He was again chosen in 1802, 1807, and 1812. On 11 Aug. 1815 he was created a peer of the United Kingdom by the title of Baron Meldrum of Morven, and thenceforward took his seat in the House of Lords in his own right. He was made a knight of the Thistle in 1827. In 1836, on the extinction of the male line of the elder branch of his family by the death of George, fifth duke of Gordon [q. v.], he succeeded to the dignities of marquis and earl of Huntly. He was a tory in politics, and voted in the majority for Lord Lyndhurst's motion on the Reform Bill, which led to the temporary resignation of Earl Grey's ministry on 7 May 1832. The marquis married in 1791 Catherine, second daughter of Sir Charles Cope, and with this lady he acquired the estate of Orton Longueville, Huntingdonshire, which he very considerably enlarged by purchasing in 1803 the two adjoining parishes of Chesterton and Haddon. The marquis died at his residence in Chapel Street, Grosvenor Square, London, on 17 June 1853. He left a family of six sons and three daughters, and was succeeded by his eldest son, the tenth marquis, who sat for some years in the House of Commons, first for East Grinstead, and afterwards for Huntingdonshire.
[Ann. Reg. 1853; Gent. Mag. 1853.]
GORDON, GEORGE (1806–1879), horticultural writer, born at Lucan, co. Dublin, 25 Feb. 1806, was trained by his father, who was land-steward and gardener at Sterling House, near Dublin, entering into service at fourteen years of age. From 1823 to 1827 he was employed in the gardens of two country gentlemen. In 1827 he was in the nursery of J. Colvill in King's Road, Chelsea, when, on 18 Feb. 1828, he was taken on the staff of the Horticultural Society at Chiswick, and, with a brief exception, remained there during the rest of his life. He rose to be one of the foremen, two of his contemporaries being Robert Fortune [q. v.], the Chinese traveller, and Robert Thompson, well known for his standard volume on garden management. Gordon was foreman of the arboretum, and, having paid special attention to coniferous trees, he brought out his 'Pinetum' in 1858, Robert Glendinning being associated with him in this and a 'Supplement' in 1862, of which book a second edition was produced by B. G. Bohn, the bookseller, in 1875. Dr. Lindley used Gordon's practical knowledge in some papers on conifers in the 'Journal of the Horticultural Society' in 1850 and 1851, hence the authority of Lindley and Gordon for certain species and varieties. The 'Pinetum' was unfortunately neither popular nor scientific, but between both those extremes. His herbarium was bought at his death by Sir Joseph Hooker, and by him presented to the herbarium of the Royal Gardens, Kew. Gordon died at Kew 11 Oct. 1879, having been an associate of the Linnean Society since 16 Feb. 1841.
Pritzel, in his 'Thesaurus,' confuses the subject of this notice with the Rev. George Gordon, who published anonymously 'A Collectanea for the Flora of Moray' at Elgin in 1839, 8vo.
[Gard. Chron. new ser. (1879), xii. 569.]
GORDON, GEORGE HAMILTON-, fourth Earl of Aberdeen (1784–1860), statesman, eldest son of George Gordon, lord Haddo, by his wife Charles, the youngest daughter of William Baird of Newbyth, Haddingtonshire, and sister of Sir David Baird [q. v.], was born at Edinburgh on 28 Jan. 1784. His father died in October 1791, and his mother in October 1795. Pitt and Lord Melville were his guardians. At the age of ten he was sent to Harrow, where Charles Christopher Pepys, afterwards lord-chancellor Cottenham, Lord Althorp, afterwards third earl Spencer, and Henry John Temple, afterwards lord Palmerston, were among his contemporaries (Baker, Lists of Harrow School, 1849, pp. 53-8). On the death of his grandfather in August 1801 he succeeded to the Scotch earldom of Aberdeen, and soon afterwards went for a tour on the continent, and spent much of his time in Greece. Returning to England an ardent philo-Hellenist in 1803, he founded the Atheman Society, and in 1805 wrote an article on Gell's 'Topography of Troy' for the July number of the 'Edinburgh Review'(vi. 257-83). His appearance among the 'Edinburgh Reviewers' gave rise to Byron's lines in 'English Bards and Scotch Reviewers:'—
First in the oat-fed phalanx shall be seen
The travell'd thane, Athenian Aberdeen.
Aberdeen matriculated as a nobleman at St. John's College, Cambridge, on 30 June 1804, and graduated M.A. in the same year. He was elected a Scotch representative peer on 4 Dec. 1806, and took his seat on the tory side of the house on the 17th of the same month (Journals of the House of Lords, xlvi. 6). He appears to have spoken for the first time in the House of Lords during the debate on the change of administration in April 1807 (Parl. Deb. ix. 352-4). He was invested with the order of the Thistle on 16 March 1808, and on 12 Feb. 1811 moved the address to the prince regent (ib. xviii. 1148-54). Though he opposed Lord Donoughmore's motion on the Roman
