Modern English Biography (volume 1 of 4) A-H. Frederic Boase
Abercromby, 3 Baron. b. Edinburgh 30 May 1800; M.P. for Clackmannan, (whig) 13 July 1824–2 June 1826, 10 Aug. 1830–23 April 1831, and 6 July 1841–18 Feb. 1842; M.P. for Stirlingshire 30 April 1838–23 June 1841; major 3 dragoon guards 22 June 1826–21 Nov. 1828; succeeded 14 Feb. 1843; lord lieutenant of Clackmannan 1843 to death; was blind. d. Airthney castle, Stirling 25 June 1852.
ABERCROMBY, The Honble. Alexander, b. 4 March 1784; ensign 52 foot 16 Aug. 1799; lieut. col. 28 foot 8 Dec. 1808–25 July 1814; commanded a brigade at battle of Albuera 16 May 1811; captain Coldstream guards 25 July 1814–25 Oct. 1821, when placed on half pay on reduction of regiment; C.B. 4 June 1815; K.M.T.; K.T.S.; K.S.G.; M.P. for co. Clackmannan 11 April 1817–10 June 1818. d. at his country seat in Scotland 27 Aug. 1853. Napier’s Peninsular War, book xii, chapters 6 and 7.
ABERCROMBY, Sir George Samuel, 6 baronet. b. Edinburgh 22 May 1824; succeeded 6 July 1855. d. Forglen house, Turriff Banffshire 15 Nov. 1872.
ABERCROMBY, Sir Robert, 5 baronet. b. Forglen house, Banffshire 4 Feb. 1784; M.P. for Banffshire 2 Nov. 1812–10 June 1818; succeeded 18 July 1831. d. Forglen house 6 July 1855.
ABERDEEN, George Hamilton Gordon, 4 Earl of (1 son of George Gordon, styled Lord Haddo 1764–91, by Charlotte, youngest dau. of Wm. Baird of Newbyth, co. Haddington, she d. 8 Oct. 1795). b. Edinburgh 28 Jany. 1784; ed. at Harrow, and St. John’s coll. Cam., M.A. 1804; succeeded his grandfather 13 Aug. 1801; visited Greece, Turkey and Russia; founded Athenian society 1804, of which no one might be a member who had not visited Athens; rep. peer Scotland 15 Dec. 1806–1 June 1814; K.T. 16 March 1808; ambassador to Vienna 29 July 1813–April 1814, when he prevailed with the Emperor to join the allied sovereigns against Napoleon by treaty of Toplitz 9 Sep. 1813; present at battles of Dresden and Leipsic; signed treaty of peace at Paris 1 June 1814; created a peer of the U.K. as Viscount Gordon of Aberdeen, co. Aberdeen 1 June 1814; P.C. 23 July 1814; took name of Hamilton before that of Gordon by royal license 13 Nov. 1818; chancellor of univ. of Aberdeen 1827; chancellor of duchy of Lancaster 26 Jan. 1828–2 June 1828; sec. of state for foreign affairs 2 June 1828–2 Nov. 1830 and 2 Sep. 1841–5 July 1846; sec. of state for the colonies 5 June 1834–18 April 1835; ranger of Greenwich park 1 Feb. 1845; lord lieut. of Aberdeenshire 23 April 1846; first lord of the treasury 28 Dec. 1852–1 Feb. 1855; an elder brother of Trinity house Nov. 1853–54; a comr. for executing office of treasurer of exchequer of Great Britain, and lord high treasurer of Ireland 6 Mch. 1854; president of Society of Antiquaries 1812–46; F.R.S. 28 April 1808, F.R.G.S. 1830, K.G. 7 Feb. 1855; visited by the Queen at Haddo house, 15 Oct. 1857; author of Inquiry into principles of beauty in Grecian architecture, 1822. (m. (1) 28 July 1805 Catherine Elizabeth, 3 dau. of John James Hamilton, 1 Marquess of Abercorn, she was b. 10 Jan. 1784, and d. 29 Feb. 1812. m. (2) 8 July 1815 Harriet, 2 dau. of honble. John Douglas and widow of James Hamilton, eld. son of 1 Marquess of Abercorn, she was b. 8 June 1792, and d. 26 Aug. 1833). d. 7 Argyll st. Regent st. London 14 Dec. 1860. bur. in family vault at Stanmore 21 Dec. Correspondence of Earl of Aberdeen 1850–53, privately printed 1880; Edinburgh Review, clviii, 547–77 (1883); Thirty years of foreign policy 1854; Proc. of Royal Society of Edin. iv, 477–83 (1862); The British cabinet in 1853, pp. 7–43, pt.; Jerdan’s National portrait gallery, vol. 3, pt.; I.L.N. i, 461 (1842), xx, 1, (1853) xxxvii, 635 (1860) pts.; A.R. (1860) 376–83.
Note.—Lord Byron in his “English bards and Scotch reviewers,” refers to him as “The travelled Thane, Athenian Aberdeen.” He was allowed the very rare distinction of being permitted to retain the order of the Thistle, together with that of the Garter. Exclusive of royalty, 12 Knights of the Thistle (since the re-establishment of the order in 1687), have been elected to the Garter, of these 12 only 4 have retained both orders.
