Of Bankruptcy And Birds
Country Life UK|July 14, 2021
The fam-ily motto of the Marquess of Aberdeen is fortuna sequatur, or ‘let fortune follow’. However, reading Simon Welfare’s tale of the 1st Marquess’s reversal of his heraldic exhortation, it is difficult not to believe a more appropriate motto would have been ‘no good deed is left unpunished’.
Kate Green
Of Bankruptcy And Birds

Fortune’s Many Houses Simon Welfare (Atria, £25)

Inheriting his title unexpectedly in 1872 after the deaths of two impressively wild elder brothers, Johnny Gordon found himself master of Haddo House and 75,000 acres of Aberdeenshire, including the largest parcel of prime arable land in Europe. Mr Welfare, married to a descendant of the Aberdeens, describes how, 60 years later, through a mixture of good deeds, naivety, the expense of Imperial office and a penchant for grandiose property acquisition and improvement that would rival Nicolas Fouquet, Johnny died with £204 to his name. In this, he was ably aided and abetted by his wife, Ishbel Marjoribanks.

At the head of Strathglass stand the ruins of Guisachan House. There, in 1856, a ‘handsome but plain old eighteenth-century house’ was obliterated by a grand pile in the French château style by Ishbel’s father, the fabulously rich brewer Dudley Coutts Marjoribanks, 1st Baron Tweedmouth.

As a ruin, the house has a romantic beauty that, for some, suits its setting better than the great stone edifice it was. But Ishbel adored it, deprecating her marriage to Johnny in ‘dull old St George’s Church, Hanover Square, instead of at my dear beautiful Highland home’. Her father’s flamboyant style left its mark on her.

At Haddo, Ishbel found much to improve, not least the 14 cesspools around the house. It was the first of many expensive construction projects undertaken by the couple. Nos 27 and 37 Grosvenor Square followed, House of Cromar at Johnny’s other Aberdeenshire estate, rented houses outside London and properties abroad all received the same treatment.

Through good deeds, naivety and grandiose acquisition, he died with £204 to his name

This story is from the July 14, 2021 edition of Country Life UK.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

This story is from the July 14, 2021 edition of Country Life UK.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

MORE STORIES FROM COUNTRY LIFE UKView All
Save our family farms
Country Life UK

Save our family farms

IT Tremains to be seen whether the Government will listen to the more than 20,000 farming people who thronged Whitehall in central London on November 19 to protest against changes to inheritance tax that could destroy countless family farms, but the impact of the good-hearted, sombre crowds was immediate and positive.

time-read
1 min  |
November 27, 2024
A very good dog
Country Life UK

A very good dog

THE Spanish Pointer (1766–68) by Stubbs, a landmark painting in that it is the artist’s first depiction of a dog, has only been exhibited once in the 250 years since it was painted.

time-read
1 min  |
November 27, 2024
The great astral sneeze
Country Life UK

The great astral sneeze

Aurora Borealis, linked to celestial reindeer, firefoxes and assassinations, is one of Nature's most mesmerising, if fickle displays and has made headlines this year. Harry Pearson finds out why

time-read
3 mins  |
November 27, 2024
'What a good boy am I'
Country Life UK

'What a good boy am I'

We think of them as the stuff of childhood, but nursery rhymes such as Little Jack Horner tell tales of decidedly adult carryings-on, discovers Ian Morton

time-read
3 mins  |
November 27, 2024
Forever a chorister
Country Life UK

Forever a chorister

The music-and way of living-of the cabaret performer Kit Hesketh-Harvey was rooted in his upbringing as a cathedral chorister, as his sister, Sarah Sands, discovered after his death

time-read
4 mins  |
November 27, 2024
Best of British
Country Life UK

Best of British

In this collection of short (5,000-6,000-word) pen portraits, writes the author, 'I wanted to present a number of \"Great British Commanders\" as individuals; not because I am a devotee of the \"great man, or woman, school of history\", but simply because the task is interesting.' It is, and so are Michael Clarke's choices.

time-read
3 mins  |
November 27, 2024
Old habits die hard
Country Life UK

Old habits die hard

Once an antique dealer, always an antique dealer, even well into retirement age, as a crop of interesting sales past and future proves

time-read
4 mins  |
November 27, 2024
It takes the biscuit
Country Life UK

It takes the biscuit

Biscuit tins, with their whimsical shapes and delightful motifs, spark nostalgic memories of grandmother's sweet tea, but they are a remarkably recent invention. Matthew Dennison pays tribute to the ingenious Victorians who devised them

time-read
3 mins  |
November 27, 2024
It's always darkest before the dawn
Country Life UK

It's always darkest before the dawn

After witnessing a particularly lacklustre and insipid dawn on a leaden November day, John Lewis-Stempel takes solace in the fleeting appearance of a rare black fox and a kestrel in hot pursuit of a pipistrelle bat

time-read
4 mins  |
November 27, 2024
Tarrying in the mulberry shade
Country Life UK

Tarrying in the mulberry shade

On a visit to the Gainsborough Museum in Sudbury, Suffolk, in August, I lost my husband for half an hour and began to get nervous. Fortunately, an attendant had spotted him vanishing under the cloak of the old mulberry tree in the garden.

time-read
3 mins  |
November 27, 2024