Charles Gordon of Buthlaw and Cairness

Profile & Legacies Summary

1749 - 1796

Biography

Absentee slave-owner, having purchased the Georgia estate in Trelawny c. 1778 and subsequently visiting it 'occasionally.' Built Cairness House, near Lonmay, reportedly using the profits from the Georgia estate and the enslaved people upon it. Father of Thomas Gordon (q.v.).

Sources

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

Further Information

Absentee?

British/Irish

Spouse

Married but no further details

Children

Thomas

Associated Estates (2)

The dates listed below have different categories as denoted by the letters in the brackets following each date. Here is a key to explain those letter codes:

SD - Association Start Date
SY - Association Start Year
EA - Earliest Known Association
ED - Association End Date
EY - Association End Year
LA - Latest Known Association

1779 [EA] - 1795 [LA] → Owner

Georgia Estate [ Jamaica | Trelawny ]

1796 [EA] - 1804 [LA] → Previous owner

Georgia Estate [ Jamaica | Trelawny ]

Legacies Summary

Physical (1)

Country house

Cairness [Built]

Details

description →

Neo-classical country house built to designs of James Playfair (remodelling an earlier design of Robert Burn and with contributions from Sir John Soane) for Charles Gordon of Buthlaw 1791-1797. The...