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Thursday, January 31, 1907 MEETING
AT BANFF
A meeting of the Banffshire Field Club was held this
evening in the Reading Room of the Town and Country Club Banff. In the absence of the President, Mr.
McPherson was called to the chair. Mr. Walter Gerrard, solicitor, Macduff, was admitted a
member of the Club, and Messrs John Malcolm Bulloch, M.A., London; Thomas
Barton, Banff; and Henry C. Hossack solicitor, Banff, were nominated for
election at their next meeting. The Chairman then called on Mr. Grant, who read an
elaborate paper by Mr. Bulloch on THE
GORDONS OF LAGGAN
The Gordon families in Glenlivet and in Mortlach are very
difficult to trace. I am inclined to believe
that most of them come from Tam Gordon of Ruthven, the brother of the famous
“Jock” Gordon of Sourdargue, who were the illegitimate cousins of Elizabeth
Gordon, the founder of the ducal house.
But whereas the author or authors of the Balbithan MS devoted 40 pages
to the descendants of Jock, only two pages and a bit are occupied by the
issue of Tam, the MS., retiring defeated in the task with the words: --- Here I find myself run aground for want of further and
better information concerning the family of Davoch (that is Tam’s issue),
whose representative this day (1644 or 1730?) is hard to be condescended
upon, many of the foresaid families and also their descendants being now
extinct and without succession. So my Reader, I hope will excuse this rude and imperfect
draught of the whole, and if any more versant in antiquity and genealogy
shall make up my defect, I’ll reckon it good service done to the truth and
Sirname of Gordon. According to the Balbithan MS., Tam Gordon was three times
married: (1) – Hay, sister of Sir Thomas Hay of Enzie; ___ Innes, daughter of
Sir Walter Innes; the third wife’s name is not given. He had 16 sons, and had succession by four
of them. Tam died in Davoch, and was
buried in the kirk of Ruthven. His
sons as detailed in the Balbithan MS. were: ---- Patrick Gordon, of Auchinreath, Corridown, and Cottonhill,
“which he excambed with the lairdship of Sauchen.” He was the son by the first marriage; and was twice married
himself. By his second wife, ---
Panton, daughter of the Laird of Pitmedden, he had: Alexander Gordon of Pethnick and Contly in Stryla, who
dwelt in Parkmore in Balvenie. He
married – Symmer, daughter of the laird of Badenoch. He dyed in the peace and was interred in
the Kirk of Mortleach.” He had five
sons. John Gordon of Invercharrach. He married (1) the heretrix of Invercharrach and the Barron of
Carron’s sister; and (2) – Innes, daughter of the Goodman of Drainie. He died in peace. “He was very hospitable and a good
hunter.” He had six sons. John Gordon, by first marriage. On page 67, the Balbithan MS. calls him “Barron of Achnastink”.
But does not give him a Christian name, adding that he “dyed without
succession.” On page 68, he is called
“John Gordon of Achnastink, “ and he is stated to have married and begat: William Gordon of Achinstink, who married and begat: Alexander Gordon of Achinstink, who married Isabel Cumming
and begat sons who dwelt in Mortlach. William Gordon of Invercharrach. Robert Gordon of Pittglassie. James Gordon of Kinernie. Alexander Gordon of Parkmore. These four sons were by the second wife, the Goodman of
Drainie’s daughter, and died without issue.
They were all located in the parish of Mortlach. William Gordon of Achinarrow was also by the laird of
Drainie’s daughter. He married and
begat: Alaster Gordon of Achinarrow. John Gordon in Easterkinmaichly. James Gordon of Craiggon of Delmore. Alexander Gordon of Bochrome. James Gordon in Parkbeig. Alexander, alias Alaster, Gordon in Achorlise. ACHLOCHRACH
In the eighteenth century a group of Gordons occupied
Achlochran, Achnastank, and Tomnagayloch, in the Glenrinnes portion of the
parish of Mortlach. They were cadets
of the Beldornie family, which was descended from Adam Gordon, Dean of
Caithness, third son of Alexander, 1st Earl of Huntly. This group is dealt with in an unpublished genealogy
compiled by Cosmo Gordon, Liverpool, (my 4th great uncle
L.R.D.) in the early years of last century.
