GORDON, James 4th of Glastirum, 7th of Leitcheston (Letterfourie),Jacobite 1745 2 3 4 5
- Born: 1698 3
- Marriage (1): Isabel
- Marriage (2): HAY, Mary before 1 April 1739 1
- Died: 22 February 1783 1 3
- Buried: 1783, Rathven parish, Banffshire, Scotland
User ID: X462.
General Notes:
"2104. James. 1745, 'Capt.: very active in recruiting for the rebels' (Rosebery's List, 28). 1746, May 7, lurking; afterwards surrendered at Fochabers to Robert Bayly; excepted from the Act of general pardon (20 Geo. II. c. 52). 1747, Mar. 25, his wife appealed to Lord Findlater on his behalf (S.P. Dom. Geo. II., P.R.O., bundle 103, No. 26). 1748, he petitioned the King :
'Being young and without experience, was unfortunately seduced to enter the late rebellion: but his conduct therein was attended by no aggravating circumstances, for your petitioner never bore any commission, nor levied men, nor touched publick money, nor did any manner of hurt to your Majestie's faithful subjects, but, on the contrary, constantly refused to obey every command of this sort.'
He is described as 'ignoramus' (S.P. Dom. Geo. II., P.R.O., bundle 108, No. 34); Oct. 12, bill not found against him in the High Court of Justiciary, Edinburgh (S.P. Scotland, Letters and Papers, P.R.O., 2nd series, bundle 39, No. 72).
Son of George, of Clashterim, 2083; Roman catholic; m. before 1739, Apr. 1, Mary, dau. of Charles Hay, of Rannes, and widow of John Leith, of Leithhall, her son by whom brought an action against his father's creditor, Arthur Gordon, of Law and Wardhouse (J. M. Bulloch, Buchan Observer, 1911, Jun. 6), and had issue; d. 1783, Feb. 22, aged 64. Perhaps nephew of Dr. Alexander, 2055-"
from Gordons Under Arms
Research Notes:
HIS FAITH
John Watts in his book Scalan: The Forbidden College 1716-1799 recounts how Gordon of Glastirum acted on behalf of the Catholic Church, oppressed at it was in law, at the request of Bishop Hay. Specifically he requested him to negotiate with the Duke of Gordon, in whose possession and control were the tacks of the land Scalan depended upon to survive. Scarcity of meal in the early 1780s was causing a land panic, and he severe weather continued to add to the hardship. It was in this context that Gordon of Glastirum, who had been in decline during the winter, succumbed in the early Spring of 1783.
IGNORAMUS
An inaccuracy: 'Ignoramus' Not Proven 'We do not know' is a court verdict after trial, not a description of an individual.
Noted events in his life were:
1. Sent: to Scots College, 1733, Paris, France. 3
James married Isabel. (Isabel was born about 1731,5 died in 1811 5 and was buried in 1811 in Scotstown's Burial Place, St Peter's Church, Aberdeen, Scotland 5.)
James next married Mary HAY, daughter of Charles HAY 6th of Rannes, Jacobite 1715 and Helen FRASER, before 1 April 1739.1 (Mary HAY was born about 1711.)
Marriage Notes:
"The dislike of the Gordons may have been inherited with the appearance of a Strachan bride among the Leith-hall Leiths, for the family of Glenkindie, as staunch Covenanters, had suffered severely at the hands of the Gordons, and even at the end of the 17th century the old feud was carried on by the lawless conduct of the laird of Glenbucket against his neighbour at Glenkindie.
Another form of the vendetta occurred in 1738-40, when John Leith of Leith-hall (the father of Alexander Leith-Hay) and his uncle, Patrick Leith, brought a lawsuit over money alleged to have been lent to the impecunious Arthur Gordon of Law, who was said to have borrowed largely from John Leith, IV. of Leith-hall. Leith's widow had taken James Gordon, the laird of Clashtirum, for a second husband, and she and her brother-in-law, Gordon of Drumwhindle, father of Colonel Charles Gordon of the Atholl Highlanders, supported Gordon of Law, the defender in the action."
from Territorial Soldiering 6
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