Place Name
George Hamilton-Gordon (January 28, 1784 – December 14, 1860), was 4th Earl of Aberdeen who served as prime minister from December 1852 until January 1855. Although a successful diplomat his political career was far less successful. His Cabinet was packed full of the big political beasts of the era – including Palmerston and Lord John Russell and he struggled to keep order. He was eventually toppled for his mishandling of the Crimean War. However, this road was not named for any political achievements, but from his position in the 1820s as a governor of Harrow School. The land had been bought nearly 250 years earlier by John Lyon, a wealthy Elizabethan yeoman who founded School in 1571. At the same time he purchased a 40 acre farm in Lisson Grove to be held by the school governors to pay for the maintenance of the road from London to Harrow. The area began to be developed around 1823 and the streets named after serving governors.
