Ishbel Hamilton-Gordon, Marchioness of Aberdeen and Temair
Encyclopedia
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(15 March 1857 – 18 April 1939) was a Scottish author, philanthropist and an advocate of woman's interests.
Family
Born Ishbel (Gaelic for Isabel) Maria Marjoribanks, she was the third daughter of the 1st Baron TweedmouthDudley Marjoribanks, 1st Baron Tweedmouth
Dudley Coutts Marjoribanks, 1st Baron Tweedmouth was a Scottish businessman and a Liberal politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1853 until 1880, when he was elevated to thepeerage as Baron Tweedmouth...
and Isabella Weir-Hogg (daughter of Sir James Weir Hogg
James Weir Hogg
Sir James Weir Hogg, 1st Baronet was a lawyer and Liberal Conservative Member of Parliament.-Background and education:Hogg was born in Lisburn, County Antrim, Ireland, the eldest son of William Hogg and his wife Mary, née Dickey...
). On 7 November 1877 she married the Liberal politician the 7th Earl of Aberdeen
John Hamilton-Gordon, 1st Marquess of Aberdeen and Temair
John Campbell Hamilton-Gordon, 1st Marquess of Aberdeen and Temair, KT, GCMG, GCVO, PC , known as The Earl of Aberdeen from 1870 to 1916, was a Scottish politician...
(later the 1st Marquess of Aberdeen and Temair), in St. George's Church, St. George Street, Hanover Square, London. The couple had four surviving children: George
George Gordon, 2nd Marquess of Aberdeen and Temair
George Gordon, 2nd Marquess of Aberdeen and Temair OBE , K.StJ , JP , styled Lord Haddo until 1916 and Earl of Haddo from 1916 to 1934, was a Scottish peer and politician....
(1879), Marjory (1880), Dudley
Dudley Gordon, 3rd Marquess of Aberdeen and Temair
Lieutenant-Colonel Dudley Gladstone Gordon, 3rd Marquess of Aberdeen and Temair DSO , styled Lord Dudley Gordon from 1916 to 1965, was a British peer, soldier, and industrialist....
(1883) and Archibald (1884).
Life and work
Lady Aberdeen was president of the International Council of WomenInternational Council of Women
The International Council of Women was the first women's organization to work across national boundaries for the common cause of advocating human rights for women. In March and April 1888, women leaders came together in Washington D.C...
for thirty-six years (1893 - 1936) and the National Council of Women of Canada
National Council of Women of Canada
The National Council of Women of Canada is a Canadian advocacy organization based in Ottawa aimed at improving conditions for women, families, and communities. A federation of nationally-organized societies of men and women and local and provincial councils of women, it is the Canadian member of...
for six years (1893 - 1899). When her husband was Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, she took up the fight against tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
, starting the Woman's National Health Association. In 1897, when her husband was Governor General of Canada
Governor General of Canada
The Governor General of Canada is the federal viceregal representative of the Canadian monarch, Queen Elizabeth II...
, she founded the Victorian Order of Nurses for Canada
Victorian Order of Nurses
The Victorian Order of Nurses is a non-profit charitable organization founded in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada on January 29, 1897 created as a gift for Queen Victoria for the purposes of home care and social services. It is registered as a charity the Canada Revenue Agency, charity number...
and became the first President of the organisation. At this time she also established the May Court Club, the first women's only service club in North America. In addition, she founded the Onward and Upward Association for girls employed in Aberdeenshire farms. She and her husband built a hall at Haddo House
Haddo House
Haddo House is a Scottish stately home located near Tarves in Aberdeenshire, approximately 20 miles north of Aberdeen . It has been owned by the National Trust for Scotland since 1979....
for musical and operatic performances.
In 1931, Lady Aberdeen presented to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland
General Assembly of the Church of Scotland
The General Assembly of the Church of Scotland is the sovereign and highest court of the Church of Scotland, and is thus the Church's governing body[1] An Introduction to Practice and Procedure in the Church of Scotland, A Gordon McGillivray, 2nd Edition .-Church courts:As a Presbyterian church,...
a petition of 336 women calling for women to be ordained to the ministry, diaconate and eldership of the Kirk. This resulted in a special commission, which recommended only that women should be ordained to the diaconate. It was to be many years until the full craves of the Aberdeen petition were granted by the Assembly of 1966.
She wrote the books The Musings of a Scottish Granny, We Twa, (published 1925), and More Cracks with We Twa (published 1929). She thought very highly of Sir John Thompson, Canadian Prime Minister from 1892-1894, and wrote frequently about him in her journal. Her book The Canadian Journal of Lady Aberdeen, 1893-1898 was edited by John Saywell and published by the Champlain Society in 1960.
In Toronto, Canada, Aberdeen Avenue is a historically designated street in Cabbagetown named for Lord Aberdeen, Governor General of Canada 1893-1898, and Lady Aberdeen, an aristocrat-democrat with a strong social conscience who made lasting contributions to Canadian society.
