Arthur Hamilton-Gordon, 1st Baron Stanmore

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

The Right Honourable The Lord Stanmore GCMG KStJ
Arthur Gordon circa 1870–1880.
9th Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick
In office 26 October 1861 – 30 September 1866
Monarch	Victoria
Premier	Samuel Leonard Tilley Albert J. Smith Peter Mitchell
Preceded by	John Manners Sutton
Succeeded by	Charles Hastings Doyle
19th Governor of Trinidad
In office 7 November 1866 – 1870
Monarch	Victoria
Preceded by	E. E. Bushworth
Succeeded by	James Robert Longden
11th Governor of British Mauritius
In office 21 February 1871 – 18 August 1874
Monarch	Victoria
Preceded by	Sir Henry Barkly
Succeeded by	Sir Arthur Phayre
1st High Commissioner for the Western Pacific
In office June 1875 – January 1880
Monarch	Victoria
Preceded by	Sir Hercules Robinson
Succeeded by	Sir William Des Vœux
2nd Governor of Fiji
In office June 1875 – January 1880
Monarch	Victoria
Preceded by	Sir Hercules Robinson
Succeeded by	Sir William Des Vœux
9th Governor of New Zealand
In office 29 November 1880 – 24 June 1882
Monarch	Victoria
Premier	John Hall Frederick Whitaker
Preceded by	Sir Hercules Robinson
Succeeded by	Sir William Jervois
16th Governor of British Ceylon
In office 3 December 1883 – 28 May 1890
Monarch	Victoria
Preceded by	John Douglas
Succeeded by	Arthur Havelock (Acting governor)
Personal details
Born	(1829-11-26)26 November 1829
Died	30 January 1912(1912-01-30) (aged 82)
Relations	George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen (father)
Alma mater	Trinity College, Cambridge

Career

Gordon was born in London in 1829.[2] 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.[2]

Gordon was educated privately and then at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was President of the Cambridge Union Society in 1849.[3]

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.[1] 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:

• Lieutenant-Governor of New Brunswick, 1861–1866, securing New Brunswick's assent to Canadian Confederation[4]
• Governor of Trinidad, 1866–1870.
• 11th Governor of Mauritius, 21 February 1871 – 18 August 1874[5]
• Governor of Fiji from 1875 to 1880.[6]
• Governor of New Zealand, 29 November 1880 – 24 June 1882
• Governor of Ceylon, 1883–1890.

He was created Baron Stanmore, of Great Stanmore, in the County of Middlesex on 21 August 1893.[7]

In 1897 Lord Stanmore became the chairman of the Pacific Islands Company Ltd ('PIC'), which was a company formed by John T. Arundel that 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.[8] 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 Nauru and Banaba.[9]

Gordon's ethnographic collection from Fiji, which was assembled during his Governorship, was donated to the British Museum in 1878.[10]

He was appointed a member of the Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts in March 1900.[11]

Works

• William Ewart Gladstone, Baron Arthur Hamilton-Gordon Stanmore (1961). Gladstone-Gordon correspondence, 1851–1896: selections from the private correspondence of a British Prime Minister and a colonial Governor, Volume 51. American Philosophical Society. p. 116. Retrieved 28 June 2010.(Volume 51, Issue 4 of new series, American Philosophical Society Volume 51, Part 4 of Transactions Series Volume 51, Part 4 of Transactions of the American Philosophical Society new ser v. 51, no. 4)(Original from the University of California)

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.[12]

Arthur Hamilton-Gordon, 1st Baron Stanmore died on 30 January 1912 in Chelsea, London.[12]

Arms

Coat of arms of Arthur Hamilton-Gordon, 1st Baron Stanmore

Crest 1st: Two Arms from the shoulder naked proper holding a Bow Or and letting fly an Arrow Argent (Gordon); 2nd: Our of a Ducal Coronet Oran Oak Tree fructed and penetrated transversely in the main stem by a Frame Saw inscribed with the word "Thorough" all proper, the tree charged with an Escutcheon Argent thereon a Heart Gules (Hamilton) Escutcheon Quarterly, 1st and 4th, Azure three Boars' Heads couped within a Double Tressure adorned with Roses Thistles and Fleurs-de-lis alternately Or (Gordon); 2nd and 3rd, Quarterly, (i) and (iv), Gules three Cinquefoils pierced Ermine, (ii) and (iii) Argent a Lymphad the sails furled, the whole within a Bordure Sable (Hamilton) Supporters Dexter: a Chief of the Fiji Islands habited and supporting with the exterior hand a Club all proper; Sinister: an Adigar of the Island of Ceylon habited and holding in the exterior hand a Staff of Office all proper Motto Haud Immemor [12]

References

1. Leigh Rayment's Peerage Pages – Peerages beginning with "S" (part 5)
2. Tyler, W. P. N. "Gordon, Arthur Hamilton". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 1 December 2013.
3. "Gordon, the Hon. Arthur Charles Hamilton (GRDN846AC)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
4. Newbury, Colin (Spring 2011). "Biography and Patronage in Crown Colony Governorships: Sir Arthur Hamilton Gordon and "Personal Administration"" (PDF). Journal of Historical Biography. 9: 1–36.
5. "Mauritius". Worldstatesmen.org. Retrieved 11 August 2015.
6. Paul Knaplund, "Sir Arthur Gordon and Fiji: Some Gordon-Gladstone Letters." Historical Studies: Australia and New Zealand 8#31 (1958) pp 281–296.
7. "No. 26437". The London Gazette. 1 September 1893. p. 4994.
8. Albert F. Ellis, (1935) Ocean Island and Nauru: Their Story, Chapter IV
9. Maslyn Williams & Barrie Macdonald (1985) The Phosphateers
10. "Collection search: You searched for". British Museum. 20 March 2015. Retrieved 11 August 2015.
11. "No. 27174". The London Gazette. 16 March 1900. p. 1791.
12. "Stanmore, Baron (UK, 1893 – 1957)". www.cracroftspeerage.co.uk.

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Arthur Hamilton-Gordon
• Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by William Wells Francis Charles Lawley	Member of Parliament for Beverley 1854 – 1857 With: William Wells	Succeeded by Edward Glover William Denison
Government offices
Preceded by Sir John Henry Thomas Manners-Sutton	Lieutenant-Governor of New Brunswick 1861–1866	Succeeded by Sir Charles Hastings Doyle
Preceded by E. E. Bushworth (acting)	Governor of Trinidad 1866–1870	Succeeded by James Robert Longden
Preceded by Sir Henry Barkly	Governor of Mauritius 1871–1874	Succeeded by Sir Arthur Purves Phayre
Preceded by Sir Hercules Robinson	Governor of Fiji 1875–1880	Succeeded by Sir William Des Vœux
New creation	High Commissioner for the Western Pacific 1877–1880
Preceded by Sir Hercules Robinson	Governor of New Zealand 1880–1882	Succeeded by Sir William Jervois
Preceded by John Douglas acting governor	Governor of Ceylon 1883–1890	Succeeded by Arthur Havelock
Peerage of the United Kingdom
New creation	Baron Stanmore 1893–1912	Succeeded by George Hamilton-Gordon