Robert Gordon (1668–1731) was a Scottish merchant and philanthropist. He is most well known for his founding of a charitable hospital which later evolved into a school and then a university in

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

Biography

Early life

Robert Gordon was born in

. He was the only son of Arthur Gordon (1625-1680) who married Isabella Menzies of Balgownie. He was baptised in 1688. When Arthur Gordon, a well-respected advocate in the

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 ...

courts, died in 1680, he left his twelve-year-old son the sum of 20,000

merks The merk () is a long-obsolete Scotland, Scottish silver coin. Originally the same word as a Mark (currency), money mark of silver, the merk was in circulation at the end of the 16th century and in the 17th century. It was originally valued at 1 ...

(about £1,100, ). When Gordon reached the age of sixteen he became a Burgess of the City of Aberdeen. Among other benefits, this entitled him to follow a merchant's trade in the town. During the next few years he attended

Marischal College Marischal College ( ) is a large granite building on Broad Street in the centre of Aberdeen in north-east Scotland, and since 2011 has been the headquarters of Aberdeen City Council. The building was constructed for and is on long-term lease fr ...

, graduating in 1689.

Career

Soon after graduating, he left Aberdeen, travelling far and wide around Northern Europe before finally settling in

Gdańsk Gdańsk is a city on the Baltic Sea, Baltic coast of northern Poland, and the capital of the Pomeranian Voivodeship. With a population of 486,492, Data for territorial unit 2261000. it is Poland's sixth-largest city and principal seaport. Gdań ...

(also known as Danzig) where he established himself as a merchant trader. Over the next few decades he built a highly successful business in Gdansk and soon became wealthy. By 1692, he was rich enough to donate a large sum of money to his old college and by 1699, it appears that he was providing low interest loans to landowners in Aberdeenshire who needed

working capital Working capital (WC) is a financial metric which represents operating liquidity available to a business, organisation, or other entity, including governmental entities. Along with fixed assets such as plant and equipment, working capital is consi ...

. Gordon was a loyalist to the early Jacobite cause in Scotland and at times, gave significant financial support to the Stuart court in exile.

Return to Aberdeen, death, and legacy

Little more is known about his time on the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by the countries of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and the North European Plain, North and Central European Plain regions. It is the ...

but by 1720 at the latest, he returned to Aberdeen a very wealthy man. However he had never married and had no heirs. Consequently, he decided that his fortune would be used to found 'a hospital for maintenance, aliment, entertainment and education of young boys' and wrote his will to that effect. He started work on the project in 1730. He died shortly thereafter but the project had started and the funding remained, with £10,300 left to the town council of Aberdeen to administer. Owing to his foresightedness, so work continued on the hospital. His death was recorded as being on 28 April 1731. Construction of the building was completed in 1743. However, before it could be used for its intended purpose, it was taken over by the

Duke of Cumberland Duke of Cumberland is a peerage title that was conferred upon junior members of the British royal family, named after the historic county of Cumberland. History The Earldom of Cumberland, created in 1525, became extinct in 1643. The dukedom w ...

to use as a barracks for the

Hanoverian The adjective Hanoverian is used to describe: * British monarchs or supporters of the House of Hanover, the dynasty which ruled the United Kingdom from 1714 to 1901 * things relating to; ** Electorate of Hanover ** Kingdom of Hanover ** Province of ...

troops on his visit to Aberdeen in 1746 to put down the Jacobite rising, and so the hospital did not open until 1750. During the nineteenth century the hospital developed in two different directions. The first, aimed at

secondary education Secondary education is the education level following primary education and preceding tertiary education. Level 2 or ''lower secondary education'' (less commonly ''junior secondary education'') is considered the second and final phase of basic e ...

led directly to the modern private school,

Robert Gordon's College Robert Gordon's College is a co-educational private school for day pupils in Aberdeen, Scotland. The school caters for pupils from Nursery through to S6. History Background Robert Gordon, an Aberdeen merchant, made his fortune in 18th cent ...

. The second, aimed at

tertiary education Tertiary education (higher education, or post-secondary education) is the educational level following the completion of secondary education. The World Bank defines tertiary education as including universities, colleges, and vocational schools ...

, developed in combination with external technical institutes such as

Gray's School of Art ''Gray's Anatomy'' is a reference book of human anatomy written by Henry Gray, illustrated by Henry Vandyke Carter and first published in London in 1858. It has had multiple revised editions, and the current edition, the 42nd (October 202 ...

, into an institution which achieved university status in 1992 as

Robert Gordon University Robert Gordon University, commonly called RGU (), is a public university in the city of Aberdeen, Scotland. It became a university in 1992, and originated from an educational institution founded in the 18th century by Robert Gordon (philanthrop ...

Bibliography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gordon, Robert 1668 births 1731 deaths People from Aberdeen People associated with Robert Gordon University Alumni of the University of Aberdeen Burgesses in Scotland Founders of Scottish schools and colleges