ABERDEEN, GEORGE GORDON, I ST EARL OF (1637— 1720 ) , lord chancellor of Scotland, was the son of Sir George Gordon of Haddo, who had been executed by the Presbyterians in 1664. He was born Oct. 3, 1637, and studied at Aberdeen and abroad. He was called to the bar in 1668 and gained a great rep utation as a lawyer. He was president of the court of session in 1681 and lord chancellor of Scotland from 1682 to 1684. He was created earl of Aberdeen in 1682.
Burnet reflects unfavourably upon him, calls him "a proud and covetous man," and declares "the new chancellor exceeded all that had gone before him." He executed the laws enforcing religious conformity with severity, and filled the parish churches, but re sisted the excessive measures of tyranny prescribed by the English government; and in consequence of an intrigue of the Duke of Queensberry and Lord Perth, who gained the duchess of Ports mouth with a present of L27,000, he was dismissed in 1684. He remained a non-juror during the whole of William's reign, and took the oaths for the first time after Anne's accession, on May 11, 1703. In the affair of the Union in 1707, he protested against the completion of the treaty till the act declaring the Scots aliens should be repealed, but refused to support the opposition to the measure itself. He died on April 20, 1720.