Name of Gordon

of British babies born dining the Boer war were
called "Roberts" and "Kitchener," and so on.
Oh.in.eee Gordon's influence was enormous, for he
caught the imagination of Britain as scarcely any
man of our time has done. It it, all the more
tantalising that one camnot connect him with any
northern branches of the family.
A mutter for Leas pride — on the old caste basis
— occurs in the use of the name Gordon in com-
merce of every description. There is a famous
London gin distilled by a family of Gordon (in
Goswell Road), who claim descent from the house
of Abergeldie. Curiously enough, while the Aber-
geldie family leases Abergeldie Castle to the King,
Rev. Osborne Gordon (1813-83), who belonged to
the distillery family, was tutor to His Majesty at
Oxford. The Gordon Hotels at London, Brighton,
and other places, were named after Frederick
Gordon (died 1901), a London solicitor, who be-
lieved his family originally came from Aboyne.
Then the "Gordon Suspenders " are made by the
Gordon 'Manufacturing Company, New Roehelle,
New York, of which the " president," Mr Hugh
Gordon Macwilliam, is a grandson of Rev. Hugh
Gordon, Monqulhitfcer (of Kirkcudbright origin).
" Gordon Lye'' is the name of a special kind of
hosiery made in Boston : which reminds one that
the dye stuff known as " Cudbear," was so named
alter one of its inventors, Cuthbert Gordon.
Many ships have been called after the Gordons.
The proud name of Gordon has not infrequently
been degraded in the courts of law; but to those
who have a pride in the family there is something
peculiarly aggravating in its assumption by
criminals. I could cite many cases of the alias.
In particular there was a person calling himself
" Major Gordon," who in 1786 was transported by
Lord Braxtield for fraud. His real name was
Lawson, and he was merely a baker by trade.
The most notorious case was that of the dating
swindler who called himself Lord Gordon, and
who perpetrated a series of daring frauds in Edin-
burgh in 1859. He shot himself dramatically in
Canada when on the point of arrest. To this
day nobody (knons what hie real name was.