George Gordon, 2nd Marquess of Aberdeen and Temair

George Gordon, 2nd Marquess of Aberdeen and Temair (20 January 1879 – 6 January 1965), styled Lord Haddo until 1916 and Earl of Haddo from 1916–34, was a Scottish peer and politician. He was Lord Lieutenant of Aberdeenshire from 1934–59.

Early life and education

Aberdeen was born in 1879 at 37 Grosvenor Square, London, the eldest son of the 7th Earl of Aberdeen (elevated to the Marquess of Aberdeen and Temair in 1916) and his wife, Ishbel, daughter of Baron Tweedmouth. Upon the news that an heir to the earldom had been born, villagers celebrated around Aberdeenshire. The cannon fired regularly at the earl's seat, Haddo House north of Aberdeen, while a bonfire was held at Tarland, and church bells rang and fireworks were set off in the village of Methlick.

He was educated at Harrow, St Andrews University, and Balliol College, Oxford.

Career Aberdeen was a Progressive member of the London County Council for Peckham from 1910 to 1925 and for Fulham West from 1931 to 1934. He was also Chairman of the Charity Organization Society from 1934 to 1937 and Lord-Lieutenant of Aberdeenshire between 1934 and 1965. Aberdeen was invested as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1920, as a Knight of the Order of St John (KStJ) in 1949, and was awarded an honorary doctorate of Laws from the University of Aberdeen in 1954.

Marriages On 6 August 1906, the 27-year-old Lord Haddo "horrified his family" by marrying 49-year-old Mary Florence Cockayne (née Clixby), the daughter of a Lincolnshire farmer and the widow of a Sheffield draper. Cockayne was the mother of the noted physician Edward Alfred Cockayne, his classmate at Balliol College.

After her death in 1937, he married, secondly, Anna Orrok Stronach Sheila Innes, on 21 December 1940. She was the widow of Capt. James William Guy Innes of Raemoir and the daughter of Lt.-Col. John Foster Forbes of Rothiemay. His stepson by this marriage was Sir Berowald Innes of Balvenie, 16th Bt. She died in 1949. There were no children of either marriage.