Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 22.djvu/203

 Gordon till after the accession of Queen Anne, when for the first time he took the oaths to the revolution government. Unlike many of his party, and much to the disgust of Lockhart, he supported in 1705-6 the treaty of union. This was his last public act. He died at Kellie on 20 April 1720, aged 82. He married, while yet Sir George Gordon, Anne, eldest daughter of George Lockhart of Torbrecks, and by her had two sons and four daughters. Of his sons, the elder, George, lord Haddo, died in the lifetime of his father; the younger, William, became second earl of Aberdeen. To a love affair of his old age has been referred the humorous song 'Cauld Kail in Aberdeen' (, Songs of Scotland prior to Burns).

In person Aberdeen was crooked; 'his want of a mine [mien]or deportment for that honourable office' was alleged against his appointment as chancellor; but he is described by Mackay as 'a fine orator, speaks slow but strong; he is very knowing in the laws and constitutions of his country, and is believed to be the solidest statesman in Scotland' (, Memoirs of the War, 1689-90).

[The more important documents connected with his administration were either seized by his enemies at the time of his dismissal, or destroyed by himself; but a number of letters addressed to him, 1681-4, were published at Aberdeen for the Spalding Club in 1851, and a full memoir of him is given by way of introduction; Burnet; Lander's Historical Notices of Scottish Affairs; Crawfurd's Lives of the Officers of State; Wodrow; Kirkton's Secret and True History; Sir George Mackenzie's Memoirs of Affairs in Scotland; Aberdeen Burgh Records; Orem's Old Aberdeen; Records of the University and King's College, Aberdeen, &c.; Brunton and Haig's Senators of the College of Justice, pp. 408-10; Foster's Members of Parliament. Scotland, p. 151.]  GORDON, GEORGE (1751–1793), agitator, a younger son of Cosmo George, third duke of Gordon, was born in Upper Grosvenor Street, London, 26 Dec. 1751. He received a commission as ensign 'when in petticoats,' but afterwards became a midshipman, served on the American station, rose to be a lieutenant (passed 23 March 1772; information from Professor Laughton), and resigned his commission because Lord Sandwich would not promise him a ship. He contested Inverness-shire against General Fraser, and became so popular by talking Gaelic and giving balls, to which he brought lovely highland girls in his yacht, that Fraser became alarmed, and bought the seat of Ludgershall, Wiltshire, from Lord Melbourne, for his rival. Gordon took his seat in 1774. He seems to have shown some erratic tendencies, but did not attract much notice until 1780. In December 1779 he had accepted the presidency of the Protestant Association, formed to secure the repeal of the act by which (in 1778) the catholic disabilities imposed by the statute 11 and 12 Will. III had been removed. At a meeting of this body (29 May) a resolution was passed, in consequence of which many thousand persons met in St. George's Fields, and marched in four divisions to the House of Commons. They filled the lobbies while Gordon presented the petition. The petition was read, but the house voted to adjourn the consideration until the 6th. The crowd outside had become noisy and insulting, and Gordon several times came out and addressed them upon the proceedings within. They retired peaceably upon the arrival of troops, but the same night destroyed some catholic chapels. The magistrates acted feebly, and the riots became more formidable, though the Protestant Association was alarmed, and on Monday, 5 June, circulated appeals for peaceable behaviour. On the 6th, when the petition was to be considered, a violent mob gathered round the houses of parliament. The House of Commons adjourned after passing some resolutions against the mob. Gordon offered to pacify his followers, and took Sir Philip Jennings Clerke into his carriage for protection. The mob took out the horses and dragged the carriage in triumph to Alderman Bull's house in the city. The same evening they burnt Newgate and opened other prisons, besides destroying the houses of Lord Mansfield and Sir John Fielding. The mob, recruited by some two thousand criminals, was now more anxious for plunder than persecution, and on the 7th, besides destroying the King's Bench prison and the New Bridewell, threatened the Bank. On the 8th, however, twenty thousand troops were got together, and the rioters quelled, some three hundred having been killed; 192 rioters were convicted and 25 executed (Notes and Queries, 2nd ser. i. 518). On 9 June Gordon was sent to the Tower and kept there for eight months. He was tried for high treason in the king's bench 5 Feb. 1781. There was no proof that he had approved the riots. The strongest point was that he had encouraged the petitioners by the example of Scotland, where riots had taken place in the previous year. Gordon asserted that he only referred to the constitutional resistance of the Scots. He had also given a paper asking protection from the mob to a man whose house was threatened. But he had advised peaceable conduct, and had offered his services to the king on the 7th. The eloquence of his junior counsel, Erskine (led by Kenyon), gained an acquittal