THE GORDONS OF HADD O.
THE Gordons of Haddo lay claim to a descent from Bertrand de Gourdon, who killed King Richard I. with an arrow while besieging the castle of Chula; in the Limousin, in 1199. In allusion to this event they bear for crest two arms ready to let fly an arrow from a bow, with the motto, "Fortuna sequatur." There is no evidence whatever of this claim being well founded, and it must be left as we find it—a mere family tradition. The family records perished in the Civil War in 1644, and consequently the actual descent of the Haddo Gordons cannot be determined. We follow therefore Douglas in starting with PATRICK GORDON, of Mettlic, who figured somewhat conspicuously in the early part of the reign of James II. of Scotland, joined the King's forces under the Earl of Huntly against the Earl of Crawford, and was killed at the battle of Arbroath in 1445. His son and successor, James Gordon, of Mettlic, obtained from James IL a grant of part of the barony of Kelly, forfeited by the Earl of Crawford. He also acquired several other lands which are still in the possession of the family. His third son, Alexander, became Bishop of Aberdeen in 1516. The eldest son, Patrick Gordon, who succeeded at Mettlic, obtained from William St. Clair, baron of Newburgh, in Aberdeenshire, a charter, July 13, 1487, of the lands of Archadlie, in the same barony ; and on the 30th of August, 1505, had a Royal charter of the lands of Brekauch, Knockin- blewis, Drummeis, Glashave, and ward of Drumontan, in the regality of Garioch. He died before the 11th of September, 1531, and his eldest son, George, having died before him, he was suc- ceeded by his grandson, James Gordon, of Mettlic, who had his lands of Mettlic, Archadlie, Ardel, Braucklaw, &c., created into a free barony, September 11, 1531. He had another charter as James Gordon of HADDOCH (ammo) of other lands in Aberdeenshire, on March 12, 1534, and other charters in 1539 and 1542. He signed the association for the defence of James VI. in 1567, but afterwards appeared with the Earl of Huntly in favour of Queen Mary. He died in May, 1582. His eldest son, Patrick, dying before him, he was succeeded by his grandson, James Gordon, of Mettlic and Haddo, who, on Feb- ruary 17, 1595, had a charter of the lands of Tarves, Brauchlaw, and Tullielet, and died in November, 1624. By a strange fatality in the family his eldest son (George) also died before him, and he
was succeeded by his grandson, John Gordon, of Haddo, who was appointed by Charles I. second in command to Huntly of the forces raised against the Covenanters in 1639, and he was at the action at Turnoff, in which one of his men having killed one James Stalker in cold blood, he was brought before the Court of Justiciary, but dismissed without trial. After the pacification he re- paired to the King at Newark, who in 1642 created him a baronet of Nova Scotia. In October, 1G43, Sir John Gordon protested
against the League and Covenant, whereupon in November letters of intercommuning were issued against him, with an order for his
apprehension. The sheriff of Aberdeen accordingly, in January, 1644, proceeded with a large body of men to Sir John's house of Kelly, but Sir John escaped, and joined the Marquis of Huntly, on which sentence of excommunication was passed against them both,
• April 14, 1644. On the retreat of the Marquis into his northern fastnesses, Sir John Gordon prepared his house of Kelly against a siege, fortifying it and burning the stables and outhouses. The Marquis of Argyll surrounded the place on the 6th of May, 1644, and offering terms to the garrison, which they accepted, Sir John was compelled to offer to surrender also on the same terms. This the Mar- quis refused, and Sir John had to surrender unconditionally. The place was plundered and devastated, and Sir John was sent prisoner to Edinburgh, and indicted for treason for taking the provost of Aberdeen and others, for rising in arms with Huntly against the country, for the slaughter of James Stalker at Turreff, and for killing two soldiers in the attack on Kelly. To the first count he answered that he did no wrong, they being incendiaries ; to the second, not against the country, but against the King's enemies ; the third he denied ; and the fourth he said was done in his own defence against his enemies, coming without the King's authority against him. He also produced the act of pacification and the King's commission. On this the judges thought it ex- pedient to submit to Parliament whether a dittay founded upon taking up arms against the Kingdom and Estates of the country, and holding out houses against the same, were relevant to infer punishment or not, and what that punishment should be. The Estates of Parliament on the 29th of June, 1644, passed an Act finding it relevant to infer the pains and penalties of treason. On this Sir John Gordon was found guilty and adjudged to be beheaded, along with a Captain Logie, also taken at Kelly ; and on the 16th of July the Parliament passed a decree of for- feiture against him. On the 19th of July Sir John was carried to execution. He suffered with great firmness. Captain Logie was beheaded before his eyes. Then two heralds came on the scaffold, and after reading articles against him, tore in pieces his coat of arms and threw it over the scaffold, he all the while remaining on his knees in prayer. His head was struck off by the instrument called the maiden. His friends receiving his body, buried it in the Greyfriars churchyard. That division of the cathedral church of St. Giles called Haddo's hole is said to have derived this appellation from Sir John having been confined in that gloomy place adjacent to the tolbooth. His eldest son, Sir John Haddo, was restored to his father's estates in 1661, and died in 1665, leaving only a daughter, Jean, who married Sir James Gordon of Lesmoir, Bart. Sir John was therefore succeded in the baronetcy and estates of Haddo by his brother, Sur GEORGE GORDON (the true founder of this family), who had been sent abroad, and there studied the law with great success. On succeeding to his brother's estates he did not relin- quish this pursuit, becoming a member of the Faculty of Advocates, February 7, 1668, and pleading at the bar, but, according to Crawford, taking no fees. Having acquired great reputation as a lawyer, Sir George was sworn a Privy Councillor in 1678, appointed one of the Lords of Session June 1, 1680, and President, November 1, 1681. He became