The Annals 



of 



Scottish Natural History 



No. 10] 1894 [APRIL 



THE LATE REV. GEORGE GORDON, M.A., LL.D. 



THE Rev. GEORGE GORDON, M.A., LL.D., was born in July 

 1 80 1, in the Manse of Urquhart, of which parish his father 

 was minister for many years. His mother was a daughter of 

 the Rev. Joseph Anderson, minister, during forty-two years, 

 of the parish of Birnie, near Elgin. 



In the autumn of 1815 George Gordon entered as a 

 student of Arts in the Marischal College and University in 

 Aberdeen ; but, owing to the meagre records of under-grad- 

 uates then kept in the University, there is no indication of 

 his progress as a student, beyond that implied in his grad- 

 uating M.A. in 1819. He thereafter studied Divinity in the 

 universities in old Aberdeen and in Edinburgh, was licensed 

 by the Presbytery of Elgin in 1825, and in 1832 received 

 a presentation to the parish of Birnie, no doubt already a 

 very familiar locality to him. Here he spent the long period 

 of fifty-seven years, amid the esteem and veneration alike of 

 his parishioners and colleagues, and of a large circle of friends, 

 with many of whom he had become acquainted through his 

 wide scientific tastes. 



During the stormy period that preceded the Disruption 



of the Church of Scotland in 1843, ne took a conspicuous 



part, being recognised as a leader in the district of Moray of 



those that adhered to the Church ; but such controversy was 



10 B 



