Arthur Hamilton-Gordon, 1st Baron Stanmore explained

Honorific-Prefix:The Right Honourable
The Lord Stanmore
Order:9th
Office:Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick
Term Start:26 October 1861
Term End:30 September 1866
Predecessor:John Manners Sutton
Successor:Charles Hastings Doyle
Order2:19th
Office2:Governor of Trinidad
Term Start2:7 November 1866
Term End2:1870
Monarch2:Victoria
Predecessor2:E. E. Bushworth
Successor2:James Robert Longden
Order3:11th
Office3:Governor of British Mauritius
Term Start3:21 February 1871
Term End3:18 August 1874
Monarch3:Victoria
Predecessor3:Sir Henry Barkly
Successor3:Sir Arthur Phayre
Order4:1st
Office4:High Commissioner for the Western Pacific
Term Start4:June 1875
Term End4:January 1880
Monarch4:Victoria
Predecessor4:Sir Hercules Robinson
Successor4:Sir William Des Vœux
Order5:2nd
Office5:Governor of Fiji
Term Start5:June 1875
Term End5:January 1880
Monarch5:Victoria
Predecessor5:Sir Hercules Robinson
Successor5:Sir William Des Vœux
Order6:9th
Office6:Governor of New Zealand
Term Start6:29 November 1880
Term End6:24 June 1882
Monarch6:Victoria
Predecessor6:Sir Hercules Robinson
Successor6:Sir William Jervois
Order7:16th
Office7:Governor of British Ceylon
Term Start7:3 December 1883
Term End7:28 May 1890
Predecessor7:John Douglas
Successor7:Arthur Havelock
(Acting governor)
Monarch7:Victoria
Birth Date:26 November 1829
Birth Place:London, England
Alma Mater:Trinity College, Cambridge
Father:George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen

Arthur Charles Hamilton-Gordon, 1st Baron Stanmore (26 November 1829 – 30 January 1912) was a Scottish Liberal Party politician and colonial administrator. He had extensive contact with Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone.

Career

Gordon was born at Argyll House,[1] his family's townhouse in London, in 1829. He was the youngest son of George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen and his second wife, Harriet Douglas. His mother was the widow of Viscount Hamilton.

Gordon was educated privately and then at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was President of the Cambridge Union Society in 1849.

After graduating in 1851, he worked as Assistant Private Secretary to the British Prime Minister (his father) between 1852 and 1855, and was a Member of Parliament (MP) for Beverley from 1854 to 1857. In 1875, the Fiji Islands were created a separate Colony, and Sir Arthur Gordon was appointed the first Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Fiji, until 1880. In connection with this he also received the appointment of Consul-General, and High Commissioner of the Western Pacific, but that gave little additional power. He held a number of colonial governorships:

He was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) in 1871, and a Knight Grand Cross of the same Order in 1878. He was created Baron Stanmore, of Great Stanmore, in the County of Middlesex on 21 August 1893.

In 1897, Lord Stanmore became the chairman of the Pacific Islands Company Ltd ('PIC'). Formed by John T. Arundel, PIC was based in London with its trading activities in the Pacific that involved mining phosphate rock on Banaba (then known as Ocean Island) and Nauru.[5] John T. Arundel and Lord Stanmore were responsible for financing the new opportunities and negotiating with the German company that controlled the licences to mine in Nauru. In 1902, the interests of PIC were merged with Jaluit Gesellschaft of Hamburg, to form the Pacific Phosphate Company, ('PPC') to engage in phosphate mining in Banaba and Nauru.[6]

Gordon's ethnographic collection from Fiji, which was assembled during his Governorship, was donated to the British Museum in 1878.[7]

He was appointed a member of the Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts in March 1900.

Works

Personal life and death

On 20 September 1865, Arthur Hamilton-Gordon, wed Rachel Emily Shaw Lefevre in London. The couple had a daughter and a son.

He was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant of Aberdeenshire in 1861.

Arthur Hamilton-Gordon, 1st Baron Stanmore died on 30 January 1912 in Chelsea, London.

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. 1891 England Census
  2. Newbury. Colin. Biography and Patronage in Crown Colony Governorships: Sir Arthur Hamilton Gordon and "Personal Administration". Journal of Historical Biography. Spring 2011. 9. 1–36.
  3. Web site: Mauritius . Worldstatesmen.org . 11 August 2015.
  4. Paul Knaplund, "Sir Arthur Gordon and Fiji: Some Gordon-Gladstone Letters." Historical Studies: Australia and New Zealand 8#31 (1958) pp 281–296.
  5. Albert F. Ellis, (1935) Ocean Island and Nauru: Their Story, Chapter IV
  6. Maslyn Williams & Barrie Macdonald (1985) The Phosphateers
  7. Web site: Collection search: You searched for . British Museum . 20 March 2015 . 11 August 2015.