Robert Gordon (1668–1731) was a 17th-century

merchant A merchant is a person who trades in commodities produced by other people, especially one who trades with foreign countries. Historically, a merchant is anyone who is involved in business or trade. Merchants have operated for as long as indust ...

and

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material ...

Biography

Early life

Robert Gordon was born in

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), a ...

. He was the only son of Arthur Gordon who married Isabella Menzies of Balgownie. When Arthur Gordon, a well-respected advocate in the

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

courts, died in 1680, he left his twelve-year-old son the sum of 20,000

merks The merk is a long-obsolete Scottish silver coin. Originally the same word as a money mark of silver, the merk was in circulation at the end of the 16th century and in the 17th century. It was originally valued at 13 shillings 4 pence (exactly o ...

(about £1,100, ). When Gordon reached the age of sixteen he became a Burgess of the City of Aberdeen. Among other benefits, this entitled him to follow a merchant's trade in the town. During the next few years he attended

Marischal College Marischal College ( ) is a large granite building on Broad Street in the centre of Aberdeen in north-east Scotland, and since 2011 has acted as the headquarters of Aberdeen City Council. However, the building was constructed for and is on lon ...

, graduating in 1689.

Career

Soon after graduating, he left Aberdeen, travelling far and wide around Northern Europe before finally settling in

Gdańsk Gdańsk ( , also ; ; csb, Gduńsk;Stefan Ramułt, ''Słownik języka pomorskiego, czyli kaszubskiego'', Kraków 1893, Gdańsk 2003, ISBN 83-87408-64-6. , Johann Georg Theodor Grässe, ''Orbis latinus oder Verzeichniss der lateinischen Benen ...

(also known as Danzig) where he established himself as a merchant trader. Over the next few decades he built a highly successful business and soon became wealthy. By 1692, he was rich enough to donate a large sum of money to his old college and by 1699, it appears that he was providing low interest loans to landowners in Aberdeenshire who needed

working capital Working capital (WC) is a financial metric which represents operating liquidity available to a business, organisation, or other entity, including governmental entities. Along with fixed assets such as plant and equipment, working capital is consi ...

Return to Aberdeen, death, and legacy

Little more is known about his time on the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...

but by 1720 at the latest, he returned to Aberdeen a very wealthy man. However he had never married and had no heirs. Consequently, he decided that his fortune would be used to found 'a hospital for maintenance, aliment, entertainment and education of young boys' and wrote his will to that effect. He started work on the project in 1730. He died shortly thereafter of overeating, it is said, but the project had started and the funding remained, owing to his foresightedness, so work continued on the hospital. Construction of the building was completed in 1743. However, before it could be used for its intended purpose, it was taken over by the Duke of Cumberland to use as a barracks for the Hanoverian troops on his visit to Aberdeen in 1746 to put down the Jacobite rising, and so the hospital did not open until 1750. During the nineteenth century the hospital developed in two different directions. The first, aimed at

secondary education Secondary education or post-primary education covers two phases on the International Standard Classification of Education scale. Level 2 or lower secondary education (less commonly junior secondary education) is considered the second and final ph ...

led directly to the modern private school,

Robert Gordon's College Robert Gordon's College is a co-educational Independent school (UK) for day pupils in Aberdeen, Scotland. The school caters for pupils from Nursery through to S6. History Robert Gordon, an Aberdeen merchant, made his fortune in 18th century ...

. The second, aimed at

tertiary education Tertiary education, also referred to as third-level, third-stage or post-secondary education, is the educational level following the completion of secondary education. The World Bank, for example, defines tertiary education as including univers ...

, developed in combination with external technical institutes such as Gray's School of Art, into an institution which achieved university status in the late twentieth century as

Robert Gordon University , mottoeng = Now by all your mastered arts , established = 1992 (origins mid-18th century) , type = Public , endowment = £1.9 million (2015) , budget = £103 million (2014) , chancellor = Dame Evelyn Glennie , principal = Professor St ...

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gordon, Robert 1668 births 1731 deaths People from Aberdeen People associated with Robert Gordon University Alumni of the University of Aberdeen Burgesses in Scotland Founders of Scottish schools and colleges