Clan Gordon
The Clan Gordon is one of the most powerful Scottish clans, with its roots in the Scottish Highlands. The clan's lands once spanned a large territory across the Highlands and are presently located in Aboyne Castle, Aberdeenshire. The Earl of Huntly, later the Marquess of Huntly, serves as the clan's chief. During the Wars of Scottish Independence in the 13th century, the Gordons supported William Wallace in his efforts towards independence. In the 15th century, the chiefship of the clan passed to an heiress who married into the Seton family, and her male descendants adopted the surname Gordon and continued as chiefs of the clan. During the 15th and 16th centuries, the Gordons, who were Catholics, had several feuds with their Protestant neighbors, including the Clan Forbes, and were victorious at the Battle of Glenlivet against the Protestant Earl of Argyll. The clan supported the Royalist cause during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms of the 17th century. The Clan Gordon was Jacobite during the Jacobite rising of 1715, and their chief, the Duke of Gordon, pledged support to the British-Hanoverian Government during the Jacobite rising of 1745, but the clan remained Jacobite.
The first Gordon on record is Richard of Gordon, who was previously of Swinton and said to have been the grandson of a famous knight who slew some monstrous animal in the Merse during the time of King Malcolm III of Scotland. Richard was Lord of the Barony of Gordon in the Merse, and he probably died around 1200. Bertram de Gordon, who wounded King Richard of England with an arrow at Châlons, was another notable figure from this time.
Alicia Gordon, IV of the Gordon family, was the heiress who married her cousin, Adam Gordon, a soldier who King Alexander III of Scotland sent with King Louis of France to Palestine. One tradition claims that all of the Gordons in Scotland are descended from Adam's grandson, Sir Adam, who supported Sir William Wallace in 1297 to recapture the Castle of Wigtown from the English, and was made the Governor.
The Clan Gordon has two British Army regiments named the Gordon Highlanders. The first was the 81st Regiment of Foot (Aberdeenshire Highland Regiment), formed in 1777 by the Hon. Colonel William Gordon, son of the Earl of Aberdeen, and disbanded in 1783. The second was the 92nd (Gordon Highlanders) Regiment of Foot, raised by Alexander, the 4th Duke of Gordon, in 1794.
The Chief of Clan Gordon is Granville Charles Gomer Gordon, 13th Marquess of Huntly, Earl of Enzie, Earl of Aboyne, Lord Gordon of Badenoch, Lord Gordon of Strathavon and Glenlivet, Baron Meldrum of Morven, and is known as The Cock o' the North. The clan has several recognized tartans, including Gordon (Modern), Gordon (Dress), Gordon (Ancient), Gordon (Weathered), Gordon (Muted), and Gordon (Red). The Gordon Modern tartan is sometimes referred to as Military and has been used for many years as the troop tartan for the 10th Finchley (Scottish) Scout Group, London N3. The Scout Group is the only group south of the border to wear kilts and actively maintains its links with the Gordon clan.
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