an especial favourite of the Duke of York, and on the first of May, 1682, letters patent passed at Windsor appointing him Lord High Chancellor of Scotland. The same week he embarked for that kingdom with the Duke in the Gloucester frigate, which on the 5th struck on the sand- bank called the Lemon and Ore, near Yarmouth, and was lost, the Duke escaping to a boat through the large window of the cabin, accompanied only by Gordon and the Earl of Winton. The story is that the Duke was so anxious for Sir George's safety that he called out, " Take care of my Lord Chancellor," which was the first public intimation of his elevation to the office. On arriving in Edinburgh Lord Haddo (Lord of Session) was declared on the 12th Lord Chancellor in Council, and was ap- pointed Sheriff-Principal of the counties of Aberdeen and Edin- burgh. On the 30th of November, 1682, he was raised to the peerage as Earl of Aberdeen, Viscount of Formartine, Lord Haddo, Methlick, Tarves, and Kellie. It need hardly be said after this that Lord Aberdeen went along with all the measures of Government, though there is no special case of oppression brought against him. In 1684, however, a curious difference arose between him and Queens- berry at the council table as to whether landed proprietors should be fined for the non-attendance of their wives at church,-they themselves attending, but their wives, braver than they, generally absenting themselves altogether. Aberdeen held that the law did not mention the wives, and that the husbands were not liable to fine for their non-attendance at church, though they would be for their attendance at conventicles. Queensberry held the contrary, and both repaired to Court to plead their several views. Queens- berry prevailing, the Earl of Aberdeen resigned his Chancellor's place, to which the Earl of Perth was appointed, June 23, 1684. At the Revolution the Earl of Aberdeen retired into the country, to avoid taking the oaths of allegiance to King William. On the accession of Queen Anne he took the oaths and his seat in Parliament. The contemporary writer Mackay speaks of him as "very knowing in ere laws and constitution of his country, and that he is believed to be the solidest statesman in Scotland. A fine orator, speaks slow, but strong." On the 1st of September, 1705, he joined in the Duke of Atholl's protests against passing the Act for a treaty of union with England until the Act of the English Parliament declaring the subjects of Scotland aliens was repealed, and against leaving the power of nominating the commissioners to the Queen. Aberdeen did not attend the last session of the Parliament of Scotland, in which the Union was settled, but retiring into the country, passed there the rest of his life in attending to his estates, which he left in excellent con- dition. He died at Kelly on the 20th of April, 1720, in the eighty-third year of his age. He was succeeded as second Earl of Aberdeen by his eldest surviving son, William, who, at the general election of 1708, was chosen for the county of Aberdeen ; but the House of Commons deciding that, as the eldest son of a Scotch Peer, he was incapable of sitting in the House, a new writ was issued for the county in his place. On the 21st of March, 1721, he was elected a representative peer for Scotland, after a very keen contest with the Earl of Eglinton, who had married his sister. He took a very decided part against the Ministers (perhaps we should rather say against the Hanoverian House), was re-chosen in 1722, and still continued in violent oppo- sition, joining in all the protests against the measures of the Government. He was not returned in 1727, and died of a fever at Edinburgh, March 30, 1746. His eldest son, George, suc- ceeded as third Earl of Aberdeen, and was chosen a represen- tative peer in 1747, 1754, 1774, 1780, and 1784. He died, August 13, 1801. His eldest son, George, Lord Haddo (following the family fatality), died before his father, leaving a son, George, who succeeded his grandfather as fourth Earl of Aberdeen, and sat for some time as a representative peer. He took considerable interest in scientific and antiquarian pursuits. On the 1st of June, 1814, he was created a peer of the United Kingdom as Viscount Gordon, of Aberdeen. He filled several high offices diplomatic and in the Cabinet, being Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs from June 2, 1828, to November 2, 1830 (under the Duke of Wellington), and again, from the 2nd of September, 1841, to the 5th of July, 1846 (under Sir Robert Peel). He became First Lord of the Treasury, December 28, 1852, in the Whig-Peelite Coalition Ministry, and resigned February 5, 1855, when he was made a Knight of the Garter. He was also Lord-Lieutenant and Sheriff-Principal of Aberdeenshire, Ranger of Greenwich Park, and Chancellor of King's College, Aberdeen- As a statesman his services are too recent to be easily estimated with justice. He was never a popular Foreign Minister, his old association with the Holy-Alliance system having perhaps preju- diced the public mind against him. He gained, whether justly or not, the reputation of being too subservient to foreign Courts,. and too little sympathetic with the cause of constitutional liberty abroad, and an unlucky phrase in Louis Philippe's letters, " Ce cher Aberdeen," greatly strengthened the popular impression. Still he was always looked up to by the Conservative party, and much respected in his personal character by his political opponents as well as his friends. This general respect for his character, rather than an appreciation of his abilities, led to his election to the leadership of the Coalition Ministry-a post which required, in an eminent degree, quiet good sense, and a courteous de- meanour and tact. He died, December 14, 1860, and was suc- ceeded as fifth Earl by his eldest son, George John James, who barely escaped the family doom, dying March 22, 1864, and being succeeded by his son, George Hamilton Gordon, sixth and present Earl of Aberdeen.
The Haddo Gordons have played a very insignificant part in the national history compared with their namesakes the Gordons of Huntly, but they have produced one great lawyer and one Premier of commanding position, if not of great ability. Their politics, we need hardly add, have been throughout Tory or Conservative, and they have been far more consistent in their political course than the Gordons of Huntly.
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