The Duke of Gordon | |
|---|---|
 The Duke depicted inhighland dress | |
| Predecessor | Alexander Gordon, 4th Duke of Gordon |
| Successor | Line ended |
| Known for | Nobleman, soldier, and politician |
| Born | George Gordon (1770-02-02)2 February 1770 Edinburgh, Kingdom of Great Britain |
| Died | 28 May 1836(1836-05-28) (aged 66) Belgrave Square, London, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland |
| Wars and battles | |
| Offices | Grand Master of theGrand Lodge of Scotland (1792 to 1794) Member of Parliament forEye (1806 to 1807) Keeper of the Great Seal of Scotland (1828 to 1830) Privy Counsellor (1830 to death) |
| Spouse | Elizabeth Brodie |
| Issue | Georgiana McCrae |
| Parents | Alexander Gordon, 4th Duke of Gordon Jane Maxwell |
GeneralGeorge Duncan Gordon, 5th Duke of Gordon,GCB, PC (2 February 1770 – 28 May 1836), styledMarquess of Huntly until 1827, was a Scottish nobleman, soldier and politician and the last of his line.
George was born atEdinburgh on 2 February 1770, the eldest son ofAlexander Gordon, 4th Duke of Gordon and his wife, the celebratedJane Gordon, Duchess of Gordon, née Lady Jane Maxwell. He was educated atEton. He became a professional soldier and rose to the rank of general. AsMarquess of Huntly, he served with the guards inFlanders from 1793 to 1794.
From May 1796 asColonel-in-Chief, he commanded the newly created regiment: the92nd Highlanders (usually called the "Gordon Highlanders" in honour of his family). In 1798 he served with the regiment in Ireland as Brigadier General and went with them toHolland in 1799 On 2 October 1799 he was wounded at the battle atEgmont-op-Zee in Holland. In 1806 he left the 92nd and transferred to be Colonel-in-Chief of the42nd Regiment of Foot ("Black Watch"). He commanded a division in theWalcheren Expedition of 1809. From 1820 he was commander of the 1st (Royal Foot).[1]
He was afreemason and was Grand Master of theGrand Lodge of Scotland from 1792 to 1794. He was a member ofParliament forEye from1806 to1807. On 11 April 1807, at the age of 37, he wassummoned to theHouse of Lords in one of the minor peerages of his father (Baron Gordon of Huntley, co. Gloucester). He was appointed aPrivy Counsellor in 1830, wasKeeper of the Great Seal of Scotland from 1828 to 1830 (a post that his father had held until 1827), and from 1834 to 1836 was Governor ofEdinburgh Castle.[2]
He left the 1st in 1834 and transferred to theScots Fusilier Guards. He died on 28 May 1836.[2]
He married at Bath, on 11 December 1813,Elizabeth Brodie, who was twenty-four years his junior. Brodie was the daughter of Alexander Brodie of Arnhall inKincardineshire. Elizabeth Grant described her thus:
His bride was young and good, and rich, but neither clever nor handsome. She made him very happy and paid his most pressing debts, that is what her father did, old Mr. Brodie of the Burn, brother to Brodie of Brodie... He made a really large fortune; he gave with his daughter, his only child, £100,000 down, and left her more than another at his death. Really to her husband her large fortune was the least part of her value; she possessed upright principles, good sense, and she turned out a first-rate woman of business. In her later years, she got into the cant of the Methodists.[3]
However, at the time of his marriage and, in fact, until he inherited the Dukedom, George found himself in almost constant financial difficulties. He was referred to as "Lord Huntly now in the decline of his rackety life, overwhelmed with debts, sated with pleasure, tired of fashion, the last heir male of the Gordon line".[3] While his marriage remedied some of these problems, it did not supply the much sought-after heir.
Like his father, George acquired many of the positions which the Gordon family could expect almost as of right. These included the posts ofLord Lieutenant of Aberdeenshire, Chancellor ofMarischal College, Aberdeen, andLord High Constable of Scotland. He held the latter post of Lord High Constable for thecoronation of KingGeorge IV in 1820.
By the time of his succession to the dukedom, he had established a reputation as an extreme reactionary. He steadfastly opposed the GreatReform Bill and when the majority of Tory Peers opted to abstain, he remained one of the twenty-two "Stalwarts" who voted against the Third Reading of the Bill in the House of Lords on 4 June 1832.
