M‘Grigor (1778–1851), the military surgeon and director-general of the Army Medical Department, who was thrice elected lord rector of the College.
Bridges.—The Dee is crossed by four bridges,—the old bridge, the Wellington suspension bridge, the railway bridge, and Victoria Bridge, opposite Market Street. The first, till 1832 the only access to the city from the south, consists of seven semicircular ribbed arches, is about 30 ft. high, and was built early in the 16th century by Bishops Elphinstone and Dunbar. It was nearly all rebuilt in 1718–1723, and in 1842 was widened from 1412 to 26 ft. The bridge of Don has five granite arches, each 75 ft. in span, and was built in 1827–1832. A little to the west is the Auld Brig o’ Balgownie, a picturesque single arch spanning the deep black stream, said to have been built by King Robert I., and celebrated by Byron in the tenth canto of Don Juan.
Harbour.—A defective harbour, with a shallow sand and gravel bar at its entrance, long retarded the trade of Aberdeen, but under various acts since 1773 it was greatly deepened. The north pier, built partly by Smeaton in 1775–1781, and partly by Telford in 1810–1815, extends nearly 3000 ft. into the North Sea. It increases the depth of water on the bar from a few feet to 22 or 24 ft. at spring tides and to 17 or 18 ft. at neap. A wet dock, of 29 acres, and with 6000 ft. of quay, was completed in 1848 and called Victoria Dock in honour of the queen’s visit to the city in that year. Adjoining it is the Upper Dock. By the Harbour Act of 1868, the Dee near the harbour was diverted from the south at a cost of £80,000, and 90 acres of new ground (in addition to 25 acres formerly made up) were provided on the north side of the river for the Albert Basin (with a graving dock), quays and warehouses. A breakwater of concrete, 1050 ft. long, was constructed on the south side of the stream as a protection against south-easterly gales. On Girdleness, the southern point of the bay, a lighthouse was built in 1833. Near the harbour mouth are three batteries mounting nineteen guns.
Industry.—Owing to the variety and importance of its chief industries Aberdeen is one of the most prosperous cities in Scotland. Very durable grey granite has been quarried near Aberdeen for more than 300 years, and blocked and dressed paving “setts,” kerb and building stones, and monumental and other ornamental work of granite have long been exported from the district to all parts of the world. This, though once the predominant industry, has been surpassed by the deep-sea fisheries, which derived a great impetus from beam-trawling, introduced in 1882, and steam line fishing in 1889, and threaten to rival if not to eclipse those of Grimsby. Fish trains are despatched to London daily. Most of the leading industries date from the 18th century, amongst them woollens (1703), linen (1749) and cotton (1779). These give employment to several thousands of operatives. The paper-making industry is one of the most famous and oldest in the city, paper having been first made in Aberdeen in 1694. Flax-spinning and jute and comb-making factories are also very flourishing, and there are successful foundries and engineering works. There are large distilleries and breweries, and chemical works employing many hands. In the days of wooden ships ship-building was a flourishing industry, the town being noted for its fast clippers, many of which established records in the “tea races.” The introduction of trawling revived this to some extent, and despite the distance of the city from the iron fields there is a fair yearly output of iron vessels. Of later origin are the jam, pickle and potted meat factories, hundreds of acres having been laid down in strawberries and other fruits within a few miles of the city.
History.—Aberdeen was an important place as far back as the 12th century. William the Lion had a residence in the city, to which he gave a charter in 1179 confirming the corporate rights granted by David I. The city received other royal charters later. It was burned by the English king, Edward III., in 1336, but it was soon rebuilt and extended, and called New Aberdeen. The burgh records are the oldest in Scotland. They begin in 1398 and with one brief break are complete to the present day. For many centuries the city was subject to attacks by the neighbouring barons, and was strongly fortified, but the gates were all removed by 1770. In 1497 a blockhouse was built at the harbour mouth as a protection against the English. During the struggles between the Royalists and Covenanters the city was impartially plundered by both sides. In 1715 the Earl Marischal proclaimed the Old Pretender at Aberdeen, and in 1745 the duke of Cumberland resided for a short time in the city before attacking the Young Pretender. The motto on the city arms is “Bon Accord,” which formed the watchword of the Aberdonians while aiding Robert Bruce in his battles with the English.
