William Gordon


(2nd Earl of Aberdeen)

1679 - 1746

Politician. Gordon was the eldest surviving son of George Gordon, the 1st Earl of Aberdeen (1637 - 1720) and baptised at Methlick (Aberdeenshire). In 1708, as Lord Haddo, Gordon was chosen as Member of Parliament for Aberdeen but, as he was the eldest son of a Peer, he was declared ineligible. In the same year, he married Lady Mary Leslie-Melville. At the time of their marriage her father, the Earl of Leven, was Governor of Edinburgh Castle, while his father was imprisoned there. This was the first of three marriages; Mary died in 1710, without producing a male heir, and in 1716 Gordon married Lady Susan Murray, daughter of John Murray, the 1st Duke of Atholl (1660 - 1724), but she died in childbirth (1725). In 1729 he married Lady Anne Gordon, daughter of Alexander Gordon, the 2nd Duke of Gordon (c.1678 - 1760).

Gordon succeeded his father in 1720 and became active in the House of Lords. In 1732, he commissioned architect William Adam (1689 - 1748) to build Haddo House.

He died in Edinburgh.


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