AIKENHEAD HOUSE, the seat of John Gordon, Esq., is situated in the parish of Cathcart, and county of Lanark. Mr. Gordon is the largest heritor in the parish.
Aikenhead was formerly the residence and property of a branch of the great house of Hamilton, more immediately cadets of the family of Torrance in East Kilbride. James Hamilton, the first of Aikenhead, was Provost of Glasgow at different times between 1614 and 1629. He "deceist in the monethe of October, the yeir of God, 1633 yeirs," having made a large fortune as a merchant. In his will, dated "the auchtein day of Aprile, 1630 yeirs," we find, among numerous other legacies, the following, the following:- "Item - He levis to the said Robert Hamiltoun, his eldest sone, ffour thousand mkis. money, to be warit upone building of his hous in Aickinheid, countpting thairin the moneyis deburst be him for the materiallis alreddy prepairit yr to in the first end yr of." This house, which was probably completed soon afterwards, was possibly the first mansion on the property. It became the residence of the family, for in the Renfrewshire Poll Tax Rolls of 1695, we find that "James Hamiltoune of Aitkinehood," his grandson, was taxed there, along with "James, Robert, Alexander, and John, his sones, and Lillias, Anna, Margaret, Mary, and Grissell, his daurs."
This "James Hamiltoune" was thrice married; his first wife being Anne, daughter of John Porterfield of Porterfield, and his third Margaret, daughter of James Muirhead of Bredisholme. It is not known who his second wife was. By these wives he had thirty children in all, of whom the first twenty, all that the first two bore him, were daughters.
Hamilton of Wishaw, who wrote his description of the Sheriffdom of Lanark about 1710, mentions in his account of the parish of Cathcart, that the lands of Aikenhead belong to James Hamilton, "who heth a good lodgeable house there." This James was great-grandson of Provost Hamilton, who left the money to build this house. He was a person of considerable distinction, and was twice Lord-Rector of Glasgow University. He was succeeded by his son James, who sold the estate to Colin Rae of Little Govan, reserving the lands and house of Holmhead. The family in the male line is now extinct, the last member of it having died, respected and beloved, in February, 1865 - Anna Hamilton, widow of David Marshall of Neilsland, Lanarkshire. Semple, in his continuation of Crawford's Renfrewshire, mentions, when he wrote, that there was "a neat modern house" on the property. It is possible Mr. Rae may have altered the old house to meet the requirements of the day. The property afterwards belonged to Mr. Scot of the Thistle Bank, by whom it was sold to the father of the present proprietor, the late John Gordon.
Shortly after the fall of the Tobacco lords of Glasgow, caused by the American War of 1775, the West India interest took the leading place, and one of the principal firms was Somervell Gordon & Co., afterwards Stirling Gordon and Co. Mr. John Gordon was a member of this great house, and in the early part of this century there was not a more energetic nor high-minded merchant in the city. He was an excellent man, too, in all other respects, whether as regarded his warm friendship and hospitality, or his ready and liberal aid to all patriotic and charitable objects. He took an active part in the politics of the day, and was one of the great leaders of the Tory party in Glasgow and the West of Scotland. (1) He died in 1828, and was succeeded in Aikenhead by his son, the present proprietor.
Aikenhead House, as it now stands, was built in 1806, and wings were added to it in 1823, from designs of the celebrated architect, David Hamilton.
(1) Mr. Gordon married, in 1800, Anne Hay, eldest daughter of John Alston, Merchant and Banker in Glasgow, son of George Alston of Muirburn. They had an only daughter, Isabella Craigie Alston, who married Mungo Campbell (Black Mungo), of John Campbell Sen., & Co., and had issue two sons and one daughter. Mr. Gordon married, secondly, Janet, daughter of Gilbert Hamilton, the well known and excellent Provost of Glasgow towards the close of last century. Besides a daughter Catherine, who married Mr. St. George Dean, and has issue, he had an only son, John, now of Aikenhead. This gentleman married, in 1840, the Lady Christian Isabella, second daughter of Henry David, 12th Earl of Buchan, and has issue.
Mr. John Gordon's town house was latterly in Buchanan Street. It was a house built about 1778 by James Johnstone, merchant, and for long it stood alone, the one house on the east side of the street. Its site was where the Prince of Wales buildings are now built. It was a very handsome mansion, with a garden at the back. The celebrated Peel Banquet was held in a pavillion erected behind it, the company entering through this house.
The Gordons and their ancestors had long held property about this part of Glasgow. John Fleming, an ancient "maltman" or brewer, had a tenement in Argyle Street, near the west corner of what is now Buchanan Street. His daughter Isabel married Alexander Gordon, and Mr. Gordon's property is described in the Glasgow Directory of 1787 as "Gordon's land, north side Argyle Street, near St. Enoch's Burn." Gordon's land is still standing, but bedded in Stewart & Macdonald's warehouse, and hardly distinguishable. It is comprised in the four Argyle Street windows, beginning with the third from Buchanan Street. The two-windowed block between these and the corner of Buchanan Street stands on the site of the house of Andrew Buchanan, the founder of Buchanan Street, one of the Virginia Dons who were ruined by the revolt of the colonies. Alexander Gordon had two sons, Alexander and John (afterwards of Aikenhead), who lived respectively on the first and second flats of their house, till, in after years, they removed to their fine house in Buchanan Street. Alexander, the eldest son, was a man of taste, and, what was before unknown in Glasgow, was a collector of pictures. He was known as "Picture Gordon." About 1804 he built a large house in Buchanan Street, just opposite what is now Gordon Street. This street did not exist in those days, and the ground on which it now stands was bought by Mr. Gordon, so that he might not have a house overlooking him. When afterwards the street was formed, it was named after him. His house eventually became the property of the Royal Bank, who some years ago built on its site the handsome block between North and South Exchange Place.
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