Catherine Gordon, Duchess of Gordon (20 October 171810 December 1779), was the wife of Cosmo George Gordon, 3rd Duke of Gordon, and the mother of the 4th Duke. After the duke's death, she married General

Staats Long Morris General Staats Long Morris (27 August 1728 – 28 January 1800) was a British Army officer and politician who represented Elgin Burghs in the House of Commons of Great Britain from 1774 to 1784. He also served as governor of Quebec from 1797 ...

Early life

Lady Catherine was born at Haddo near Tarves in

Aberdeenshire Aberdeenshire (; ) is one of the 32 Subdivisions of Scotland#council areas of Scotland, council areas of Scotland. It takes its name from the Shires of Scotland, historic county of Aberdeenshire (historic), Aberdeenshire, which had substantial ...

. She was a daughter of

William Gordon, 2nd Earl of Aberdeen William Gordon, 2nd Earl of Aberdeen (1679 – 30 March 1745), known between c. 1691 and 1720 as Lord Haddo, was a Scottish landowner and Tory politician who sat in the House of Commons of Great Britain, British House of Commons briefly from 1708 ...

, and his second wife, the former Lady Susan Murray. Her elder half sister was Lady Ann Gordon, the first wife of William Dalrymple-Crichton, 5th Earl of Dumfries, 4th Earl of Stair. Her elder brother was

George Gordon, 3rd Earl of Aberdeen George Gordon, 3rd Earl of Aberdeen (19 June 1722 – 13 August 1801), styled Lord Haddo until 1745, was a Scottish peer. He sat in the House of Lords as a Scottish representative peer from 1747 to 1761, and from 1774 to 1790. He was against Will ...

. After the death of her mother, her father remarried for a third time. Through this marriage, she was an elder half-sister to William Gordon and Alexander Gordon, Lord Rockville. Her paternal grandparents were

George Gordon, 1st Earl of Aberdeen George Gordon, 1st Earl of Aberdeen (3 October 163720 April 1720), was a List of Lord Chancellors of Scotland, Lord Chancellor of Scotland. Early life Gordon, born on 3 October 1637, the second son of Sir John Gordon, 1st Baronet, of Haddo, Abe ...

, and his wife Anne Lockhart. Her maternal grandparents were

John Murray, 1st Duke of Atholl John Murray, 1st Duke of Atholl, , (24 February 1660 – 14 November 1724) was a Scottish nobleman, politician, and officee. He served in numerous positions during his life, and fought in the Glorious Revolution for William III and Mary II. E ...

and Lady Katherine Douglas-Hamilton (a daughter of William Douglas-Hamilton, 3rd Duke of Hamilton and

Anne Hamilton, Duchess of Hamilton Anne Hamilton, Duchess of Hamilton (1720 – 9 March 1771) formerly Anne Spencer, was the third wife of James Hamilton, 5th Duke of Hamilton. Life She was the daughter of Edward Spencer of Rendlesham, Suffolk, where she was born. Thus sh ...

Personal life

On 3 September 1741, she was married to Cosmo George Gordon, 3rd Duke of Gordon, to whom she was distantly related, at

Dunkeld Dunkeld (, , from , "fort of the Caledonians") is a town in Perth and Kinross, Scotland. The location of a historic cathedral, it lies on the north bank of the River Tay, opposite Birnam. Dunkeld lies close to the geological Highland Boundar ...

. Cosmo was the eldest son of

Alexander Gordon, 2nd Duke of Gordon General Alexander Gordon, 2nd Duke of Gordon (c. 167828 November 1728), styled Earl of Enzie until 1684 and the Marquess of Huntly from 1684 to 1716, was a Scottish Jacobitism, Jacobite peer. Gordon was the son of George Gordon, 1st Duke of ...

and the former Lady Henrietta Mordaunt (the only daughter of

Charles Mordaunt, 3rd Earl of Peterborough Charles Mordaunt, 3rd Earl of Peterborough, (1658 – 25 October 1735) was a British army officer and Whig politician. He was the son of John Mordaunt, 1st Viscount Mordaunt, and his wife Elizabeth, the daughter and sole heiress of Thomas ...