His work is known as the “Birnie MS.,” and the original is in the
possession of the family of More Gordon of Charlton Montrose, represented by
the present vicar of Redhill, Surrey.
The late Rev. Dr Gordon, Birnie, took a great amount of interest in
it, and apparently had a copy of the MS made for him, which is now in the
possession of Mrs. A. E. Davidson.
She also owns a number of letters dealing with the aid of these I am
able to present a fuller account of the group than has yet appeared in print. The Balbithan MS, stops its account of the Beldornie
Gordons about 1631; but according to the Birnie MS John Gordon, III of
Beldornie, married a daughter of Gordon of Carinborrow, and had three sons; (1)
John Gordon IV, of Beldornie, who was a
Commissioner of Supply for Banffshire in 1685, and whose issue died out,
being replaced by Gordon of Tirrisoule, ancestor of the present Wardhouse
family. (2)
James Gordon, who lived as Belchairy, and died
without issue. (3)
Harry Gordon of Achlorach, with whose issue I am
dealing. They represent the old
Beldornie stock. HARRY
GORDON OF ACHLOCHRACH
He was the youngest of the three sons of John Gordon of
the three sons of John Gordon of Beldornie, and settled in Achlorach in
Glenrinnes. He married a daughter of
Cumming of Hillside of Balveny, by whom he had two sons: (1)
Harry Gordon, II of Achlochrach. (2)
Thomas Gordon.
The Birnie MS., (pg 263) says he lived at Achlochran; but he seems to
be identical with Thomas Gordon, who dwelt at Achnastank (p. 276). I treat him separately under Achnstank. (3)
Ann Gordon; married Thomas Grant, and died without
issue. HARRY
GORDON II, OF ACHLOCHRACH
He figured, according to the Birnie MS., at the siege of
Edinburgh Castle in 1689. A mutiny
had been engineered among the garrison, which was commanded by the Duke of
Gordon, and His Grace ordered Francis Gordon of Midstrath “to bring up from
the north, out of his own lands, 45 of the best most resolute men he could
find to supply the places of those disbanded.” Harry Gordon of Achlochrach was at the head of a party who
volunteered their services. The MS
goes on to say: -- He was much in the confidence of the Duke, and during the
siege was employed on several important occasions. A little before the sitting down of the Convention of Estates,
the Duke discovered a new conspiracy in the garrison, which obliged him to
require a new oath of the soldiers, and foreseeing that several of them would
refuse it, he appointed Harry Gordon
to take on some soldiers who had laid down their arms since the
Revolution and remained about Edinburgh, selecting from amongst them those
for whose fidelity he could answer.
Then His Grace dismissed all who refused and turned them out of the
garrison, after paying them their arrears. On April 27, Harry Gordon was sent out for intelligence,
and on the 29th he returned bringing with him Lieut. James Hay,
John Mackay, and one Launders, an Irishman, after losing another three owing
to the darkness of the night, who had also agreed to serve in the garrison. On May 24, Harry Gordon went out again for intelligence,
and returned in safety on the night of the 28th bringing an
account that one of the besiegers mortar pieces had split, and that the great
leaders in the Revolution, upon the appearance of some Dutch luggers in the
Firth, got together horse attendants and arms, with other such vast
preparations as if they had been to fly to, or front the Kings host. On June 12, 1689, after fruitless treaty, the besiegers
fired briskly upon all their batteries, and a party of them advanced so near
that their officers were heard saying, “Advance, dogs,” and those in the
garrison called out to them, “Ye dogs, will ye not obey your officers?” The besiegers made their last great effort
this night, rolling up some great packs of wool on the Castle Hill, but were
so gallantly fired on by those on duty at the low guard and the portcullis as
to oblige them to retire; the men on all their posts kept singing aloud,
“When the King shall hae his sin again.”
