John Gordon (soldier)
John Gordon (c.1776 – 16 July 1858) was a Scottish soldier and Tory politician.
Gordon was the son of Charles Gordon of
Gordon became major on 11 August 1808 and lieutenant-colonel on 6 June 1820.[1]
On the death of his father in 1814, Gordon inherited his estates including Cluny Castle; he was already a wealthy man as he also succeeded to his uncle's estate, who had been a merchant in the British West Indies. He also purchased further properties, including North and South Uist, Benbecula and Barra. He was described by architectural historian H. Gordon Slade[2] as a "model landlord" to tenants on his Aberdeenshire properties,[3] although he was responsible for several mass evictions of his Scottish Gaelic-speaking tenants in the Hebrides during what is now termed the Highland Clearances.[4] Around 3,000 tenants from his estates on the Outer Hebrides were both evicted forced to board emigrant ships to Canada in 1851 alone. After the British government introduced the Slavery Abolition Act 1833 Gordon received a compensation payment of £24,964, as his six plantations on the Caribbean island of Tobago had included 1,383 slaves.[3][5]
Gordon was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Weymouth and Melcombe Regis from 1826 to 1832.[6]
He became an Honorary Colonel in 1836.
Gordon died a bachelor without legal issue in 1858; of his
References
- ^ Roger O. De Keersmaecker "AN EARLY SCOTTISH TRAVELLER IN EGYPT (In search of John Gordon 1804)"
- ^ "Special collections, Ref: MS 3127". University of Aberdeen. Retrieved 15 November 2013.
- ^ S2CID 257742255.
- ^ a b Campsie, Alison (3 August 2016). "The man who rid the Hebrides of thousands of men, women and children". The Scotsman.
- ^ a b Leadbetter, Russell (28 February 2013). "Secret shame: The Scots who made a fortune from abolition of slavery". The Herald (Glasgow). Archived from the original on 16 July 2015. Retrieved 16 November 2013.
- ^ "Leigh Rayment House of Commons constituencies beginning with W Part 3". Archived from the original on 31 December 2010. Retrieved 21 July 2011.
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- GORDON, John (c.1776-1858), of Cluny, Aberdeen, History of Parliament Online