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Clan Gordon (Tartans, Crest) and The Story Behind

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Gordon

Gaelic Name: Gôrdan

Clan Crest: Issuant from a crest coronet Or a stag’s head (affrontée) Proper attired with ten tines Or

Clan Motto: Bydand (Remaining)

Origin of Name: Placename, Berwickshire

Clan Badge: Rock Ivy

Lands: Strathbogie, Deeside, and Aberdeen

Clan Chief: The Most Hon. Marquis of Huntly

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Gordon Clan History

Gordon is a territorial name, and the family who took it is thought to be of Anglo-Norman descent, moving from the Borders to Aberdeenshire. The head of a wild boar appears on the Gordon arms because, according to legend, the first Gordon saved a Scottish king from an attacking boar.

Richard, Baron of Gordon granted land to the monks of St Mary at Kelso in 1150 and 1160, the earliest recorded use of the name.

Sir Adam of Gordon was a Robert the Bruce supporter who traveled to Rome to petition the Pope to reverse Bruce's excommunication, which had been imposed after Bruce murdered Comyn in a church.

Gordon Places & People

Clan Gordon People

Straloch's Robert Gordon (1580-1661)

Robert Gordon was the first graduate of Marischal College in Aberdeen.

He is best known for his work as a cartographer. In 1640, he saved Thomas Pont's maps and worked to complete them for Blau's Atlas.

His grandson, Robert, lived from 1665 to 1732 and was a prosperous Danzig merchant. In Aberdeen, he established Robert Gordon's College.

Patrick Gordon (1635-1699)

Gordon was sent to Braunsberg and the Jesuit College when he was sixteen years old. He eluded the Jesuits and became a mercenary fighter in the eight-year war between Sweden and Poland.

His diary reveals how he would fight for one side until captured, then fight for the other side until captured again. In 1661, he joined the Russian army and rose through the ranks to become a lieutenant-general and the Governor of Kiev. He was Tsar Peter the Great's friend and is buried in Moscow.

Gordon, Sir John W.

Sir John Watson Gordon (1788-1864)

Watson Gordon, an Edinburgh-born artist, was a Raeburn student who switched from engineering to painting after meeting Wilkie at Trustee's Academy drawing classes. He pursued the wealth available in portraiture work, and when Raeburn died, he became Scotland's premier portrait painter.

In 1850, he was elected President of the Royal Scottish Academy.

Paul Seton Gordon (1886-1977)

Gordon wore a kilt from his childhood in Aberdeen, through university at Oxford, and into his career as a naturalist, with the only exception being during the war, when he worked with the RNVR to monitor the west Highland coast.

His published works included "Wanderings of a Naturalist" in 1921, "Highways and Byways in the West Highlands" in 1935, and "The Golden Eagle, King of Birds" in 1956. Raymond Eagle's 1991 biography "The Life and Times of a Highland Gentleman" chronicles his life.

Gordon Tartans

ancient

Gordon the Elder

Gordon Contemporary

Gordon endured

Gordon's Ancient Dress

Gordon Dress Contemporary

Red Gordon

Gordon Weathered Red

Gordon Old Ancient

Gordon Crest & Coats of Arms

Clan Gordon Crest

Issuant from a crest coronet or a stag's head (affrontée) Properly dressed with ten tines Or

Coats of Arms for Gordon

A word about Coats of Arms:

A coat of arms is granted to an individual under Scottish heraldic law (with the exception of civic or corporate arms). A 'family coat of arms' does not exist. With the exceptions noted above, the arms depicted below are personal arms. Only the person who has been granted these weapons has the right to use them.

GORDON and his ilk

Three boars' heads couped, Or, langued, Gules, on an azure field.

Gordon Arms Company

Shorecrest's official crest is the Clan Gordon coat of arms (used with permission as stated above). The coat of arms includes two Clan Gordon mottos that are also appropriate for the school. It says "Bydand" at the top, which translates to "resilience" (or "remaining"). The phrase "Animo Non Astutia" means "by courage, not cunning." The coat of arms is displayed in the school's entrance.

The Gordons of Kenmure Coat of Arms

The Marquis of Huntly's personal arms

(As seen on the right)

Quarterly (means divided into four sections of the shield)

1st Azure (blue background in the upper left quadrant), three boars' heads couped Or (severed in a straight line and colored gold), Proper langued Gules (natural color, tonque out colored red) (Gordon).

2nd, Or (gold in the upper right quadrant) three lions heads erased Gules langued Azure (3 lions heads torn jagged edged red with blue tongues) (for Lordship of Badenoch)

3rd, Or (gold in the lower left quadrant) 3 crescents within a Royal Tressure, flory counter flory, Gules (3 red crescents within a double border ornamented on both sides with fleur-de-lis, the flowers reversed alternately) (for Seton)