Harry Gordon this night commanded the post in the low half-moon at the
south corner; and on the day following a treaty was commenced and the Castle
was surrendered after a close siege of three months, the garrison marching
out and departing wherever it suited them without any restriction. Harry Gordon then returned home after
having exhausted much of his property and to a degree, which his descendants
did not recover in the two successive generations. Harry Gordon, according to the Birnie MS., married his
cousin, Janet Grant, daughter of Donald Grant of Glenlochy, “his mother being
one of the seven daughters of Cairnburrow, and being all women above the
common size were called the “Seven Capons.”
The Birnie MS tells this curious story of Glenlochy: -- Donald on returning home from conveying his father-in-law
through Glenlivet was drowned in the water of Lochy, about a mile below his
own house; and his body not having been found for some time, in the Awin or
Livet, and hence the saying of Maggy Mulloch (an idiot all covered over with
hair, and on that account believed to be a witch). “Wet and weary, seeking Donald between Dalrady and the
Lettach.” Donald had a feu or wadset of Dalrady, Glenlochy, and
Glenbruin, originally from the Earl of Moray as proprietor of the lands of
Abernethy; but his cousin, who lived at Inverlochy, turned his widow out
under pretence of being heir male to it, and some time afterwards disposed of
his interest in it to Freuchy, the laird of Grant. Donald’s widow with her daughter and only child came to the
neighbourhood of her cousin Achlochrach, and dwelt in Belandie, until his
sons and her daughter were married to each other. Harry Gordon, II of Achlochrach had two sons and a
daughter. (1)
James Gordon, III of Achlochrach (2)
Robert Gordon.
He lived in Achlochrach, and married Mrs. Nairn, a widow by whom he
had one son and two daughters, who all died unmarried. a.
Robert Gordon, died in Jamica b.
Janet Gordon c.
Mary. The
Birnie MS., remarks that :the latter lived a good deal with Wardes’ family.” (3)
Anne Gordon married Robert Duff of Lettach,
grandson of John Duff of Clunybeg, the uncle of Alexander Duff of Keithmore,
ancestor of Lord Fife. JAMES
GORDON, III OF ACHLOCHRACH
He married Anne MacWilliam, daughter of David MacWilliam,
alias Stewart, the younger of Achmore, and granddaughter of James
O’Laggan. The Birnie MS gives some
curious information about the MacWilliams, whose history is now being
minutely investigated by and industrious London genealogist, Mr. H. Duff
Macilliam, of Harrow View. David was a branch of the Stewarts of Ballechin in Athole,
and his grandfather, William (and hence the appellation of “MacWilliam”) left
that country in consequence of a feud with some of this neighbours, and
exchanged his property there with the Earl of Athole, who was then proprietor
of Balveny and Pittvaich, the mill, and some of other lands about that place
to be held in feu. His son David settled in Achmore in Glenrinnes, a farm
belonging to the Earl of Huntley, and married a daughter of Grant of Allachie,
the sister of Alexander Duff of Keithmore’s wife, the ancestor of Lord Fife,
and had one son and one daughter. David, his son, married Jane, daughter of James O’Laggan,
and died while a young man, leaving her a widow with several children. She was prevailed upon to dispose of
Pittivaich and the mill to Alexander Duff of Braco, her husband’s cousin, in
terms as little creditable to him as disreputable to herself, it being
constantly reported in that part of the country that she sat down in the mill
dam to stop the mill that he might take infeftment of it, the miller refusing
to do it. Be this as it may, her
children were reduced to great distress, for which Braco appeared perfectly
indifferent, being a man callous to humanity, as well as natural affection,
if he could by any means gratify his thirst for the acquirement of
lands. The daughter married John
Forbes of Keithack, son to Gordon Arthur Forbes, and left several children. James Gordon, III. Of Achlochrach, by his wife, Anne
MacWilliam, had two sons and two daughters: (1)
John Gordon, who went to the Milltown of Laggan. (2)
Anne Gordon’ married John Shand (3)
Janet Gordon died unmarried. (4)
Harry Gordon.
He “lived first at Hardhaugh and afterwards at Boat of Bog, the name
of the ferry across the Spey near Fochabers, now replace by a bridge. He married Helen Burges, the third
daughter of Charles Burges at Clashdow, by Christian Forbes, daughter of John
Forbes of Keithack. The Birnie MS
calls Helen Burges the “near relation of Harry,” and says that the latter left
one son and one daughter. The
Mortlach Register, however, shows that another son had been born: a.
