Family and Education

b. c.1707, 1st s. of Sir William Gordon, 1st Bt., of Invergordon. m. (1) Barbara (d. 20 Aug. 1729), da. of Henry Raines, LL.D. of East Greenwich, Kent, s.p.; (2) 18 Feb. 1739, Mary Weir, ?his cos., wid of Hon. George Ogilvie, s.p. suc. fa. 9 June 1742.

Offices Held

Sec. for Scotland to Prince of Wales 1745-51; sec. and chamberlain to principality of Scotland 1753-d.

Biography

In 1742 Gordon succeeded to his father’s seat, attaching himself to the Prince of Wales, who in 1745 made him his secretary for Scotland at a salary of £300 p.a., later increased to £600.1 With the rest of the Prince’s party, he voted with the Government till Frederick went into opposition in 1747. On the outbreak of the Forty-five, he failed in his attempts to prevent his brother-in-law, the 3rd Earl of Cromartie, and his favourite nephew, Lord Macleod, from joining the rebels, but afterwards, through the intercession of the Prince, he saved Cromartie from execution and Macleod from attainder.2 In 1747, when Cromartyshire was not represented, he stood unsuccessfully, with £1,000 supplied by the Prince,3 for Tain Burghs, where his brother-in-law controlled Dingwall. After the Prince’s death he lost his post but was compensated by the Princess Dowager with a pension.4 He subsequently attached himself to the Pelhams, who gave him a place of £400 p.a. He died 25 May 1783.

Ref Volumes: 1715-1754

Author: Edith Lady Haden-Guest

Notes

• 1. Gordon's diary, J. M. Bulloch, Gordons of Invergordon, 86.
• 2. Corresp. of Sir John Gordon of Invergordon on the Occasion of the Rebellion, Autumn 1745, 31-32, et passim; Gordons of Invergordon, 46; Walpole to Mann, 21 Aug. 1746.
• 3. Andrew Fletcher to Pelham, 21 July 1747, Newcastle (Clumber) mss.
• 4. Gordon's diary, 87.