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viii OFFICEBEAEEHS OF THE CLUB, Russian Empire
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Passages from the diary of General Patrick Gordon of Auchleuchries : A.D. 1635-A.D. 1699"
viii OFFICEBEAEEHS OF THE CLUB.
The Earl of Erroll.
The Lord Forbes.
Colonel Jonathan Forbes.
James Giles, R.S.A., Aberdeen.
John Gordon of Cairnbulg, Advocate.
George Grdb, Advocate in Aberdeen.
Cosmo Innes, Advocate, Professor of History in the University of
Edinburgh.
The Right Reverend James Kyle, D.D., Preshome.
David Laing, Keeper of the Library of the Society of Writers to the
Signet, Edinburgh.
William Leslie of Wartle and Drumrossie.
The Lord Lindsay.
Hugh Lumsden of Pitcaple, Advocate. (Deceased.)
Alexander Morison of Bognie.
Mark Napier, Advocate, Sheriff of Dumfries-shire.
The Earl of Northesk.
John Ramsay of Barra.
Alexander Henry Rhind of Sibster.
Joseph Robertson, Superintendent of the Literary and Antiquarian
Department of the General Register House, Edinburgh.
James Yorston Simpson, M.D., Professor of Midwifery in the Uni-
versity of Edinburgh.
The Reverend Alexander Taylor, D.D., Leochel-Cushnie.
Alexander Thomson of Banchory.
George Tulloch, LL.D., Aberdeen.
John Stuart, General Register House, Edinburgh.
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John Blaikie, Advocate in Aberdeen.
John Ligertwood, Advocate in Aberdeen.
Gordon was brought up and remained a lifelong Roman Catholic, at a time when the Church was being persecuted in Scotland. At age of fifteen, he entered the Jesuit college at Braunsberg, East Prussia, then part of Poland. In 1661, after many years experiences as a soldier of fortune, he joined the Russian army under Tsar Aleksei I, and in 1665 was sent on a special mission to England. After his return, he distinguished himself in several wars against the Turks and Tatars in southern Russia. In recognition of his service he was promoted to major-general in 1678, was appointed to the high command at Kiev in 1679, and in 1683 was made lieutenant-general. In 1687 and 1689 he took part in expeditions against the Tatars in the Crimea, being made a full general. Later in 1689, a revolution broke out in Moscow, and with the troops under his command, Gordon virtually decided events in favor of Peter the Great against the Regent, Tsarevna Sophia Alekseyevna. Consequently, he was for the remainder of his life in high favor with the Tsar, who confided to him the command of his capital during his absence from Russia. In 1696, Gordon's design of a "moveable rampart" played a key role in helping the Russians take Azov. One of Gordon's convinced the Tsars to establish the first Roman Catholic church and school in Muscovy, of which he remained the main benefactor and headed the Catholic community in Russia until his death. For his services his second son James, brigadier of the Russian army, was created Count of the Holy Roman Empire in 1701. At the end of his life the Tsar, who had visited Gordon frequently during his illness, was with him when he died, and with his own hands closed his eyes. General Gordon left behind him a uniquely detailed diary of his life and times, written in English. This is preserved in manuscript in the Russian State Military Archive in Moscow. Passages from the Diary of General Patrick Gordon of Auchleuchries (1635–1699) was printed, under the editorship of Joseph Robertson, for the Spalding Club, at Aberdeen, Scotland, 1859.
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