Charles Gordon, baptized January 24, 1752:
witnesses, Charles Burges in Clashdow and John Forbes In Keithack. b.
Cosmo Gordon: baptized Dec. 28, 1752, before the
same witnesses. The Birnie MS deals
at great length with him. He was
employed early in life in establishing the use of “Cudbear,” invented by his
brothers-in-law, George and Cuthbert Gordon, sons of Thomas Gordon of
Fotherletter. The Birnie MS says that
soon after his marriage (in 1778) he was induced to purchase the office of
one of the nineteen Deputy King’s Waiters of the Customs of the Port of
London for an annuity of £70 during the life of Kenneth Macpherson, one of th
Inquest of the Customs, and also during that of his wife (who was Mrs. Cosmo
Gordon’s eldest sister). This annuity
be paid for 34 years. Macpherson had
got the billet by way of compensation for not having obtained the office of a
Searcher in the Port fo London according to a promise made by Lord North to
his friends, “James MacPherson, of Ossian notoriety, and to Sir John
MacPherson, Governor General of Bengal.” The emoluments, however were much smaller than Gordon
expected, so he “turned his attention to the improvement of the revenue” in
order to increase his income. He
first suggested to Pitt “a scheme for the improvement of the duties arising
from wood, by defining under a specific description each individual article
in terms so clear and precise as to render doubt and evasion impossible,
which with additional duty advanced that branch of the Customs from an
average of £43,000 to the considerably more than half-a-million annually.” He next suggested to Mr. Pitt the measure of warehousing
tobacco. This took place on January
6, 1786, when he was appointed Comptrolling Surveyor of the Warehouse in
London, with the promise of being principal surveyor so soon as an
arrangement could be made for the retirement of a Mr. Thomas, then an old and
infirm officer, which took place the year following. (The “Gentleman’s Magazine” records the
fact, Dec 1788.) The measure of
warehousing tobacco having proved so beneficial to the Revenue as to cause a
greater quantity to pay the duty of fifteen pence a pound than formerly had
paid only sixpence and a fraction, Mr. Pitt, with a view of suppressing the
frauds committed int eh manufacture of snuff and tobacco, directed him in
1788 to suggest such regulations as appeared to him proper for placing these
manufactures under the inspection of the Excise; and the measures which he
proposed for that purpose being approved of a Bill was framed in conformity
to the, and was passed into an Act of the 29th George III cap.
69. While this Act was passing through the two Houses of Parliament,
Cosmo was directed by the two Houses, through Mr. Pitt, to be in constant
attendance to explain to himself and the members who supported the measure
whatever doubts or objections arose upon any of the clauses, and also to supply
Mr. Pitt from time to time with observations upon the various objections made
by the evidences brought forward by the opposers of the Bill, and while it
was in the House of Commons he was considered to be so much the author of the
measure as to be indulged with the kind of privilege which the author of
every measure before the House of Commons usually has of sitting in the House
below the Bar during the time it may be under discussion. But the most formidable opposition having
been made in the House of Lords, where the witnesses are examined on oath,
and the Chancellor, Lord Thurlow, upon its introduction being considered as
rather unfriendly to it, Cosmo was directed by Mr. Pitt to digest as
concisely as he could the purport and intent of the several clauses, with
distract and separate heads explanatory of the forces and utility of each of
them, and so as to serve as an index to the Bill. The outline of it was given to Lord Hopetoun before it was
finished. The Chancellor desired to
se it, and, on being informed by whom it was drawn up, appointed Cosmo to
attend him next morning with such an Index.
