GORDON 



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GORDON 



and many bearers of the name have 

 distinguished themselves. It is per- 

 petuated, moreove*, by the Gordon 

 Highlanders. 



Gordon is supposed to be taken 

 from Gorden, in Berwickshire, 

 where a certain Norman settled in 

 the llth century, and took the 

 name. His descendant, Adam 

 Gordon, obtained from Robert 

 Bruce, Strathbogie, in Aberdeen- 

 shire, the castle of which was long 

 the family residence. He called this 

 Huntly, after a place on his estate 

 in Berwickshire. He was killed in 

 battle in 1333. His lands in Ber- 

 wickshire and Aberdeenshire passed 

 down in the direct line until they 

 came to Sir Adam Gordon, who had 

 no sons. His daughter, Elizabeth, 

 married Sir Alexander Seton, who 

 then became lord of Gordon, their 

 descendants taking the name of 

 Gordon. From one of them, made 

 earl of Huntly in 1450, come the 

 earls and marquesses of Huntly. 



A dukedom of Gordon was in 

 existence from 1684 to 1836, being 

 held by the marquesses of Huntly. 

 The 4th marquess was created duke 

 of Gordon in 1684 ; both he and his 

 son, the 2nd duke, were Jacobites. 

 The 3rd duke was the father of 

 Lord George Gordon. Alexander, 

 the 4th duke, was the husband of 

 Jane Maxwell, the duchess of 

 Gordon of whom many stories are 

 told. Described as the greatest 

 subject in the country, he was made 

 earl of Norwich in 1784. His son 

 George, the 3rd duke, who was 

 known as a soldier, left no sons 

 when he died in 1836, and the duke- 

 dom became extinct. His heiress, 

 his sister, Charlotte, married the 

 duke of Richmond, who took the 

 additional name of Gordon, and in 

 1876 a later duke of Richmond 

 was given the additional title of 

 duke of Gordon. 



Gordon Castle, near Fochabers, 

 was the chief seat of the dukes of 

 Gordon until their extinction. It 

 is a large quadrangular building, 

 built in the 18th century, and 

 passed in 1836 to the duke of Rich- 

 mond, who still owns it. See The 

 House of Gordon, ed. J. M. Bullock. 

 1903. 



Gordon, ADAM LINDSAY (1833- 

 70). Australian poet. Born at 

 Fayal, in the Azores, and educated 

 at Cheltenham 

 and M e r t o n 

 College, Ox- 

 ford, he left 

 E n g 1 a n d in 

 1853 for S. 

 A u s t r a 1 i a, 

 where he be- 

 came succes 

 sivcly trooper 

 in the mounted 

 police, horse- 



breaker, livery-stable-keeper, and 

 steeplechaser, and member of the 

 House of Assembly. 



In 1867 he published two vol- 

 umes of poems, Sea Spray and 

 Smoke Drift, and a dramatic lyric 



Ashtaroth. Bush Ballads and 

 Galloping Rhymes was published 

 in 1870, and on June 24 of that 

 year he shot himself at New 

 Brighton, Melbourne, disappoint- 

 ment at failure to establish his 

 claim to an estate in Scotland hav- 

 ing aggravated a mental disturb- 

 ance from which he had suffered 

 throughout life. His collected 

 poems were edited and published 

 by Marcus Clarke, 1880, and have 

 secured him a high place in the 

 history of Australian literature. 

 See Memoir, J. H. Ross, 1888. 



Gordon, CHARLES GEORGE (1833- 

 85). British soldier. Born at 

 Woolwich, Jan. 28, 1833, he en- 

 tered the Royal Engineers in 1852, 

 served in the Crimean War in 1855, 

 and took part in the Chinese expe- 

 dition of 1860. After the peace, 

 Gordon was allowed to assist the 

 Chinese government in the sup- 

 pression of the Taeping rebellion 

 (1863-64), when his achievements 

 won him the popular sobriquet of 

 " Chinese " Gordon. In 1873 hi.? 

 services were lent to the khedive of 



A. Lindsay Gordon, 

 Australian poet 



Charles George Gordon. The capture and murder of the general by the 

 Mahdi's forces at Khartum, Jan. 26, 1885. From the painting by Geo. W. Joy 



By permission of Frost & Keed, Lid., Art Publishers, Brislol & London, publishers of the etching 



