GORDON, Charles of Braid, 3rd of Cluny (of the 3rd House) ¹

  General Notes:

"He acquired the estate of Braid, near Edinburgh, on the south-west side of the hill of Blackburn, known to readers of Scott as the point from which Sir Walter makes Marmion look down upon Dunedin.... He also acquired the estate of Slains, in or about 1801, for in May and June of that year he leased the Kirkton of Slains to John Anderson, against whom his son, Colonel John Gordon, raised an action in the Court of Session on Dec. 20, 1820, as to whether Anderson was entitled to carry off the straw of his way-going crop. The pleadings in the case are in King's College, Aberdeen. Slains was purchased by Gordon from Sir James Callander of Crichton. Mair ("Ellon," p. 387) shows that Charles Gordon, as a heritor in Slains in March, 1806, with his fellow heritor, General Gordon of Pitlurg, agreed with the Presbytery about a new church. It was on the farm of Brownhill on the estate of Slains that John Gordon of Cluny introduced the steam plough into Aberdeenshire, April 24, 1872."

"'The Times' (July 23, 1858) says that he 'had all the penuriousness, if not all the ability for management, of his father. As he advanced in years the passion for saving became a perfect disease. He declined to move about for fear of incurring expense, and latterly he refused even to get up out of bed, on the ground that he could not afford it. It is told that the Duke of Gordon went to Cluny to bring him across to Gordon Castle, as he was injuring his health by confinement. The old man declined the offer, alleging that he had no servants nor any one to take him across. "Oh," said the duke, "I'll take you over, and it won't cost you a penny." But we believe his grace's well meant efforts were unsuccessful.' "

from The Gordons of Cluny ¹

  Noted events in his life were:

1. Admitted Writer to the Signet, 15 July 1763. ¹ He had been apprenticed to William Fraser of Ford.

2. Decree Arbital, August 0007-10 September 1787. ¹ He had to pay an annuity of £5 to Clementina Gordon, a daughter of "old Glenbucket."

3. Made Clerk of Session: by Dundas, 1788. ¹

4. Served heir: to his brother Cosmo 2nd of Cluny, 2 February 1805. ¹

Charles married Joanna TROTTER, daughter of Thomas TROTTER of Mortonhall, Midlothian and Unknown, on 8 November 1775 in Edinburgh, Scotland.¹ (Joanna TROTTER was born about 1750 and died on 10 August 1798 in Weymouth, England ¹.)