He accordingly waited upon Lord Thurlow and put into his hands a
complete Index, and discussed with him all the clauses, and he was so far
satisfied s not only to say that if the Minister had sent Cosmo to him before
the Bill was brought in it should have met with no opposition from him, but
he also requested Cosmo to attend him every day in his own chamber at th
House of Lords, both before he took his seat on the Wool sack and after he
left it. During these interviews he
talked freely to Cosmo upon what he thought of the kind of evidence that was
brought forward, and upon the whole became a convert to the measure. Cosmo had repeated interview with all the
Lords who supported the measure, and even with some of those who opposed
it. They admitted that the arguments
he had stated in his Index were unanswerable, and consequently, if the
measure had not been coupled with an extension of the Excise Law it was otherwise
unobjectionable. In the beginning of the 1801 Administration, after a
discussion in Parliament, there was set on foot a scheme for supplying such
Associations as had been formed in various parts of England for the relief of
the poor with herrings from the Firth of Forth and such other kinds of fish
as could be procured in Scotland.
Difficulties having arisen in executing such orders as these
Association had given, Cosmo was directed on January 23rd to
proceed to Edinburgh and to such other places in Scotland as he should find
necessary for furthering the views of Administration, and to carry on a
correspondence with those in the different parts of England who were desirous
of obtaining supplies of fish, as well as to supply the fishcurers with such
quantities of salt as they required.
Cosmo soon after his arrival at Edinburgh, and when he had taken
proper measures for forwarding to England large quantities of herrings from
Burntisland and Leith, proceeded along the East Coast as far as Peterhead,
with a view of securing a sufficient supply of cod and ling. He reported the proceedings from time to
time to the Treasury, and a change of Administration having then taken place
by the resignation of Mr. Pitt and the appointment of Mr. Addington to
succeed him, Cosmo received the following letter from Mr. Rose before he
quitted the Treasury: -- “Sir, -- The whole of your proceedings since you
left London on the servide of furthering supplies of herrings, cod, ling,
&c., &c., for the several parts of England, and also with salt for
the fisheries, meet with the entire approbation of the lords Commissioners of
me to acquaint you with. The prices
at which you state the mud cod and dried ling may be had of a good quality render
it highly probable that the Committees at some of the places at least will
avail themselves of a supply of these fish, especially of the former, and you
have done perfectly right to make the prices and facility of supply as
generally know as you could – I am, &c., GEORGE ROSE, Treasury Clerk -- 12th March 1801.” Cosmo was directed by the Treasury of the
new Administration to remain in Scotland and inquire generally into the state
of the fisheries in every part of that kingdom, until it should be
ascertained whether the productiveness of the ensuing harvest should render
it necessary to supply the poor in England any longer with fish. He consequently continued there until
September, and on his return to London made his report to the Treasury on the
herring fishery; and Mr. Vansittart, the Secretary to the Lords, informed him
that he had placed the whole in so clear and striking a light that, he had
placed the whole in so clear an striking a light that, if the country should
fortunately be at peace, the fishery laws should undergo a complete revision.
In 1803 he sent an “account of the Dutch herring fishing,” communicated to
him by two Dutchmen to the Highland Society, of which he had become a member
on June 29, 1801. Cosmo now resumed
the duties of his own office as Principal Surveyor of the Tobacco Warehouse,
only, at the desire of the Commissioners of the Customs, employing his spare
time in inquiring into the proceedings of the department of Searchers in
London, and reporting his opinion thereon.
