Charles Gordon, 10th Marquess of Huntly

Charles Gordon, 10th Marquess of Huntly (4 January 1792 – 18 September 1863), styled Lord Strathavon from 1794 to 1836 and Earl of Aboyne from 1836 to 1853, was a Scottish peer, politician, courtier, and cricketer. He was a Member of Parliament, first as a Tory (1818–1830) and then a Whig (1830 onwards).

The Marquess of Huntly
Lord Strathavon cartooned by H.B. Doyle, 1828
Lord Lieutenant of Aberdeenshire
In office
1861–1863
Preceded byThe Earl of Aberdeen
Succeeded byThe Earl of Kintore
Member of Parliament for Huntingdonshire
In office
1830–1831
Serving with Viscount Mandeville
Preceded byWilliam Fellowes
Viscount Mandeville
Succeeded byEdward Fellowes
George Thornhill
Member of Parliament for East Grinstead
In office
1818–1830
Preceded byGeorge William Gunning
Sir George Hope
Succeeded byViscount Holmesdale
Frederick West
Personal details
Born
Charles Gordon

(1792-01-04)4 January 1792
Orton Longueville
Died18 September 1863(1863-09-18) (aged 71)
Orton Longueville
NationalityBritish
Political partyTory
Spouses
Lady Elizabeth Conyngham
(m. 1826; died 1839)
Marie Antoinette Pegus
(m. 1844)
RelationsCharles Gordon, 4th Earl of Aboyne (grandfather)
Children13
Parent(s)George Gordon, 9th Marquess of Huntly
Catherine Cope
Alma materSt John's College, Cambridge
Heraldic achievement of the Marquess of Huntly, Chief of Clan Gordon

Early and political life

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Huntly was born at Orton Longueville in 1792, the eldest son of the 5th Earl of Aboyne (later Marquess of Huntly) and his wife, Catherine Cope (of the Cope baronets of Bruern). His younger siblings included Lady Catherine Susan Gordon (wife of Charles Cavendish, 1st Baron Chesham);[1] Lord George Gordon (the Rector of Chesterton who married Charlotte Anne Vaughan);[1] Lady Charlotte Sophia Gordon;[1] Lady Mary Gordon (who married Frederick Charles William Seymour, Esq., a son of Lord Hugh Seymour);[1] Adm. Lord Frederick Gordon-Hallyburton (who married Lady Augusta FitzClarence, a sister of George FitzClarence, 1st Earl of Munster, and the daughter of King William IV and his mistress Dorothea Jordan);[1] Maj. Lord Henry Gordon (who married Louisa Payne);[1] Lord Cecil James Gordon-Moore (who married Emily Moore);[1] and Lord Francis Gordon (who married Isabel Grant, a daughter of Lt.-Gen. Sir William Keir Grant).[1]

He was educated at St John's College, Cambridge.[2]

Career

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Gordon entered Parliament in 1818 as a Tory MP for East Grinstead before being elected as a Whig MP for Huntingdonshire in 1830.

From 1826 to 1830, he was a Lord of the Bedchamber during the reign of King George IV, and then a Lord-in-waiting from 1840 to 1841, his last office being that of Lord Lieutenant of Aberdeenshire from 1861 until his death.[3]

Upon his father's death in 1853, he inherited the Marquessate of Huntly and the Earldom of Aboyne (both in the Peerage of Scotland) and the Meldrum Barony in the Peerage of the United Kingdom.[1]

Cricket

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Huntly played first-class cricket for Hampshire, Middlesex, Kent, Surrey, and the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) between 1819 and 1843. He also appeared in first-class matches for W Ward's XI, both the Players and the Gentlemen, a Married XI, Lord Strathavon's XI (his own side), and the Gentlemen of Kent.[4] In 33 first-class matches, he scored a total of 193 runs, with a highest score of 19 against Oxford University, at a batting average of 4.02 runs per innings, only reaching double-figures on four occasions in 61 innings.[3][5]

Huntly played for both the Players and the Gentlemen in the annual matches between the two sides, uniquely becoming the only member of the aristocracy to appear for the Players when he did so in 1819. This appears to have been due to him having placed a bet on the Players. He played for the Gentlemen in the fixture in 1827.[3]

He was a member of MCC for around 50 years and its president in 1821–22.[3][4] His brother, Francis Gordon, also played some first-class cricket, including for MCC, and appeared alongside Huntly for the Gentlemen in 1827. The brother's father had been an early member of MCC.[4]

Personal life

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Portrait of Lady Elizabeth Conyngham by Sir Thomas Lawrence in the early 1820s, is in the Museu Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisbon.

In March 1826, he was married to Lady Elizabeth Conyngham, the eldest daughter of Henry Conyngham, 1st Marquess Conyngham, and the former Elizabeth Denison, King George IV's mistress. They did not have any children before her death in 1839.[1]

At age 52, Huntly married Marie Antoinette Pegus (c. 1821–1893), the only surviving daughter of Rev. William Peter Pegus and the former Charlotte Susanna Layard (a daughter of Very Rev. Charles Layard, Dean of Bristol), whose family were West Indies planters of French Huguenot background.[6][7] Marie was a half-sister of George Bertie, 10th Earl of Lindsey.[3] With Marie, he had fourteen children, the last born five months after his death:[1]

Lord Huntly died at Orton Longueville 18 September 1863, aged 71.[5] His titles passed to his eldest son, Charles. His widow died on 10 August 1893.[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z "Huntly, Marquess of (S, 1599)". www.cracroftspeerage.co.uk. Heraldic Media Limited. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
  2. ^ "Gordon, Charles (Lord Strathaven) (GRDN810C)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
  3. ^ a b c d e Carlaw D (2020) Kent County Cricketers A to Z. Part One: 1806–1914 (revised edition), pp. 18–19. (Available online at the Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians. Retrieved 16 August 2022.)
  4. ^ a b c Earl of Aboyne, CricketArchive. Retrieved 26 December 2019. (subscription required)
  5. ^ a b Earl of Aboyne, CricInfo. Retrieved 26 December 2019.
  6. ^ Agnew, David Carnegie Andrew (1871). Protestant Exiles from France in the Reign of Louis XIV: Or, The Huguenot Refugees and Their Descendants in Great Britain and Ireland. Reeves & Turner. p. 204.
  7. ^ "Rev. Peter William Pegus". Legacies of British Slavery.
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Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament for East Grinstead
1818–1830
With: George William Gunning 1812–1818
Charles Jenkinson 1818–1829
Viscount Holmesdale 1829–1832
Succeeded by
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Huntingdonshire
1830–1831
With: Viscount Mandeville
Succeeded by
Honorary titles
Preceded by Lord Lieutenant of Aberdeenshire
1861–1863
Succeeded by
Peerage of Scotland
Preceded by Marquess of Huntly
1853–1863
Succeeded by