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GORDON

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Originally appearing in Volume V12, Page 248 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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GORDON , the name of a Scottish See also:

family, no fewer than 157 See also:main branches of which are traced by the family historians. A See also:laird of Gorden, in See also:Berwickshire, near the See also:English border, is said to have fallen in the See also:battle of the See also:Standard (1138). The families of the two sons ascribed to him by tradition, See also:Richard Gordon of Gordon and See also:Adam Gordon of See also:Huntly, were See also:united by the See also:marriage of their See also:great-grandchildren Alicia and See also:Sir Adam, whose See also:grandson Sir Adam (killed at Halidon See also:Hill, 1333) at first took the English See also:side in the Scottish struggle for See also:independence, and is the first member of the family definitely to emerge into See also:history. He was See also:justiciar of See also:Scotland in 1310, but after See also:Bannockburn he attached himself to See also:Robert See also:Bruce, who .granted him in 1318 the lordship of Strathbogie in See also:Aberdeenshire, to which Gordon gave the name of Huntly from a See also:village on the Gordon See also:estate in Berwickshire. He had two sons, Adam and See also:William. The younger son, laird of Stitchel in See also:Roxburghshire, was the ancestor of William de Gordon of Stitchel and Lochinvar, founder of the See also:Galloway See also:branch of the family represented in the Scottish See also:peerage by the dormant viscounty of See also:Kenmure (q.v.), created in 1633; most of the Irish and Virginian Gordons are offshoots of this stock. The See also:elder son, Adam, inherited the Gordon-Huntly estates. He had two grandsons, Sir See also:John (d. 1394) and Sir Adam (slain at Homildon Hill, 1403). Sir John had two illegitimate sons, Jock of Scurdargue, the ancestor of the earls of See also:Aberdeen, and See also:Tam of See also:Ruthven. From these two See also:stocks most of the See also:northern Gordon families are derived. Sir Adam's daughter and heiress, See also:Elizabeth, married Sir See also:Alexander See also:Seton, and with her See also:husband was confirmed in 1408 in the See also:possession of the See also:barony of Gordon and Huntly in Berwickshire and of the Gordon lands in Aberdeen.

The Seton-Gordons are their descendants. Their son Alexander was created See also:

earl of Huntly (see HUNTLY, EARLS AND MARQUESSES OF), probably in 1445; and his heirs became See also:dukes of Gordon, See also:George Gordon (c. 1650—1716), 4th See also:marquess of Huntly, being created See also:duke of Gordon in 1684. He had been educated in a See also:French See also:Catholic See also:seminary, and served in the French See also:army in the See also:campaigns of 1673 to 1675. Under See also:James II. he was made keeper of See also:Edinburgh See also:Castle on See also:account of his See also:religion, but he refused to support James's efforts to impose See also:Roman Catholicism on his subjects. He offered little active resistance when the castle was besieged by William III.'s forces. After his submission he was more than once imprisoned on suspicion of Jacobite leanings, and was ordered by George I. to reside on See also:parole in Edinburgh. For some See also:time before his See also:death he was separated from his wife Elizabeth See also:Howard, daughter of the 6th duke of See also:Norfolk. His son Alexander, 2nd duke of Gordon (c. 1678—1728), joined the Old Pretender, but gained the royal See also:pardon after the surrender of Gordon Castle in 1716. Of his See also:children by his wife Henrietta Mordaunt, second daughter of See also:Charles Mordaunt, earl of See also:Peterborough, Cosmo George (c. 1720—1752) succeeded as 3rd duke; See also:Lord See also:Lewis Gordon (d.

1754) took an active See also:

part in the Jacobite rising of 1745; and See also:General Lord Adam Gordon (c. 1726—1801) became See also:commander of the forces in Scotland in 1782, and See also:governor of Edinburgh Castle in 1786. Lord George Gordon (q.v.) was a younger son of the 3rd duke. The See also:title, with the earldom of See also:Norwich and the barony of Gordon Huntly, became See also:extinct on the death of George, 5th duke (1770—1836), a distinguished soldier who raised the See also:corps now known as the 2nd See also:battalion of the Gordon Highlanders. The marquessate of Huntly passed to his See also:cousin and See also:heir-male, George, 5th earl of Aboyne. See also:Lady See also:Charlotte Gordon, See also:sister of and co-heiress with the 5th duke, married Charles See also:Lennox, 4thduke of See also:Richmond, whose son took the name of Gordon-Lennox. The dukedom of Gordon was revived in 1876 in favour of the 6th duke of Richmond, who thenceforward was styled duke of Richmond and Gordon. Adam Gordon of Aboyne (d. 1537) took the See also:courtesy title of earl of See also:Sutherland in right of his wife Elizabeth, countess of Sutherland in her own right, sister of the 9th earl. The lawless and turbulent Gordons of Gight were the maternal ancestors of Lord See also:Byron. Among the many soldiers of See also:fortune bearing the name of Gordon was See also:Colonel John Gordon, one of the murderers of See also:Wallenstein. See also:Patrick Gordon (1635—1699) was See also:born at Auchleuchries in Aberdeenshire, entered the service of Charles X. of See also:Sweden in 1651 and served against the Poles.

He changed sides more than once before he found his way to See also:

Moscow in 1661 and took service under the See also:tsar See also:Alexis. He became general in 1687; in 1688 he helped to secure See also:Peter the Great's ascendancy; and later he crushed the revolt of the Streltzi. His See also:diary was published in See also:German (3 vols., 1849—1853, Moscow and St See also:Peters-See also:burg), and selections from the English See also:original by the See also:Spalding See also:Club (Aberdeen, 1859). The Gordons fill a considerable See also:place in Scottish See also:legend and ballad. "See also:Captain See also:Car," or" See also:Edom (Adam) of Gordon" describes an incident in the struggle between the Forbeses and Gordons in Aberdeenshire in 1571; " The Duke of Gordon's Daughter " has apparently no See also:foundation in fact, though " Geordie " of the ballad is sometimes said to have been George, 4th earl of Huntly; " The See also:Fire of Frendraught " goes back to a See also:feud (163o) between James See also:Crichton of Frendraught and William Gordon of Rothiemay; the " Gallant Gordons See also:Gay " figure in " Chevy See also:Chase "; William Gordon of See also:Earlston, the Covenanter, appears in " Both-well See also:Bridge " &c. See William Gordon (of old Aberdeen), The History of the See also:Ancient, See also:Noble, and Illustrious See also:House of Gordon (2 vols., Edinburgh, 1726-1727), of which A Concise History of the . . . House of Gordon, by C. A. Gordon (Aberdeen, 1754) is little more than an abridgment; The Records of Aboyne, 1230-1681, edited by Charles, 11th marquess of Huntly, &c. (New Spalding Club, Aberdeen, 1894) ; The Gordon See also:Book, ed. J.

M. Bulloch (1902); The House of Gordon, ed. J. M. Bulloch (Aberdeen, vol. i., 1903); and Mr Bulloch's The First Duke of Gordon (19o9).

End of Article: GORDON

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