Gc M. C
929.2 Si62h 1190369
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
3 1833 01329 3987
CAITHNESS
FAMILY HISTORY
By JOHN HENDERSON. W.S.
^^^ EDINBURGH: DAVID DOUGLAS
MDCCCLXXXIV
11S03G9
CONTENTS.
Editor's Note, Biographical Sketch, Author's Preface, . Introduction,
Brodies,
Bruce op Ham,
Bruce op Hastigrow and Seater,
Bruce op Lyth,
Bruce op Stanstill,
Budge op Toftingall,
Caithness, Earls op,
Calder of Achingale and Newton.
Calder op Ltneqar,
Calder op Strath, .
Campbells op Quotcrook, Lochend, Castlehill,
Coghill op that Ilk,
Cunningham of Brownhill, etc.,
Davidson op Achingills and Bdckies, etc.,
DouLi. op Thuster, ....
Dunbar op Hempriggs,
Dunbar op Northfield and Bowermadden,
267 273 270 262 181 1 215 209 217 275 253 201 301 324 219 226
Gibsons,
Gordon of Swiney,
Henderson of Achalibster and Wester Henderson of Nottingham and Gersat, Henderson of Stemster, Innes of Sandside, . Innes of Thdrsater, etc., Kennedy of Stroma,
Manson-Sinclair of Bridgend,
MOWAT OP BrABSTERMYEB and SWINZIE,
Mowat of Buchollie,
Murray of Clairden and Castlehill,
Murray of Pennyland,
NicoLSON of Shebster,
Oswalds, ....
Sinclair of Achinqalb and Newton,
Sinclair of Assery,
Sinclair of Barrock,
Sinclair of Borlum and Thura, .
Sinclair of Brabsterdorran,
Sinclair of Dun,
Sinclair op Dunbeath and Latheron,
Sinclair of Ddrran,
Sinclair of Forss, .
Sinclair of Freswick,
Sinclair op Geise, .
Sinclair op Greenland and Rattar,
CONTENTS
Sinclair op Hot and Oldfield, .
Sinclair of Kirk and Mtrelandiiorn,
Sinclair of Ltbster,
Sinclair of Ltbster, Eeay,
Sinclair of Met,
Sinclair of Murkle,
Sinclair of Olrig, .
Sinclair of Scotscalder, .
Sinclair of Southdun,
Sinclair of Stemster and Dunbeath,
Sinclair of Stireioke,
Sinclair of Ulbster,
Sinclair Sutherland of Brabstbr,
Sinclair Sutherland of Swinzie, .
St. Clair, Major-Genbbal Arthur,
Sutherland of Forse,
Sutherland of Lanqwell, .
Sutherland of Wester,
Tatlor of Thura, .
Traill of Castlehill and Kattar,
Williamson of Achorlie and Banniskirk,
PAGE
146
144 60 24
120 14 103
171 334
151
List of Heritors and Wadsetters,
EDITOE'S NOTE.
These notes on Caitliness Family History are given to the public as left by the autbor, and tbe Editor desires to thank those friends who, by their advice, have aided in the preparation of the book for the press.
The Editor also wishes gratefully to acknowledge the courtesy of the Earl of Caithness in permitting the use of the arms of his ancestor, George, fourth Earl of Caith- ness, and his wife, Lady Elizabeth Graham, daughter of the Earl of Montrose, copied from an old carving in BarrogUl Castle, which form the vignette on the title- page ; and the valuable assistance most kindly rendered by Mr. Burnett, Lyon King of Arms, in revising the work, and enriching it with notes ^printed within brackets), Avhich elucidate or confirm the text.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.
It may not be considered inappropriate to preface the " Notes of Caithness Family History " now pubhshed by a brief sketch of their author.
John Henderson was descended from the Brabster- dorran branch of the Caithness Hendersons. Of his grandfather's three sons, two were, like himself, long and intimately associated with the pubhc business of their native county.
