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 large majority. Treating this as a vote of want of confidence Aberdeen at once resigned office, and the queen bestowed upon him the order of the Garter. He smoothed the way for Palmerston to succeed him, and while the earl of Clarendon remained at the foreign office he aided him with advice and was consulted on matters of moment. He died in London on the 14th of December 1860, and was buried in the family vault at Stanmore. By his first wife he had one son and three daughters, all of whom predeceased their father. By his second wife, who died in August 1833, he left four sons and one daughter. His eldest son, George John James, succeeded as 5th earl; his second son was General Sir Alexander Hamilton-Gordon, K.C.B.; his third son was the Reverend Douglas Hamilton-Gordon; and his youngest son Arthur Hamilton, after holding various high offices under the crown, was created Baron Stanmore in 1893. Among the public offices held by the earl were those of lord-lieutenant of Aberdeenshire, president of the society of Antiquaries from 1812 to 1846 and fellow of the Royal Society.

Aberdeen was a distinguished scholar with a retentive memory and a wide knowledge of literature and art. His private life was exemplary, and he impressed his contemporaries with the loftiness of his character. His manner was reserved, and as a speaker he was weighty rather than eloquent. In public life he was remarkable for his generosity to his political opponents, and for his sense of justice and honesty. He did not, however, possess the qualities which impress the populace, and he lacked the strength which is one of the essential gifts of a statesman. His character is perhaps best described by a writer who says “his strength was not equal to his goodness.” His foreign policy was essentially one of peace and non-intervention, and in pursuing it he was accused of favouring the despotisms of Europe. Aberdeen was a model landlord. By draining the land, by planting millions of trees and by erecting numerous buildings, he greatly improved the condition of his Aberdeenshire estates, and studied continually the welfare of his dependants. A bust of him by Matthew Noble is in Westminster Abbey, and his portrait was painted by Sir Thomas Lawrence. He wrote An Inquiry into the Principles of Beauty in Grecian Architecture (London, 1822), and the Correspondence of the Earl of Aberdeen has been printed privately under the direction of his son, Lord Stanmore.

The 6th earl, George (1841–1870), son of the 5th earl, was drowned at sea, and was succeeded by his brother John Campbell Gordon, 7th earl of Aberdeen (b. 1847), a prominent Liberal politician, who was lord-lieutenant of Ireland in 1886, governor-general of Canada 1893–1898, and again the lord-lieutenant of Ireland when Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman formed his ministry at the close of 1905.

See Lord Stanmore, The Earl of Aberdeen (London, 1893); C. C. F. Greville, Memoirs, edited by H. Reeve (London, 1888); Spencer Walpole, History of England (London, 1878–1886), and Life of Lord John Russell (London, 1889); A. W. Kinglake, Invasion of the Crimea (London, 1877–1888); Sir T. Martin, Life of the Prince Consort (London, 1875–1880); J. Morley, Life of Gladstone (London, 1903).

ABERDEEN, a royal burgh, city and county of a city, capital of Aberdeenshire, and chief seaport in the north of Scotland. It is the fourth Scottish town in population, industry and wealth, and stands on a bay of the North Sea, between the mouths of the Don and Dee, 130 m. N.E. of Edinburgh by the North British railway. Though Old Aberdeen, extending from the city suburbs to the southern banks of the Don, has a separate charter, privileges and history, the distinction between it and New Aberdeen can no longer be said to exist; and for parliamentary, municipal and other purposes, the two towns now form practically one community. Aberdeen’s popular name of the “Granite City” is justified by the fact that the bulk of the town is built of granite, but to appreciate its more poetical designation of the “Silver City by the Sea,” it should be seen after a heavy rainfall when its stately structures and countless houses gleam pure and white under the brilliant sunshine. The area of the city extends to 6602 acres, the burghs of Old Aberdeen and Woodside, and the district of Torry (for parliamentary purposes in the constituency of Kincardineshire) to the south of the Dee, having been incorporated in 1891. The city comprises eleven wards and eighteen ecclesiastical parishes, and is under the jurisdiction of a council with lord provost, bailies, treasurer and dean of guild. The corporation owns the water (derived from the Dee at a spot 21 m. W.S.W. of the city) and gas supplies, electric lighting and tramways. Since 1885 the city has returned two members to Parliament. Aberdeen is served by the Caledonian, Great North of Scotland and North British railways (occupying a commodious joint railway station), and there is regular communication by sea with London and the chief ports on the eastern coast of Great Britain and the northern shores of the Continent. The mean temperature of the city for the year is 45·8° F., for summer 56° F., and for winter 37·3° F. The average yearly rainfall is 30·57 inches. The city is one of the healthiest in Scotland.

Streets and Buildings.—Roughly, the extended city runs north and south. From the new bridge of Don to the “auld brig” of Dee there is tramway communication via King Street, Union Street and Holburn Road—a distance of over five miles. Union Street is one of the most imposing thoroughfares in the British Isles. From Castle Street it runs W.S.W. for nearly a mile, is 70 ft. wide, and contains the principal shops and most of the modern public buildings, all of granite. Part of the street crosses the Denburn ravine (utilized for the line of the Great North of Scotland railway) by a fine granite arch of 132 ft. span, portions of the older town still fringing the gorge, fifty feet below the level of Union Street. Amongst the more conspicuous secular buildings in the street may be mentioned the Town and County Bank, the Music Hall, with sitting accommodation for 2000 persons, the Trinity Hall of the incorporated trades (originating in various years between 1398 and 1527, and having charitable funds for poor members, widows and orphans), containing some portraits by George Jamesone, a noteworthy set of carved oak chairs, dating from 1574, and the shields of the crafts with quaint inscriptions; the office of the Aberdeen Free Press, one of the most influential papers in the north of Scotland; the Palace Hotel; the office of the Northern Assurance Company, and the National Bank of Scotland. In Castle Street, a continuation eastwards of Union Street, are situated the Municipal and County Buildings, one of the most splendid granite edifices in Scotland, in the Franco-Scottish Gothic style, built in 1867–1878. They are of four stories and contain the great hall with an open timber ceiling and oak-panelled walls; the Sheriff Court House; the Town Hall, with excellent portraits of Prince Albert (Prince Consort), the 4th earl of Aberdeen, the various lord provosts and other distinguished citizens. In the vestibule of the entrance corridor stands a suit of black armour believed to have been worn by Provost Sir Robert Davidson, who fell in the battle of Harlaw, near Inverurie, in 1411. From the south-western corner a grand tower rises to a height of 210 ft., commanding a fine view of the city and surrounding country. Adjoining the municipal buildings is the North of Scotland Bank, of Greek design, with a portico of Corinthian columns, the capitals of which are exquisitely carved. On the opposite side of the street is the fine building of the Union Bank. At the upper end of Castle Street stands the Salvation Army Citadel, an effective castellated mansion, the most imposing “barracks” possessed anywhere by this organization. In front of it is the Market Cross, a beautiful, open-arched, hexagonal structure, 21 ft. in diameter and 18 ft. high. The original was designed in 1682 by John Montgomery, a native architect, but in 1842 it was removed hither from its old site and rebuilt in a better style. On the entablature surmounting the Ionic columns are panels containing medallions of Scots sovereigns from James I. to James VII. From the centre rises a shaft, 12 ft. high, with a Corinthian capital on which is the royal unicorn rampant. On an eminence east of Castle Street are the military barracks. In Market Street are the Mechanics’ Institution, founded in 1824, with a good library; the Post and Telegraph offices; and the Market, where provisions of all kinds and general wares are sold. The Fish Market, on the Albert Basin, is a busy scene in the early morning.