Charles Gordon, 10th Marquess of Huntly

The Most Honourable
The Marquess of Huntly
The Most Honourable The Marquess of Huntly
	Lord Strathavon cartooned by H.B. Doyle, 1828
Lord Lieutenant of Aberdeenshire
	In office; 1861–1863
Preceded by	The Earl of Aberdeen
Succeeded by	The Earl of Kintore
Member of Parliament for Huntingdonshire
	In office; 1830–1831 Serving with Viscount Mandeville
Preceded by	William Fellowes; Viscount Mandeville
Succeeded by	Edward Fellowes; George Thornhill
Member of Parliament for East Grinstead
	In office; 1818–1830 Serving with George William Gunning, Charles Jenkinson, Viscount Holmesdale
Preceded by	George William Gunning; Sir George Hope
Succeeded by	Viscount Holmesdale; Frederick West
Personal details
Born	Charles Gordon; 4 January 1792; Orton Longueville
Died	18 September 1863 (aged 71); Orton Longueville
Nationality	British
Political party	Tory
Spouses	; Lady Elizabeth Conyngham (m. 1826; died 1839) ; Marie Antoinette Pegus (m. 1844)
Relations	Charles Gordon, 4th Earl of Aboyne (grandfather)
Children	13
Parent(s)	George Gordon, 9th Marquess of Huntly; Catherine Cope
Alma mater	St John's College, Cambridge

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).

Early and political life

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

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

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

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]

Lady Mary Catherine Gordon (1845–1930), who married Edmund Turnor, in 1866.^[1]
Lady Evelyn Elizabeth Gordon (1846–1921), who married Gilbert Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby, 1st Earl of Ancaster, in 1863.^[1]
Charles Gordon, 11th Marquess of Huntly (1847–1937), a Lord in Waiting, Captain of the Gentlemen at Arms, Privy Councillor and Lord Rector of the University of Aberdeen.^[1]
Lord Lewis Gordon (1848–1870), who was lost at sea in HMS Captain.^[1]
Lord Bertrand Gordon (1850–1869), who died unmarried.^[1]
Lord Douglas William Cope Gordon (1851–1888), a Lt.-Col. and Member of Parliament.^[1]
Lord Esmé Stuart Gordon (1853–1900), who married Elizabeth Anne Phippen Brown in 1874.^[1]
Lady Grace Cecilie Gordon (1854–1941), who married Hugh Lowther, 5th Earl of Lonsdale in 1878.^[1]
Lord Granville Armyne Gordon (1856–1907), who married Charlotte D'Olier Roe, a daughter of Henry Roe of Mount Dunville Park, in 1878.^[1]
Lady Margaret Ethel Gordon (1858–1950), who married George Ormsby-Gore, 3rd Baron Harlech, in 1881.^[1]
Lord Randolph Seaton Gordon (1859–1859), who died young.^[1]
Lady Elena Mary Gordon (1861–1936), who married Maj. George Lamplugh Wickham of Wetherby, in 1885.^[1]
Lady Edith Blanche Gordon (1861–1862).^[1]
Lady Ethelreda Caroline Gordon (1864–1961), who married Lt.-Col. Henry Wickham of Oundle, youngest son of Lamplugh Wickham, in 1884.^[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

^ ^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.
^ "Gordon, Charles (Lord Strathaven) (GRDN810C)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
^ ^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.)
^ ^a ^b ^c Earl of Aboyne, CricketArchive. Retrieved 26 December 2019. (subscription required)
^ ^a ^b Earl of Aboyne, CricInfo. Retrieved 26 December 2019.
^ 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.
^ "Rev. Peter William Pegus". Legacies of British Slavery.

External links

Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by the Marquess of Huntly

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by George William Gunning Sir George Hope	Member of Parliament for East Grinstead 1818–1830 With: George William Gunning 1812–1818 Charles Jenkinson 1818–1829 Viscount Holmesdale 1829–1832	Succeeded by Viscount Holmesdale Frederick West
Preceded by William Fellowes Viscount Mandeville	Member of Parliament for Huntingdonshire 1830–1831 With: Viscount Mandeville	Succeeded by Edward Fellowes George Thornhill
Honorary titles
Preceded by The Earl of Aberdeen	Lord Lieutenant of Aberdeenshire 1861–1863	Succeeded by The Earl of Kintore
Peerage of Scotland
Preceded by George Gordon	Marquess of Huntly 1853–1863	Succeeded by Charles Gordon