Captain John Henderson, the eldest of the brothers, after serving in the Caithness Fencibles during the Irish Rebellion, spent his later years at Castlegreen, Thurso, wlaich he built. He died there in 1828, aged sixty-nine. He was for many years factor on the Ulbster estates, and was the first agent in Thiu'so for the Commercial Bank of Scotland. In 1812 he pubhshed a " General View of the Agriculture of Caithness," the first family contribution to the annals of the county, and a work of considerable interest. He married Jane, daughter of Captain William Maclean of the 40th Regiment, and his wife, Mary, daughter of John Sutherland of Forse. The only sur-
xii BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.
vivor of their family is Major-General William Hender- son, R.A.
William, the second brother, and father of the subject of this notice, after an extended legal practice in Thurso, and also acting as factor on many estates in the county, was appointed Sheriff-Substitute of Caithness, an office which he held until his death in 1826, aged fifty- eight. He was proprietor of the estate of Scotscalder, which he bought from Captain Balfoiu:. He married Anne, daughter of Patrick Brodie, Esq. Of four deceased sons of their large family, the eldest. Dr. Patrick, was the author of an unpublished " History of Caithness," and several other works. John was the second son. Alex- ander, the third, succeeded his uncle. Captain John, as agent for the Commercial Bank in Thiu-so. The fourth, Dr. William, was a distinguished physician and Professor of General Pathology in the University of Edinburgh.
James, the third of the brothers, was Captain in the Ross-shire Militia. He married Eliza, daughter of Sir Edmund Lacon, Bart., who, with their only child, pre- deceased him. He died in 1825, aged fifty-five.
John Henderson was born in the old house of Ormlie, near Thurso, on the 21st December 1800. He received his early education in his native town, and subsequently attended Tain Academy, concluding his academical career at the University of Aberdeen. On leaving Aberdeen he served his apprenticeship in the office of Mr. Inghs, W.S., and after completing his legal studies, was admitted Writer
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. XIU
to the Signet in 1824. Circumstances led him to decide upon commencing business in Wick, where he settled in 1828. He there received the appointment of Procurator- Fiscal, which he retained until his removal to Thurso in 1852. He afterwards held all the important county appointments, and in addition to these a large number of factorships. His resignation of the Freswick factorship in 1879 terminated a business connection between the proprietors of these estates and his family of more than sixty years. And at different periods Mr. Henderson was also factor on the Hempriggs, Thrumster, Forse, Brabster, Lochend, Forss, and Rattar estates.
In 1852 he removed to Thurso to take up, on his brother Alexander's retirement, the agency of the Com- mercial Bank, which he held until his death. He was for many years an elder in the parish church of Thurso, and was an attached but not sectarian member of the Church of Scotland.
In 1829 he married his cousin, Barbara, daughter of Wilham Henderson, Esq., Edinburgh, and sister of John Henderson, the first Queen's Remembrancer. She was in all respects worthy of her husband, and her death, in 1859, threw an abiding shadow over his remaining years.
During his long life Mr. Henderson had seen many and great changes pass over the community to which he belonged. The world into which he was born was, he used to say, a different one from that of his later years.
As a boy he had worshipped in the ancient and now
XIV BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.
ruined parish cliiirch of St. Peter, and remembered its curiously painted wood-work and quaint galleries and pews; and he had heard the "dead-bells" tolled before the coffin, as funerals passed down to the old churchyard. Little of the New Town of Thurso was then built, and thatch prevailed more than slates on the roofs of the houses which did exist. In these days the citizens' cows gi'azed on the " common " pasture -ground ; were gathered in the evening on the " Cliugrag " (or Lingering) Hill, and conducted collectively to the entrance of the main street, whence each animal sedately took her way to her own place of abode. He remembered the annual game of "knotty," which took place on New- Year's day on the sands of Thui'so, below the long " links," which have now disappeared ; the regularly recurrmg faction fights on the market-days at wloich he and his companions delightedly " assisted " ; and the cock-fights which the schoolboys were encouraged to promote, the winning bird being always considered a perquisite of the Master. He recol- lected the arrival .of the news of the battle of Salamanca, and other victories of the Peninsular war. These were events of moment to Caithness wives and mothers, for above two thousand Caithness recruits were " attested " during that period, and the Williamsons, Inneses, and Davidsons lost more than one gallant soldier-son at Fuentes de Onoro, — the storming of Ciudad Rodrigo ; Sala- manca, and the siege of Burgos. He used to tell of the rejoicings for the battle of Waterloo, when a Thurso
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. XV
bailie, who had vowed never to change his wig while Bonaparte retained power, came down from his house, and preceded by the town -piper, and followed by his maid-servant bearing a new wig under her apron, marched three times round the bon-fire in MacDonald Square, and at the end of the last circuit threw the time-honoured head-gear into the flames.
