The grandson of the British prime minister Earl of Aberdeen, John Campbell Hamilton-Gordon was educated at St. Andrews University and University College, Oxford. A Liberal, he succeeded to the earldom in 1870 upon the death of his elder brother, who drowned on a sea voyage. Aberdeen entered the House of Lords and was a close friend and supporter of the British prime minister William Gladstone. Made Lord Lieutenant of Aberdeenshire in 1880, Aberdeen served as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland briefly in 1886 and again 1905-1915. Aberdeen had visited Canada twice before becoming its governor general in 1893. A social crusader of great zeal and piety, he and Lady Aberdeen, his wife, devoted much of their vice-regal time in Canada to good works. Their sympathies for Liberals in Britain and Canada, however, made relations with Conservative governments in Canada difficult. Aberdeen's refusal to accept appointments made by the Prime Minister Sir Charles Tupper, following his electoral defeat in 1896, produced great controversy.
|