ABERDEEN, George John James Hamilton-Gordon, 5 Earl of. b. Bentley priory, Stanmore 28 Sep. 1816; ed. privately, and at Trin. coll. Cam., M.A. 1837; attaché at Constantinople 1837; M.P. Aberdeenshire (lib.) 22 Aug. 1854–14 Dec. 1860, when he succeeded; went to Egypt, Sep. 1854, and June 1860; went to Madrid, May 1863 to petition Queen of Spain for a remission of sentence on Manuel Matamoros, (who was sentenced to 9 years penal servitude for preaching Protestantism, he was eventually exiled from Spain, he was b. Malaga, Oct. 1834 and d. Lausanne, 31 July 1866.) d. Haddo house, Aberdeenshire 22 March 1864. bur. Methlie churchyard 29 March. Memoir of Lord Haddo by Rev. E. B. Elliott, 6 ed. 1873; The true nobility by Alexander Duff 1868; I.L.N. xxiv, 265 (1854) pt.
ABERDEEN, George Hamilton-Gordon, 6 Earl of. b. 10 Dec. 1841; succeeded 22 March 1864; one of the Scotch 8 in rifle competition at Wimbledon for Elcho challenge shield 1864 and 1865; dropped his title and adopted name of George H. Osborne about 22 May 1866; sailor in American merchant service June 1866 to death; sailed from Boston for Melbourne in the ship “Hera” 21 Jany. 1870, washed overboard and drowned in latitude 40˝10´, longitude 58˝14´, 27 Jany. 1870. Memoir of Lord Haddo, by Rev. E. B. Elliott, 6 ed. 1873, 315–28; Sir Bernard Burke’s Reminiscences (1882) 201–26.
ABERGAVENNY, Rev. William Nevill, 4 Earl of. b. 28 June 1792; succeeded 12 April 1845. d. Birling manor near Maidstone 17 Aug. 1868.
Note.—His personalty was sworn under £300,000 Oct. 1868.
ABINGDON, Montagu Bertie, 5 Earl of. b. 30 April 1784; succeeded 26 Sept. 1799; cupbearer at coronation of George iv 19 July 1821; lord lieut. of Berkshire 1828 to death. d. Wytham abbey, Berkshire 16 Oct. 1854. bur. at Rycote 24 Oct.
ABINGDON, Montagu Bertie, 6 earl of. b. Dover st. Piccadilly 19 June 1808; ed. at Eton and Trin. coll. Cam., M.A. 1829, D.C.L. Ox. 1834; M.P. Oxfordshire (tory) 5 Aug. 1830–23 April 1831, and 17 Dec. 1832–1 July 1852, for Abingdon 3 Dec. 1852–16 Oct. 1854, when he succeeded; lord lieut. of Berkshire 13 Feb. 1855–1881. d. 18 Grosvenor st. London 8 Feb. 1884. bur. Wytham abbey 13 Feb.
ABINGER, Robert Campbell Scarlett, 2 Baron. b. London 5 Sep. 1794; barrister I.T. 27 Nov. 1818; M.P. Norwich (conserv.) 7 Jany. 1835–17 July 1837, for Horsham 28 June 1841–7 April 1844, when he succeeded; envoy ex. and min. plen. to Tuscany 13 Dec. 1859–22 March 1860, when mission was abolished on annexation of Tuscany to Sardinia. d. Abinger hall near Dorking 24 June 1861.
ABINGTON, Leonard James. b. London 27 Nov. 1785; edited The Pottery Mercury at Hanley Staffordshire 1824; pastor of New st. baptist chapel, Hanley 1836–63. d. Northwood, Hanley 7 Aug. 1867. Personal recollections of late L. J. Abington 1868, pt.
ABRAHALL, Theophilus Bennett Hoskyns (2 son of Rev. John Hoskyns Abrahall, C. of Badgworth, Somerset). Barrister I.T. 25 June 1830; went western circuit; sec. of commissions of the peace to lord chancellor; revising barrister S. Lancashire and Northumberland; deputy registrar of London court of bankruptcy 1844–54, registrar 1854–14 Dec. 1861; comr. of Newcastle district court of bankruptcy 14 Dec. 1861–31 Dec. 1869, when country district courts were abolished, d. Wonford house lunatic asylum, Heavitree, Exeter 2 Aug. 1874 aged 72.
ABRAHAM, George Frederick, admitted solicitor Nov. 1805; practised in London to death; originated with Thomas Thompson of the Stock Exchange the Home Missionary Society 11 Aug. 1819, the Congregational Union was merged in it 1827. d. 3 Mansfield st. Portland place, London 3 Jany. 1870 aged 88.
ABRAHAM, Robert, b. Cumberland; ed. for medical profession at Univ. of Edin.; served on the press in Cumberland; edited a leading Liverpool journal; went to Canada about 1843; Proprietor of the Montreal Gazette, editor to Dec. 1848, when it was sold; admitted an advocate of Lower Canada; edited the Transcript 1849 to death; edited the Lower Canada Agricultural Journal to death. d. Montreal 10 Nov. 1854. Morgan’s Bibliotheca Canadensis (1867) pp. 4–5.
ABRAHAM, Thomas, b. Bampton, Devon 1807; ed. at Blundell’s gr. sch. Tiverton; apprenticed to Edward Acton at Grundisburgh, Suffolk; studied at Guy’s hospital, London; L.S.A. Dec. 1833, M.R.C.S. April 1834; began practise in Old Broad st. 1834; surgeon to parish of Allhallows on the Wall for 3 years from Jany. 1835; surgeon to London infirmary for diseases of the