Throughout much of this period, his wife servedQueen Adelaide at court. Indeed, she was given the Queen's coronation robe, which is now to be found with many other Gordon memorabilia atBrodie Castle.
Nathaniel Parker Willis, the American journalist, has left us with an interesting account of life atGordon Castle in the twilight years of the 5th Duke's life. He described the "canonically fat porter" at the lodges who admitted him to a "rich private world peopled by ladies cantering sidesaddle on palfreys, ladies driving nowhere in particular in phaetons, gentlemen with guns, keepers with hounds and terrier at the heel, and everywhere a profusion of fallow deer, hares, and pheasants. At the castle a dozen lounging and powdered menials." Willis continued: "I never realised so forcibly the splendid results of wealth and primogeniture." Just before dinner, the Duke called at his room, "an affable white-haired gentleman of noble physiognomy, but singularly cordial address, wearing a broad red ribbon across his breast, and led him through files of servants to a dining room ablaze with gold plate."[4]
Insupportable debts led to what remained of theLordship of Badenoch, which had been a domain of the Gordons for nearly 400 years, being advertised for sale in 1829. With no outside interest forthcoming, the Rev. John Anderson, manager and trustee of the Gordon estates, packaged the Badenoch lands into lots likely to be attractive to local interests. In 1830, the farms of Gordonhall, Ruthven, Knappach and Drumgellovie and the Forest of Gaick were bought by George Macpherson Grant ofBallindalloch. The farms of Uvie, Auchmore and Biallidmore and theLoch Ericht shootings were bought by Ewen Macpherson of Cluny. Wealth Major Ewen Macpherson had acquired in India allowed him to purchase Breakachy (his former home), Shanvall, Nessintully, Crunenmore, Crubenbeg and Presmuchrach. TheLaggan farms on the upperSpey, theKingussie lands from Ballachroan to Kerrowmeanach and theAlvie farms of Pitchurn, Pitourie and Delfour remained unsold until 1834, when they were bought byJames Evan Baillie, whose fortune came fromslave plantations in theCaribbean. In all, the sale of the Lordship realised £112,000 for the Duke, well short of the target of £145,000.[5]
The Duke died atBelgrave Square, London, on 28 May 1836, aged 66. The Dukedom of Gordon became extinct, but the Marquessate of Huntly (created in 1599) passed to his distant cousin theEarl of Aboyne while the remaining Gordon estates passed to his nephew,Charles Gordon-Lennox, 5th Duke of Richmond. The Gordonmoveable property was left by the Duchess to theBrodies of Brodie.
In 1840, a monument to the Duke, funded by public subscription, was erected in the grounds of Kinrara House, his late mother's home nearAlvie.[6]
Elizabeth Brodie, the last Duchess of Gordon, retired toHuntly Castle Lodge, where she became more fervently religious than she had previously been until her death on 31 January 1864, when the last trace of the original Dukedom of Gordon was also extinguished.
The Duke and Duchess of Gordon established theGordon Chapel (Scottish Episcopal Church)[7] inFochabers that contains a memorial tablet to the 5th and last Duke.
The Duke had three illegitimate children: Charles Gordon, Susan Sordet, andGeorgiana McCrae.
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forEye 1806–1807 With:William Cornwallis 1806–1807 James Cornwallis 1807 | Succeeded by |
| Military offices | ||
| New regiment | Colonel of the92nd (Highland) Regiment of Foot 1796–1806 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Colonel of the42nd (Royal Highland) Regiment of Foot 1806–1820 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Colonel of the1st, or The Royal Regiment of Foot 1820–1834 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Governor of Edinburgh Castle 1827–1836 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Colonel of theScots Fusilier Guards 1834–1836 | Succeeded by |
| Masonic offices | ||
| Preceded by | Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Scotland 1792–1794 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Keeper of the Great Seal of Scotland 1828–1830 | Succeeded by |
| Honorary titles | ||
| Preceded by | Lord-Lieutenant of Aberdeenshire 1808–1836 | Succeeded by |
| Peerage of Scotland | ||
| Preceded by | Duke of Gordon 1827–1836 | Extinct |
| Marquess of Huntly 1827–1836 | Succeeded by | |
| Peerage of Great Britain | ||
| Preceded by | Earl of Norwich 1827–1836 | Extinct |
| Baron Gordon of Huntley (descended by acceleration) 1807–1836 | ||
| Peerage of England | ||
| Preceded by | Baron Mordaunt 1827–1836 | Abeyant |
| International | |
|---|---|
| Other | |