Population.—In 1396 the population was about 3000. By 1801 it had become 26,992; in 1841 it was 63,262; (1891) 121,623; (1901) 153,503.
Authorities.—The charters of the burgh; extracts from the council register down to 1625, and selections from the letters, guildry and treasurer’s accounts, forming 3 vols. of the Spalding Club; Cosmo Innes, Registrum Episcopatus Aberdonensis, Spalding Club; Walter Thom, The History of Aberdeen (1811); Robert Wilson, Historical Account and Delineation of Aberdeen (1822); William Kennedy, The Annals of Aberdeen (1818); Orem, Description of the Chanonry, Cathedral and King’s College of Old Aberdeen, 1724–1725 (1830); Sir Andrew Leith Hay of Rannes, The Castellated Architecture of Aberdeen; Giles, Specimens of Old Castellated Houses of Aberdeen (1838); James Bruce, Lives of Eminent Men of Aberdeen (1841); J. Gordon, Description of Both Towns of Aberdeen (Spalding Club, 1842); Joseph Robertson, The Book of Bon-Accord (Aberdeen, 1839); W. Robbie, Aberdeen: its Traditions and History (Aberdeen, 1893); G. G. Burr and A. M. Munro, Old Landmarks of Aberdeen (Aberdeen, 1886); A. M. Munro, Memorials of the Aldermen, Provosts and Lord Provosts of Aberdeen (Aberdeen, 1897); P. J. Anderson, Charters, &c., illustrating the History of the Royal Burgh of Aberdeen (Aberdeen, 1890); Selections from the Records of Marischal College (New Spalding Club, 1889, 1898–1899); J. Cooper, Chartulary of the Church of St Nicholas (New Spalding Club, 1888, 1892); G. Cadenhead, Sketch of the Territorial History of the Burgh of Aberdeen (Aberdeen, 1876); W. Cadenhead, Guide to the City of Aberdeen (Aberdeen, 1897); A. Smith, History and Antiquities of New and Old Aberdeen (Aberdeen, 1882).
ABERDEEN, a city and the county-seat of Brown county, South Dakota, U.S.A., about 125 m. N.E. of Pierre. Pop. (1890) 3182; (1900) 4087, of whom 889 were foreign born; (1905) 5841; (1910) 10,753. Aberdeen is served by the Chicago, Milwaukee and St Paul, the Great Northern, the Minneapolis and St Louis, and the Chicago and North Western railways. It is the financial and trade centre for the northern part of the state, a fine agricultural region, and in 1908 had five banks and a number of wholesale houses. The city is the seat of the Northern Normal and Industrial School, a state institution, and has a Carnegie library; the principal buildings are the court house and the government buildings. Artesian wells furnish good water-power, and artesian-well supplies, grain pitchers, brooms, chemicals and flour are manufactured. The municipality owns and operates the water-works. Aberdeen was settled in 1880, and was chartered as a city in 1883.
ABERDEENSHIRE, a north-eastern county of Scotland, bounded N. and E. by the North Sea, S. by Kincardine, Forfar and Perth, and W. by Inverness and Banff. It has a coast-line of 65 m., and is the sixth Scottish county in area, occupying 1,261,887 acres or 1971 sq. m. The county is generally hilly, and from the south-west, near the centre of Scotland, the Grampians send out various branches, mostly to the north-east. The shire is popularly divided into five districts. Of these the first is Mar, mostly between the Dee and Don, which nearly covers the southern half of the county and contains the city of Aberdeen. It is mountainous, especially Braemar (q.v.), which contains the greatest mass of elevated land in the British Isles. The soil on the Dee is sandy, and on the Don loamy. The second district, Formartine, between the lower Don and Ythan, has a sandy coast, which is succeeded inland by a clayey, fertile, tilled tract, and then by low hills, moors, mosses and tilled land. Buchan, the third district, lies north of the Ythan, and, comprising the north-east of the county, is next in size to Mar, parts of the coast being bold and rocky, the interior bare, low, flat, undulating and in places peaty. On the coast, 6 m. S. of Peterhead, are the Bullers of Buchan—a basin in which the sea, entering by a natural arch, boils up violently in stormy weather. Buchan Ness is the most easterly point of Scotland. The fourth
