JOHN CAMPBELL HAMILTON-GORDON, 1st MARQUESS ABERDEEN & TENAIR [1847-1934] MP &

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This an unreserved unreserved auction for a letter signed by John Campbell Hamilton-Gordon, 1st Marquess of Aberdeen & Tenair KT, GCMG, GCVO, PC [1847-1934] Governor General Canada & MP from 37 Grosvenor Square, London to Canon Fleming dated April 11th 1881. John Campbell Hamilton-Gordon, 1st marquess of Aberdeen & Temair KT, GCMG, GCVO, PC [1847-1934], politician, was born in Edinburgh on 3 August 1847, the third and youngest son of George John James Hamilton-Gordon, fifth earl of Aberdeen [1816–1864], and his wife, Mary [d. 1900], second daughter of George Baillie, of Jerviswood, of a family well known in covenanting annals. His childhood was spent largely in the Ranger's House, Blackheath, and after studying at St Andrews University he finished his education at University College, Oxford, where he graduated BA in 1871. Four successive deaths between 1860 and 1870 brought Gordon unexpectedly to the peerage. [He changed his name back from Hamilton-Gordon in 1900]. His grandfather the prime minister George Hamilton-Gordon IVth Earl, died in 1860, and his father died in 1864; in 1868 he lost his second brother by a rifle accident, while in 1870 his eldest brother George, an adventurous young man with a passion for the sea, was swept overboard while working in the American mercantile marine under an assumed name. It was not until 6 May 1872 that the youngest brother's succession to the title was confirmed by the House of Lords. In 1877 Aberdeen married Ishbel Maria, née Marjoribanks. Although of a Conservative family, he became a firm Liberal, voted against the tory government's Afghan policy, and in 1879 was one of the party at Lord Rosebery's house at Dalmeny for Gladstone's first Midlothian campaign. Dollis Hill, Aberdeen's London house, became a regular bolt-hole for Gladstone. Gladstone was keen to advance Liberal peers. He made Aberdeen lord lieutenant of his county in 1881 and lord high commissioner to the Church of Scotland from 1881 to 1885 [he again held the position 1915], and he made him Irish viceroy in 1886, with the first Home Rule Bill in the offing. The Aberdeens helped consolidate the Liberal alliance with home-rule Dublin, and they travelled through the disturbed southern and western counties. However, Aberdeen played no part in the making of the home-rule or land legislation, and played the part more of a constitutional monarch than a politician in the six months of the Liberal government's existence. When Gladstone returned to office in 1892, Aberdeen was disappointed not to be reappointed to Ireland, but accepted Canada instead, becoming governor-general in June 1893. The five years' term was at first not easy, being marked by three changes in the premiership in two years, but with the victory of Wilfred Laurier in 1895 tension was relaxed. Aberdeen returned home in 1898, and in December 1905 he was appointed once more to the lord lieutenancy at Dublin, this time for the longest term in its history. For nine years he worked for a better understanding between the two countries, and his efforts seemed to be bearing fruit. Royal visits in 1907 and 1911 were of good omen, and when the Home Rule Bill became law in 1914 and Aberdeen's impending retirement was announced, numerous requests for an extension of his term were received from towns and other influential quarters. On his retirement in 1915 he was advanced a step in the peerage as marquess of Aberdeen and Temair. From early days Aberdeen had been interested in social welfare, and in 1874 he had served on a royal commission on railway accidents and had helped to bring to light the excessive hours worked by railway employees; later he took part in a similar inquiry into loss of life at sea. Ably seconded in this side of his work by his wife, he put into effect several new ideas for the welfare of the farmers and labourers at his homes, Haddo House in Aberdeenshire and the House of Cromar, which he built at Tarland, near Aboyne. The general tendency of the time was to combine smallholdings into larger farms; but in 1920 he was able to say that ... read more

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