). Together, Lord Gordon and Lady Catherine were the parents of six children, including: * Lady Susan Gordon (died 1814), who married twice: she had children by her first husband,

John Fane, 9th Earl of Westmorland John Fane, 9th Earl of Westmorland (5 May 1728 – 25 April 1774), known as Lord Burghersh until 1771, was an English peer and Member of Parliament. Early life He was the eldest son of Thomas Fane, 8th Earl of Westmorland of Wormsley Park, ...

, and two by her second husband, Lt.-Col. John Woodford. *

Alexander Gordon, 4th Duke of Gordon Alexander Gordon, 4th Duke of Gordon, (18 June 1743 – 17 June 1827), styled Marquess of Huntly until 1752, was a Scottish peer who was described by Lord Kames as the "greatest subject in Britain". He was also known as the "Cock o' the North", ...

(1743–1827), who married Jane Maxwell. *

Lord William Gordon Lord William Gordon (1744–1823) was a Scottish nobleman. Background He was the second son of Cosmo Gordon, 3rd Duke of Gordon (1720–1752) and his wife Lady Catherine Gordon (1718 – 10 December 1779), daughter of William Gordon, 2nd ...

(1744–1823), who married Hon. Frances Ingram-Shepheard and had one daughter. * Lady Anne Gordon (1748–?), who married Reverend Alexander Chalmers * Lady Catharine Gordon (1751–?), who married Thomas Booker *

Lord George Gordon Lord George Gordon (26 December 1751 – 1 November 1793) was a British nobleman and politician best known for lending his name to the Gordon Riots of 1780. An eccentric and flighty personality, he was born into the Peerage of Scotland, Scottis ...

(1751–1793), who died unmarried. The Duke of Gordon died in 1752. In 1753 she is said to be living in Huntly House on the

Canongate The Canongate is a street and associated district in central Edinburgh, the capital city of Scotland. The street forms the main eastern length of the Royal Mile while the district is the main eastern section of Edinburgh's Old Town. David ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

. In 1754,

Horace Walpole Horatio Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford (; 24 September 1717 – 2 March 1797), better known as Horace Walpole, was an English Whig politician, writer, historian and antiquarian. He had Strawberry Hill House built in Twickenham, southwest London ...

described the duchess as looking "like a raw-boned Scottish metaphysician that has got a red face by drinking water", and implied that she had made advances to

Stanisław August Poniatowski Stanisław II August (born Stanisław Antoni Poniatowski; 17 January 1732 – 12 February 1798), known also by his regnal Latin name Stanislaus II Augustus, and as Stanisław August Poniatowski (), was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuani ...

(the future King of Poland).

Second marriage

In March 1756, the widowed duchess married

, an American soldier who had become a British MP. He was the son of

Lewis Morris Lewis Morris (April 8, 1726 – January 22, 1798) was an American Founding Father, landowner, and developer from Morrisania, New York, presently part of Bronx County. He signed the U.S. Declaration of Independence as a delegate to the Conti ...

Speaker of the New York General Assembly The Speaker of the New York General Assembly was the highest official in the New York General Assembly, the first representative governing body in Province of New York, New York from 1683 to 1775 when the assembly disbanded after the outbreak of ...

, and a grandson of

, governor of New Jersey. In 1759, Catherine decided to raise a new regiment as a career opportunity for her second husband, but they were posted to India. She later went with him to America, where they travelled widely in 1768–9. They then returned to Scotland and set up home at Huntly Lodge. Morris became MP for Elgin Burghs in 1774, largely due to the influence of his stepson, the new Duke of Gordon.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gordon, Catherine Gordon, Duchess of 1718 births 1779 deaths People from Tarves Nobility from Aberdeenshire 18th-century Scottish women British duchesses by marriage

Catherine Katherine (), also spelled Catherine and Catherina, other variations, is a feminine given name. The name and its variants are popular in countries where large Christian populations exist, because of its associations with one of the earliest Ch ...

Daughters of Scottish earls