| Jane Gordon, Duchess of Gordon | |
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Jane, Duchess of Gordon, with her son, George, 1770–1836 by George Romney |
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| Born | Jane Maxwell 1748 Hyndford's Close, Edinburgh |
| Died | 14 April 1812 (aged 64) Pulteney's Hotel, Piccadilly, London |
| Spouse | Alexander Gordon, 4th Duke of Gordon |
| Children | Charlotte Lennox, Duchess of Richmond George Gordon, 5th Duke of Gordon Madelaine Sinclair, Lady Sinclair Susan Montagu, Duchess of Manchester Louisa Cornwallis, Marchioness Cornwallis Georgiana Russell, Duchess of Bedford Lord Alexander Gordon |
| Parents | Sir William Maxwell, 3rd Baronet Magdalen Blair |
Jane Gordon, Duchess of Gordon (1748 - 14 April 1812) was a significant Scottish Tory political hostess.
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Jane was second daughter of Sir William Maxwell, 3rd Baronet of Monreith, Wigtownshire, and his wife, Magdalen Blair of Blair. She was born in Hyndford's Close, Edinburgh, where her mother occupied a large second-floor flat. Her sister Eglantine (Betty) became Lady Wallace of Craigie.
On 28 October 1767 she married Alexander, 4th Duke of Gordon at the house of her brother-in-law, Mr. Fordyce, in Argyle Street, Edinburgh. Two sons and five daughters were the result of the union. The duchess soon took the management of family affairs into her own hands. A beauty with business capacity, good nature, and ready wit, she was also foul-mouthed. She was a confidant of William Pitt the Younger, and sole arbitress of fashion in Edinburgh; while in London she formed a social centre of the Tory party. At her house in Pall Mall, belonging to the Marquis of Buckingham, she received the hangers-on of the government during the last fourteen years of Pitt's first administration (1787–1801). She was also successful in match-making, three out of her five daughters marrying dukes, and a fourth a marquis. Her eldest daughter, Lady Charlotte, was, Nathaniel Wraxall says, destined for Pitt, but the scheme was foiled by Henry Dundas's jealousy; and she then chose Charles Lennox, later Duke of Richmond. Wraxall also says that during the Peace of Amiens of 1802 the duchess took her family over to Paris to secure Eugène de Beauharnais for her youngest daughter, but failed in her purpose, and Lady Georgiana married John Russell, 6th Duke of Bedford.
On her return from Paris the duchess was accused of having said she hoped to see Napoleon Bonaparte "breakfast in Ireland, dine in London, and sup at Gordon Castle". She quarrelled with her husband, lost her social position, and led a wandering, almost homeless life. Some of her letters written at this period (1804-1806) to Francis Farquharson of Haughton, an accountant in Edinburgh and confidential adviser of both parties, were later printed in Glasgow; it seems to have been proposed to refer points in dispute between the Duke and Duchess to Henry Erskine and Sir James Montgomery.
The Duchess died in London at Pulteney's Hotel, Piccadilly, with her children beside her, on 14 April 1812, in the age of sixty-four. She lay in state three days, and was buried, in accordance with her request, at Kinrara, Inverness-shire.
Jane and her husband had a total of seven children, two sons and five daughters:
Jane Maxwell Gordon is the focus of Ciji Ware's 1989 novel Island of the Swans.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Gordon, Jane". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.