680, Lord President in 1681, and Lord Chancellor in the following year. He was raised to the peerage in 1682, by the titles of Earl of Aberdeen, Viscount of Formartine, Lord Haddo, Methlie, Tarves, and Kellie. He died in 1720 with the character of being 'a solid statesman, a fine orator, speaking slow but strong.' Some of these lineaments, it has been thought, reappeared, with his love of letters, in his great-great-grandson, the fourth Earl of Aberdeen (q.v.). Among other members of the house of Gordon not mentioned above were Colonel John Gordon, one of the assassins of Wallenstein; Gordon Pasha; and, through his mother, Lord Byron.
See FOCHABERS. There is a MS. Historice Compendium de Origine et Incremento Gordonice Familice (1545), by an Italian monk, Ferrerius; a MS. Origo et Progressus Familice Illustrissimæ Gordoniorum in Scotia, by Gordon of Straloch (died 1661); and histories of the house by William Gordon (1727) and C. A. Gordon (1754). See the more valuable Genealogie and Pedigree of the Earls of Sutherland (which has much on the Gordons), by Sir Robert Gordon of Gordonstoun (written 1639, published 1813, with continuation).