Robert Gordon of Lochinvar

{{Short description|Scottish landowner}}

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Sir Robert Gordon of Lochinvar (died 1628) was a Scottish landowner, courtier, and promoter of colonies in Nova Scotia.

He was a son of John Gordon of Lochinvar and his second wife Elizabeth Maxwell, a daughter of John Maxwell 4th Lord Herries. His homes were Lochinvar and Kenmure Castle.

Lochinvar was knighted at the coronation of Anne of Denmark on 17 May 1590.Calendar State Papers Scotland: 1589-1593, vol. 10 (Edinburgh, 1936), p. 300.

He was involved in scandal in June 1608. He was accused of killing his manservant. The servant was said to have been overfamiliar with his wife, Elizabeth Ruthven. It was also alleged that Gordon had invented this story of his wife's infidelity in order to divorce her and marry another woman.James Balfour, Annales of Scotland, vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 1824), p. 26-7.

He was a Gentleman of the Bedchamber to James VI and I. He was the Robert Gordon who competed at the Arthurian-themed tournament in January 1610 for Prince Henry called Prince Henry's barriers.Mary Anne Everett Green and S. C. Lomas, Elizabeth, Electress Palatine and Queen of Bohemia (London, 1909), pp. 20-1. The combat took place in the old Banqueting Hall at Whitehall Palace.Roy Strong, Henry Prince of Wales and England's Lost Renaissance (London, 1986), pp. 141-2. The Scottish historian Robert Johnston mentions Lochinvar's physical prowess and participation at the Prince's tournament, taking a palm of victory as a runners' up prize.David Laing, Royal Letters, Charters, and Tracts: Relating to the Colonization of New Scotland and Nova Scotia (Edinburgh, 1867), p. 109 quoting Robert Johnston, Rerum Brittanicarum Historiae, (Amsterdam, 1655), lib. xxii, p. 714, "in Aula victor evaserat, ac praemium meritae palmae tulerat". The letter writer John Chamberlain said that Gordon won a prize, "more in favour of the [Scottish] nation than for any due desert".Norman Egbert McClure, [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.32106005854481&view=image&seq=317 Letters of John Chamberlain, vol. 1 (Philadelphia, 1939), p. 293] McClure identifies him as "Robert Gordon of Gordonstoun".

Robert Gordon of Lochinvar joined schemes for the establishment of colonies in North America. He obtained a charter for a barony of Galloway in Nova Scotia on 8 November 1621. In 1625 he published a tract on the subject entitled Encouragements for such as shall have intention to bee Undertakers in the new plantation of Cape Briton ... By mee Lochinvar (Edinburgh, 1625).[https://archive.org/stream/cihm_93615#page/n29/mode/2up Encouragements, For such as shall have intention to bee Under-takers in the new plantation of Cape Briton now New Galloway in America. by mee Lochinvar (Edinburgh, 1625)] He probably encouraged subsequent landings by Scots at Baleine on Cape Breton Island, led by James Stewart, 4th Lord Ochiltree.[http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/stewart_james_1E.html Dictionary of Canadian Biography 'STEWART, JAMES, of Killeith, fourth Lord Ochiltree']

Lochinvar is sometimes confused with his contemporary Robert Gordon of Gordonstoun, who was a gentleman of the king's privy chamber, and also acquired a Nova Scotia knighthood and lands in Nova Scotia.

He died in November 1628.