In her vice-regal duties at Ottawa's Government House, invitations were eagerly sought to state dinners where she became famous for her tableaux, dramatizing incidents in Canadian history, conscripting household staff, guests and family members to play roles. She and Lord Aberdeen, in honour of the Queen's Jubilee in 1897, spent $4,000 of their own money to stage a huge pageant in Toronto celebrating Canada's progress in industry, arts, sciences and sports. (Apparently these expenses consistently exceeded Lord Aberdeen's £10,000 yearly salary, alarming the Edinburgh lawyers who managed their finances.)
Lady Aberdeen is credited with introducing the Golden Retriever to Canada and her father, Sir Dudley Coutts Marjoribanks, 1st Baron Tweedmouth, a Scottish aristocrat, is best known as the originator of the breed.
In her boundless enthusiasm to improve the lot of working women, Lady Aberdeen created the Onward and Upward Association to help develop, socialize, and educate her staff, as well as encourage prostitutes to relinquish the street. To the horror of her parents, she assisted William Ewart Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone FRS FSS was a British Liberal statesman. In a career lasting over sixty years, he served as Prime Minister four separate times , more than any other person. Gladstone was also Britain's oldest Prime Minister, 84 years old when he resigned for the last time...
in his Strand Rescue Mission where he sought out London prostitutes and tried to rescue and rehabilitate them.
To honour the outstanding public contributions to the women of her time, an offshoot of women from Toronto's Aberdeen Avenue Residents' Group (AARG) has resurrected the Onward and Upward model in creating a modern-day salon as a forum for discussion of issues critical to modern day women.
Recognition
In 1894, she received the Freedom of LimerickLimerick
Limerick is the third largest city in the Republic of Ireland, and the principal city of County Limerick and Ireland's Mid-West Region. It is the fifth most populous city in all of Ireland. When taking the extra-municipal suburbs into account, Limerick is the third largest conurbation in the...
; she received the Freedom of Edinburgh in 1928 and was invested as a GBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
in 1931.
The Lady Aberdeen Bridge, which is the first bridge upstream to cross the Gatineau river, in Gatineau
Gatineau
Gatineau is a city in western Quebec, Canada. It is the fourth largest city in the province. It is located on the northern banks of the Ottawa River, immediately across from Ottawa, Ontario, and together they form Canada's National Capital Region. Ottawa and Gatineau comprise a single Census...
, was named in her honour. After falling through the ice at the confluence of the Gatineau and Ottawa River
Ottawa River
The Ottawa River is a river in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. For most of its length, it now defines the border between these two provinces.-Geography:...
s, Lady Aberdeen was rescued by Gatineau locals. Out of gratitude she funded the construction of a church near the site of the accident and the Lady Aberdeen Bridge.
Aberdeen Avenue
Aberdeen Avenue (Hamilton, Ontario)
Aberdeen Avenue is a Lower City arterial road in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. It starts off just West of Longwood Road South and East of Highway 403 as a two-way thoroughfare up to Queen Street South where it then switches over to a one-way collector road to Bay Street South and then to another...
in Hamilton, Ontario
Hamilton, Ontario
Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Conceived by George Hamilton when he purchased the Durand farm shortly after the War of 1812, Hamilton has become the centre of a densely populated and industrialized region at the west end of Lake Ontario known as the Golden Horseshoe...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, was named after Lord and Lady Aberdeen who lived on Bay Street South
Bay Street (Hamilton)
Bay Street is a Lower City arterial road in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. It starts at Inglewood Drive, just South of Aberdeen Avenue, as a collector road with only two lanes, then eventually becomes a six lane thoroughfare at its peak. Bay Street also passes through Downtown Hamilton, where many...
between 1890-1898. They also presided over the opening of the Hamilton Public Library on 16 September 1890.
Aberdeen Street in Kingston, Ontario
Kingston, Ontario
Kingston, Ontario is a Canadian city located in Eastern Ontario where the St. Lawrence River flows out of Lake Ontario. Originally a First Nations settlement called "Katarowki," , growing European exploration in the 17th Century made it an important trading post...
is named for the couple; it is located near the Queen's University
Queen's University
Queen's University, , is a public research university located in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Founded on 16 October 1841, the university pre-dates the founding of Canada by 26 years. Queen's holds more more than of land throughout Ontario as well as Herstmonceux Castle in East Sussex, England...
campus.
Her popularity in Canada led to her being given 18 elaborate tea sets by the Canadian government. This gift was nothing to do with her title or marriage and was purely because of her own work and impact. She was the first woman to be made an honorary member of the British Medical Association
British Medical Association
The British Medical Association is the professional association and registered trade union for doctors in the United Kingdom. The association does not regulate or certify doctors, a responsibility which lies with the General Medical Council. The association’s headquarters are located in BMA House,...
.