This he executed faithfully, and pointed out that from the very loose
system they pursued that the Revenue was exposed to innumerable frauds of
great magnitude, particularly in regard to the examination of goods entered
for bounty or drawback: that it could not be ascertained by any document or voucher
in their office whether any parcel of such goods had actually been examined
by any searcher, although debentures were signed and passed for the payment
of great sums of money on the faith of their having been examined and shipped
for exportation. All that could be
seen in their office was a kind of rotation, stating on what duty each
searcher was supposed to be employed in attending each day and at what
places; but that he was on such duty on that day or that he or any other
searcher had seen the goods said to have been shipped from that place on that
or any other day could not be traced from any record kept in their
office. The Commissioners were much
struck with this, and requested Cosmo to lay before them the means of
correcting so great an abuse, to which he briefly replied that in his opinion
no effectual remedy could be applied unless the number of searchers were
increased, and every part of their duty placed upon and entirely new
footing. In the meantime the Treasury
received in formation of frauds to a great extent through the negligence of
the searchers in suffering the books in their office to lie open to every one
inclined to look into them, by which the quantities of goods might be altered
to suit any fraudulent design. This,
as Cosmo had foreseen, was actually done by a person who himself in formed
the Treasury of it, upon receiving both an indemnification and a reward. The facts were minutely inquired into by
Mr. Swainson, who was then one of the Surveyors General, and the whole found
to be done precisely as the informer had stated. While the inquiry was making the Lords of the Treasury were
desirous of ascertaining how far it was expedient to extend the Warehousing
system to the several out-ports in England, and in December 1804 Cosmo was
selected upon the part of the Customs to examine the accommodations which
each port possessed for the security of the Revenue. In this service he was engaged nine
months, traveling from port to port from south to north and from east to west
no less than 2897 miles, and during his absence, without the least
solicitation on his part, Mr. Pitt amongst the last papers he signed was
Cosmo’s appointment to the Surveyor of the Searchers, then considered to be
the best office in the out-door department of the Customs in London. The business of this office, according to
the system recommended by Mr. Swainson, and adopted by the Board. Cosmo had the happiness to establish and
to carry on to the entire satisfaction of all parties for the space of two
years; but at the conclusion of 1806 the Treasury, in pursuance of a report
from Mr. Frewin, the Chairman of the Board of Customs, directed that an
office conversant in all the parts of the Warehousing business as carried on
at the docks in Liverpool might be sent there to place it as far as local
circumstances would admit, upon the same footing as London, and to remain in
it until such officers as might be appointed were qualified and instructed in
that duty. In this the most arduous
and difficult service he was ever engaged in Cosmo continued ten months, and
even then, when he returned to London, he told the Board that in a few months
it would be advisable to inquire how far the officers were adhering to the
system that had been laid down for their government. But at this juncture, in consequence of
the death of Mr. Onslow, Mr. Swainson, then the Secretary, was appointed
Collector of Liverpool, and being a stranger at that place, he requested
Cosmo to accompany him for a few weeks on his first appearance there; and, as
Mr. Nicholas Saumarez, brother to Admiral Sir John Saumarez, had been
appointed the Principal Surveyor of the Warehouses and Surveyor of the
Searchers at Liverpool, with the same salary as Cosmo had in London, it was
suggested, as Mr. Swainson and he had lived so many years in the strictest
habits of intimacy and friendship with each other, how agreeable it would
prove to them both for Cosmo to exchange situations with Mr. Samarez, and
which being sanctioned by the Treasury, Cosmo removed altogether from London
early n 1808, and took upon him the business at Liverpool. In which situation he continued ten years,
when by exerting himself in the discharge of it far beyond what one at his
time of life ought to have done, his health began to decline so rapidly as to
render it prudent for him to retire.
“He continued for a year in the same precarious state, until he was
relieved by a violent bleeding at the nose; soon after which his health began
to improve, and by the mercy of Almighty God he is now writing these memoirs
(Birnie MS) in as comfortable state of health as any one can expect to enjoy
in the 74th year of his age.” He was twice married.
His first wife, whose name does not appear in the Birnie MS, died Nov.
24th 1796. He then
married, January 12, 1808, Mrs. Sarah Butler, widow of Mr. John Butler. He had two sons: 1.
Thomas Gordon, by the first wife. The Birnie MS says he “seemed to possess
rather more than common abilities, and never was sent to any school except to
learn French, having acquired all the knowledge he had under his father. Indeed he was almost self-taught, for he
used to say that what one had heard and seen and could not teach himself to
do he was not teach himself to do he was not worth being taught it. He prided himself in his penmanship and
accuracy in accounts, and at the time of his death he kept as elegant a set
of mercantile books as any in London.”
He died October 1798, in his 19th year. 2. Robert Henry
Butler Gordon, who was third mate in the Albion East Indiaman and died the
preceding year at Bencoolan, on his voyage to China, in the 24th
year of his age. Elizabeth Gordon, sister of
Cosmo Gordon, married James Logie, who lived and died at the Boat of Bog, and
had three sons and a daughter, including: Alexander Logie, captain, 5th
Regiment Bombay Native Infantry. He
was the father of William Logie, Lieut.-colonel, 19th Regiment
Bengal Native Infantry. |