Ishbel Gordon, Lady Aberdeen lived in Canada from 1893 to 1898, during her husband's term as Governor General. In addition to leading many causes that concerned health and women's issues, she wrote a book about her travels across Canada; her journal about her Canadian years was published posthumously in 1960.
Entry written by Daryn Wright
Ishbel Maria Marjoribanks was born in London, England to Dudley Coutts Marjoribanks (1820-1894), the 1st Lord Tweedmouth, and Isabella Weir-Hogg (1827-1908), the daughter of James Weir-Hogg, the Speaker of the House of Commons. As a child, Ishbel was educated by tutors and a Swiss governess. In 1875, she was presented to London society. Two years later, on 7 November 1877, she married
Ishbel's great passions were social work and politics. As a young girl she met Prime Minister
In 1886, Lord Aberdeen was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. During her sojourn there, Ishbel organized working committees of nationalist women and meetings of all the warring political factions, resulting in an agreement to relieve the famine crisis. She also organized an exhibition of Irish spinning, lace-making, and other industries at Edinburgh to stimulate trade.
In 1889, having returned to England, Ishbel suffered from a nervous breakdown, resulting in blinding headaches from which she would suffer for the rest of her life. Upon doctor's advice, the Aberdeens planned a long trip to Canada, during which they met Sir John A. Macdonald (1815-1891) and Sir Donald Smith (1820-1914). Her account of this trip was originally serialized in
In 1892, Lord Aberdeen was made Governor-General of Canada. He assumed his post in September 1893, and Ishbel immediately launched herself into social projects. In 1893, shortly after arrival, she addressed two thousand women in Toronto preparatory to establishing the National Council of Women of Canada, of which she became the first president. During their tenure in Canada, the Aberdeens travelled extensively across the country, gaining intimate knowledge of the country and its people, and Ishbel became a well-known public figure. Visits to the west revealed that the prairies, as well as a number of growing Canadian cities, lacked fundamental health services. In response, Ishbel founded the Victorian Order of Nurses, modelled on the Queen's District Nurses' Service in Britain. By February 1897, a training school was established in Ottawa and two months later a group of four nurses left for the Klondike. Ishbel became the Order's first president, and Queen Victoria (1819-1901) formally approved the charter in May of that year.
The Aberdeens returned to England in 1898 and Ishbel picked up the social causes she had left behind, including her post as president of the International Council of Women, of which she had been elected in 1888. John was reappointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in 1905; Ishbel, having been granted the Freedom of Limerick in 1894, continued the work she had started in Ireland. One of her most notable achievements was the establishment of the Women's National Health Association. For her involvement in issues of women's health, Ishbel became the first woman to be made an honourary member of the British Medical Association.
When John was not reappointed at the end of 1914, the Aberdeens returned to England; they continued to work for the Irish cause the rest of their lives. At this point, John received the additional title of Marquis of Temair, and Ishbel became Marchioness of Temair. Ishbel continued her work with the Women's National Health Association, travelling, with John by her side, on a two-year fundraising tour of the United States.
After their extensive social work in Britain, Ireland, and Canada, the Aberdeens' finances were severely depleted. They sold portions of the Haddo estates, turned the house over to their eldest son, George Gordon, and moved to a smaller house at Cromar, where John had spent time as a young man. While at Cromar, Ishbel and John collaborated on
In 1928, Ishbel was granted the Freedom of Edinburgh and in 1931 was invested as a Dame Grand Cross in the Order of the British Empire (OBE). When John died of a cerebral hemorrhage on 7 March 1934, Ishbel could no longer afford to live at the house at Cromar, so she moved to a home in Aberdeenshire that had been acquired for her by her eldest son, George Gordon. On 18 April 1939, Ishbel died of heart failure in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, and was buried beside her husband at Haddo House. As the Dictionary of Canadian Biography notes,
For a more complete biography, see her entry in the
Dudley Coutts Marjoribanks was born in London England to Edward Marjoribanks (1776-1868) and Georgiana Lautour (1778-1849). He married Isabel Hogg-Weir (1827-1908) on 19 October 1848 and they had six children together.
Dudley was elected to the House of Commons in 1853 as the Liberal member for Berwickshire, a position which he held until 1868 and again from 1874 to 1881, when he was raised to the peerage as the first Baron Tweedmouth. The family split their time between London and the Scottish highlands, as Lord Tweedmouth also owned the deer forest at Guisachan in Inverness-shire. Their home in London was known as a fashionable social centre. Dudley died on 4 March 1894.
Isabella Weir-Hogg was born in Good Hope, Eastern Cape, South Africa. Her father was James Weir Hogg. She married Dudley Coutts Marjoribanks (1820-1894) on 19 October 1848, with whom she had six children. She died on 20 March 1908.
John Campbell Hamilton Gordon (1st Marquess of Aberdeen and Temair) was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, on 3 August 1847. His father was George Hamilton Gordon (1816-1864), the 5th Earl of Aberdeen, and his mother was Mary Baillie (1814-1900), sister of George Bailie-Hamilton (1802-1870), the 10th Earl of Haddington. John attended the University of St. Andrews and University College, Oxford. After the deaths of his two older brothers, John became the 7th Earl of Aberdeen in 1870. He married Ishbel Maria Marjoribanks (1857-1939) on 7 November 1877, making her the Countess of Aberdeen. They had five children together, four of whom survived to adulthood.
Although John began his political career as a Conservative, by 1880 he had formally converted to Liberalism. Ishbel, who had grown up in a Liberal household and had strong political leanings, may have had a part in this. In 1880, John became Lord Lieutenant of Aberdeenshire. From 1881 until 1885, and again in 1915, he served as Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. In 1892, John accepted the position of Governor-General of Canada, a post he held from September 1893 to 1898. During his time in office as Governor-General, John "transformed the role of Governor General from that of the aristocrat representing the King or Queen in Canada to a symbol representing the interests of all citizens."
John died on 7 March 1934 of a cerebral hemorrhage at the House of Cromar in Tarland, Aberdeenshire.
For a more detailed biography, see his entry in the 13th edition of the print version of
When Ishbel founded the magazine
Dudley served as the president of the British Association for Refrigeration from 1926 to 1929, and in 1936 became president of the British Engineers Association, a post he held until 1939. He also served as president of the Federation of British Industries from 1940 to 1943 and for a time as the president of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. He was awarded an honourary Doctorate of Law (LLD) from the University of Aberdeen. He succeeded to the title of 9th Earl of Aberdeen and the 3rd Earl of Haddo in 1965.
Tutors, governess
Sunday schoolteacher, Quebec Chapel, Marble Arch, London
Founder, Haddo House Young Women’s Improvement Association
Founder, May Courts of Canada
Founder, Onward and Upward Association
Founder, Women's National Health Association of Ireland
Founder and president, Victorian Order of Nurses
President, Aberdeen Ladies’ Union
President, Edinburgh Association for the University Education of Women
President, International Council of Women
President, International Woman Suffrage Alliance
President, National Council of Women of Canada
President, Society to Promote the Return of Women as County Councillors
President, Victorian Order of Nurses
Aberdeen Ladies’ Union
Edinburgh Association for the University Education of Women
Haddo House Young Women’s Improvement Association
International Council of Women
International Woman Suffrage Alliance
May Courts of Canada
National Council of Women of Canada
Onward and Upward Association
Society to Promote the Return of Women as County Councillors (later the Women’s Local Government Society)
Victorian Order of Nurses
Women’s Industrial Council
Women's National Health Association of Ireland
Women’s Trade Union Association
Ishbel kept a thorough journal most of her life, and the papers during her time in Canada were later published as