George Gordon, 1st Earl of Aberdeen

George Gordon, 1st Earl of Aberdeen (6 October 1637 – 20 April 1720), Lord Chancellor of Scotland, was the second son of Sir John Gordon, 1st Baronet, of Haddo, Aberdeenshire, (executed in 1644); by his wife, Mary Forbes.

Education

He graduated MA, and was chosen professor at King's College, Aberdeen, in 1658. Subsequently he travelled and studied civil law abroad.

Career

At the Restoration the sequestration of his father's lands was annulled, and in 1665 he succeeded by the death of his elder brother as the 3rd Baronet Gordon, of Haddo and to the family estates. He returned home in 1667, was admitted advocate in 1668 and gained a high legal reputation. He represented Aberdeenshire in the Parliament of Scotland of 1669 and in the following assemblies, during his first session strongly opposing the projected union of the two legislatures. In November 1678 he was made a Privy Counsellor for Scotland, and in 1680 was raised to the bench as Lord Haddo. He was a leading member of the Duke of York's administration, was created a Lord of the Articles in June and in November 1681 Lord President of the Privy Council. The same year he is reported as moving in the council for the torture of witnesses.^[1]

In 1682 he was made Lord Chancellor of Scotland, and was created, on 13 November, Earl of Aberdeen, Viscount Formartine, and Lord Haddo, Methlick, Tarves and Kellie, in the Scottish peerage, being appointed also Sheriff Principal of Aberdeenshire and Midlothian.

Burnet reflects unfavourably upon him, calls him a proud and covetous man, and declares:

the new chancellor exceeded all that had gone before him.^[2]

He executed the laws enforcing religious conformity with severity, and filled the parish churches, but resisted the excessive measures of tyranny prescribed by the English government; and in consequence of an intrigue of the Duke of Queensberry and Lord Perth, who gained the duchess of Portsmouth with a present of £27,000, he was dismissed in 1684.

After his fall he was subjected to various petty prosecutions by his victorious rivals with the view of discovering some act of maladministration on which to found a charge against him, but the investigations only served to strengthen his credit. He took an active part in parliament in 1685 and 1686, but remained a non-juror during the whole of William's reign, being frequently fined for his non-attendance, and took the oaths for the first time after Anne's accession, on 11 May 1703.

In the great affair of the Union in 1707, while protesting against the completion of the treaty till the act declaring the Scots aliens should be repealed, he refused to support the opposition to the measure itself and refrained from attending parliament when the treaty was settled.

He is described by John Mackay as

very knowing in the laws and constitution of his country and is believed to be the solidest statesman in Scotland, a fine orator, speaks slow but sure.

His person was said to be deformed, and his want of mine or deportment was alleged as a disqualification for the office of Lord Chancellor.

Family

He married Anne Lockhart, daughter and (eventual) sole heiress of George Lockhart of Tarbrax and Anne Lockhart, in 1671, and had issue:^[3]

• John Gordon (1673–1675)
• Hon. George Gordon, Lord Haddo (1674 – aft.1694), d.v.p.s.p.
• Lady Anne Gordon (1675–1709), married Alexander Montgomerie, 9th Earl of Eglinton
• Hon. James Gordon (1676–?), d.v.p.s.p.
• Lady Jean Gordon (1678–?)
• William Gordon, 2nd Earl of Aberdeen (1679–30 March 1746)
• Lady Martha Gordon (1681– ?), married John Udny of Udny in March 1701
• Lady Mary Gordon (1682–1753), married Alexander Fraser, 13th Lord Saltoun, 26 October 1707
• Lady Margaret Gordon (d.1738)

His only surviving son, William, succeeded him as 2nd earl of Aberdeen. He died on 20 April 1720, having amassed a large fortune.

References

External links

Attribution

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Aberdeen, George Gordon, 1st Earl of". Encyclopædia Britannica 1 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 45–46.  Endnotes:
  • Letters to George, earl of Aberdeen (with memoir: Spalding Club, 1851);
  • Hist. Account of the Senators of the College of Justice, by G. Brunton and D. Haig (1832), p. 408;
  • G. Crawfurd's Lives of the Officers of State (1726), p. 226;
  • Memoirs of Affairs in Scotland, by Sir G. Mackenzie (1821), p. 148;
  • Sir J. Lauder's (Lord Fountainhall) Journals (Scottish Hist. Society, vol. xxxvi., 1900);
  • J. Mackay's Memoirs (1733), p. 215;
  • A. Lang's Hist. of Scotland, iii. 369, 376.
•  "Gordon, George (1637-1720)". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.