Pelican!
What is my origin!
When did the cap badge start!



Mr Robert Anderson:-



The history of Robert Gordon's College Hospital.

Object to it." He was buried in Drum's Aisle, but the precise site of his grave is not known. On the west wall of the Aisle there is a plain white marble tablet with the simple inscription: -

The History' of Robert Gordon's Hospital.

Within this Aisle are interred the remains of ROBERT GORDON, merchant,
Who founded in this City and liberally endowed THE HOSPITAL piously designed by him for the maintenance and education of youth.

The tablet is surmounted by the Hospital coat of arms-a pelican plucking its own breast to feed its young; with the motto,
" Imperat Hoc Natura Potens."'
There is an excellent full-length portrait of Gordon in the Hospital (we should now say College), in the Hall where the meetings of the Governors are held, painted by Mossman in 1761; also a bust portrait, by an unknown artist, evidently painted in Gordon's lifetime, of which a representation is given on the opposite page. In 1753, the Governors erected in a niche above the main doorway a statue of Gordon in

I See " Epitaphs and Inscriptions in St. Nicholas Church and Churchyard," by
A. M. Munro, in Scottish Notes and Queries, vol. I. D.page133.

Cap badge from Gordonian June 1926.


The New Badge.- June 1926.

THE College has adopted a new cap badge, rather returned to an old one, in the form of design of a Pelican with three young. Most people are familiar with the legend that this bird in times of famine feeds her young from the blood of her own breast. The heraldic pelican occupies a place in many coats of arms to denote the sacrifice of members of a family for each other, in our case, to denote the gift his fortune by Robert Gordon, to educate Scottish boys. The design which used appear 0n the Robert Gordon's Hospital furniture, etc., has been reproduced in white with a trace of yellow and red, and will hence- forward be the recognised badge for the school cap.
Mr. Robert Anderson in his
" History Robert Gordon's Hospital "
refers to the crest
And its conventional title " The Pelican in Piety," " piety " having its Latin meaning of "family affection"

,
From the Seal of the Hospital-College By Roy Strathdee 1950.
, Pitlurg. The appearance of the crescent is rather interesting. Alexander Simpson of Collyhill died on 12th April 1816, and the money from his estate was used to enlarge the Hospital. The arms of Simpson were II Argent, on a field indented vert, three crescents," and the author conceived the idea that the presence of .the crescent in the Hospital seal was in recognition of the Simpson benefaction. Had this been the case, the Seal could not have come into being before 1816. Miss Annie E. Simson, Lord Lyon's Secretary, however, writes (7th October, 1948): "The arms of the Seal have not been recorded by anyone, but I think the reason for the crescent may have been that the family of Pitlurg descend from the main line of the House of Gordon through a second son and, though a gold bordure is the most usual indication in Scotland of a descended from a second son, a crescent is occasionally used as well. Probably the engraver, or whoever ordered .the Seal, knew that Pitlurg was descended from a second son, and imagined that there would be a crescent in the arms, not realising that .the family had recorded arms with the gold bordure. 'Of course another explanation may be: that Robert Gordon used these arms with the crescent himself but never had them recorded in the Public Register of All Arms and Bearings in Scotland. , Living in Danzig he probably never realised he should have done so, and he would be quite young when the Act of Parliament (1672, cap. 47) was passed making the registration of arms compulsory." The arms, as depicted on the Seal, with the pelican and Latin inscription, may also be seen on the drum-a relic from the Hospital band-at present stored in the music room of the College.
The pelican has long been spoken of as the crest of the Hospital. It was embossed on the uniform buttons of the Sillerton loons, and also for many years on: those of the College Janitor. Mr. Murray, when he was Janitor, had in his possession a piece of glass, evidently from a lamp or lantern, on which this emblem was etched. On the West wall of Drum's Aisle, the white marble tablet erected to the memory of Robert Gordon. The pelican has no association with the Pitlurg family, whose crest is a dove. The symbol of a pelican plucking her own breast to feed her young has, since early times, been used as a symbol of pelican and of the sacrifice of one generation for another; no doubt it was introduced into the Hospital arms to record the personal sacrifice which Robert Gordon made in order to found his Hospital. The same idea of sacrifice is kept before us in another form. In 1753 the Governors erected in a niche above the main doorway a statue of the founder in marble. The figure of Gordon leans on a tablet on which is represented a mother surrounded by her children, one of whom she is feeding from her breast.
The Latin motto, "Imperat hoc natura potens," is taken from the "Satires of Horace," 2.1.51. Professor Peter S. Noble, of the Chair of Humanity, Aberdeen University, writes (7th April, 1950): "In the first satire of the Second Book, Horace, in a dialogue with a friend, Trebatius Testa, is defending his use of satire. He uses it only in self-defence. It is his strongest weapon, and like every creature-the wolf with his teeth, the bull with his horns" to frighten those he fears, he uses the weapon with which he is strongest and does so by nature's sovereign com»Land." Your motto is the underlined part of the above quotation, and literally it may be rendered 'and this is the bidding of nature whose will is law'."
In referring to the Hospital motto, two statements by Mr. Robert Anderson are worthy of note. On p. 98 of his "History of Gordon's Hospital," he speaks of "the legend that used to flaunt itself proudly on the Hospital flag-
Honour and shame from no condition rise Act well your part-there all the honour lies." 

 
 
 

The First Day at school.
 
I gave you a little wink and smile
As you entered my room today.
For I know how hard it is to leave
And know your child must stay.
You've been with him for five years now
And have been a loving guide,
But now, alas, the time has come
To leave him at my side.
Just know that as you drive away
And tears down your cheeks may flow
I'll love him as I would my own
And help him learn and grow.
So please put your mind at ease
And cry those tears no more
For I will love him and take him in
When you leave him at my door.
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