c 1710 to c 1799
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William Gordon, Esquire of Birkenburn, is
mentioned as one of the proprietors of the Parish of Keith in a description of
that place written about 1742 (see Vol 2 of the Spalding Club’s Antiquities of
Aberdeen and Banffshire p242). On the
death of his son the old man had so far relented as to send for the two younger
boys, James and John, who certainly had left Peterhead and gone to him
whether by invitation or not prior to 1740.
Both were settled in
large farms, James somewhere near Monimusk and John
in the neighbourhood of Spynie. Their grandfather had either sold Birkenburn or had directed it to be sold on his death and
divided the money between them as their father could not have provided for them
so well.
In the
rebellion of 1745, both James and John went out with Prince Charles and,
of course, were ruined. The
circumstances of two young men sons of a rigid Presbyterian and brothers of
another, living too distant to act by concert and going out in a cause wherein
they had no personal interest shows clearly that their minds had become warped
since they left their home. There can be
no doubt that their old grandfather had effected this change. It also shows that this difference in
politico-religious sentiment had been the main cause of the old man’s dislike
to his son and eldest grandson neither of whom benefitted a farthing by
him. What became of James I could never
learn, indeed William (my grandfather) would never speak on the subject as my
mother and father have assured me. Yet
there had been no quarrel among them for William named two of his sons, James,
who both died in infancy, after that brother; and another, the eldest of his
surviving children, John, after the other.
John himself told me that he had never seen his namefather,
who had left Peterhead some years before he, John, was born, to wit in
1744. I know not if James was that
Lieutenant James Gordon of Grant’s Aberdeenshire Regiment, who was taken at
Carlisle. I think I have read somewhere
of his having been a lad of the Wardhouse family; but
I doubt if Gordons were in Wardhouse at that time,
and am undecided on that point, especially as that is likely to have been the
regiment to which James would belong. John,
at length, did cast up. He had
escaped to France, where he entered in the Scotch Brigade and served till the
peace of 1782. In the following year he
returned to Scotland and wrote to my father for pecuniary assistance. He died at a place near Castle Grant about
the close of last century. The
unwillingness of William to speak of his brothers seems to have arisen from a
conviction that they were both alive and a dread of giving the satellites of
the vindictive government of Geo 11 a clue to their whereabouts. Thus, the obstinacy and selfish bigotry of
the old man had ruined one half of his family, when alive, and the other half
after his death.
(“The Gordon Victorian Narrative, c 1850”)
1707
Perhaps James
Gordon was born in about 1710.
1730
If his father
William Gordon died in 1730, he might have been settled in his farm near Spynie about then.
1745
In the
rebellion of 1745, both James and John went out with Prince Charles and,
of course, were ruined. The
circumstances of two young men sons of a rigid Presbyterian and brothers of
another, living too distant to act by concert and going out in a cause wherein
they had no personal interest shows clearly that their minds had become warped
since they left their home. There can be
no doubt that their old grandfather had effected this change. It also shows that this difference in
politico-religious sentiment had been the main cause of the old man’s dislike
to his son and eldest grandson neither of whom benefitted a farthing by
him.
I don’t think this was him?
John Gordon of Glenbucket (c.1673 – 16
June 1750) was a Scottish Jacobite, or supporter of the claim of the House of
Stuart to the British throne. Laird of a minor estate in Aberdeenshire, he
fought in several successive Jacobite risings. Following the failure of the
1745 rising, in which he served with the rank of Major-General, he escaped to
Norway before settling in France, where he died in 1750. Despite a reputation
in later popular history as “one of the most romantic of Jacobite heroes”, Glenbucket was a controversial figure who acted as a
government agent between 1715 and 1745, and was accused of forcibly
conscripting men during the 1745 rising.
Glenbucket was born in 1673 into an obscure junior
branch of the Gordon family; his grandfather, George, had held the tack of
Noth. His father, John Gordon of Knockespock
(c.1654-1704) purchased the small estate of Glenbucket,
near Kildrummy on the border of Aberdeenshire and
Banffshire, in 1701 from another branch of the Gordon
1782
John,
at length, did cast up. He had escaped
to France, where he entered in the Scotch Brigade and served till the peace of
1782.
In the 1780s, the Scots Brigade was a military unit that served
in the Dutch Republic, but was becoming obsolete and was eventually dissolved. The Scots Brigade was
made up of three regiments that fought under Scottish colours.
1783
In the
following year he returned to Scotland and wrote to my father for pecuniary
assistance.
1799
He
died at a place near Castle Grant about the close of last century.
The
unwillingness of William to speak of his brothers seems to have arisen from a
conviction that they were both alive and a dread of giving the satellites of
the vindictive government of Geo 11 a clue to their whereabouts. Thus, the obstinacy and selfish bigotry of
the old man had ruined one half of his family, when alive, and the other half
after his death.
Castle Grant is near Grantown on Spey.