Thomas Gordon

Thomas Gordon, 8th Laird of Buthlaw, and 2nd of Cairness, 1788-1841, son of Charles Gordon of Buthlaw & Cairness (1749-1796), awarded the compensation for the enslaved people on the Georgia estate in Jamaica. Thomas Gordon inherited Cairness House, which his father had built, as well as the Georgia estate.

1. 'The philhellene, Major-General Thomas Gordon of Cairness and Buthlaw, (1788–1841), had a colourful career as a continental soldier and, subsequently, as a historian of great repute.'

University of Aberdeen [Scotland] MS 3193/10 papers and MS 1160/19-26 concerning Georgia estate of Gordon family of Cairness; Colin A. McLaren and Margaret A. Stephen, 'Estate and Family Papers of Gordon of Buthlaw and Cairness, 1642-1938 (MS 1160)', Reports and surveys of archives in northern Scotland, 'Northern Scotland', 2 (1976-1977), 184-187.

1. http://www.abdn.ac.uk/library/about/special/collection-highlights/thomas-gordon-of-cairness/ [accessed 19/08/2016]. This entry does not mention his slave-owning, although elsewhere on the Aberdeen University site dealing with North-East Scotland and slavery, it is said that he was 'uneasy about slavery', given his commitment to the freedom and independence of Greece, but 'did not risk giving his slaves their freedom before anyone else', 'A North East Story: Scotland, Africa and Slavery in the Caribbean', http://www.abdn.ac.uk/slavery/3p4.htm [accessed 19/08/2016].
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