His journeyings to and from his father's house and Edinburgh were chiefly performed on board the coasting vessels, which were then the most available means of conununication between North and South. The fort- night's voyage between Thurso and Leith was sometimes exceeded by days, or even weeks ; and on one occasion, in consequence of an unusually prolonged detention, the passengers and crew of the " John o' Groat " were con- strained to consume the gifts of Caithness geese, and other Christmas fare, which were on their way from " country cousins " to expectant, but disappointed reci- pients in the Scottish capital.
During his later years Mr. Henderson gradually re- signed the various appointments which he had retained during his residence in Thurso, except the bank agency ; and his well-earned time of comparative rest was spent in the retirement of his much-loved home at Ormhe. During those years the volume of " Notes," which had been gradually growing beneath his hand, received many additions. Its compilation had long afibrded hun an object of interest external to the engrossing cares of
XVI BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.
business, and the unwearied trouble he took in verifying every detail, and inserting only what he believed to be absolutely accurate, was characteristic.
In the spring of 1883 his health began to fail, and gradually increasing iUness terminated in his death on the 25 th of August of the same year.
To one who best knew him in the daily intercourse of a home-life full of sacred memories, it is not easy to estimate, as a whole, such a hfe as his. The worthy inheritor of a name associated with just, honourable, and upright lives, his public duties were discharged with unvarying faithfulness and punctuality. In his many factorships he always knew how to combine the interests of his clients with the well-being of the tenantry. A singular youthfulness, purity, and guilelessness of nature remained with him throughout his life, a clear and strong intellect enabled him to grasp and master every subject to which he applied himself, and an eai^nest love of truth and thirst after knowledge led to an imceasing pursuit of both. Like most men of well-balanced character, he had a strong sense of hvimour. His judgment of men and things was ever sound, calm, just, and charitable, and in his nature assumption and self-seeking found no place.
The words of one who knew him well may most fitly close this brief record of his life : — " His sterling, reliable character, his manly straight-forward way of doing busi- ness, his quiet but firm manner, his kindly consideration for many a poor man struggling with difficulties, gained
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. xvil
for him, as a business man, a place which business men rarely attain to in the hearts of the people. ... As one who felt it a privilege to know and love him, I would like to pay a tribute to his memory by pointing out, what was indeed apparent to all, that the singular success of his career was due not merely to his natural disposition and manner, but to what the grace of God had made him as a Christian man. He had learned the secret of doing his work in all the variety of his offices ' as to the Lord, and not to man ; ' and on this, as the foundation prin- ciple of all his dealings with men, was built a business life rarely equalled in its usefulness. . . . His death was, like his life, a humble and unquestioning profession of his faith in his Redeemer. He had ' finished his coxnrse,' he had ' kept the faith ; ' and when death came, it came to one who, through the grace of God preparing him for it, had notliing to do but to die."
Fear no more the heat o' the sun,
Or the furious winter's rages, Thou thy worldly task hast done,
Home art gone, and ta'en thy wages.
A. B. H.
Ormlie Lodge, TnnRso, February 5th, 1884.
AUTHOH'S PEEFACE.
It may be proper to state that the object I have had in view in the following Notes has not been to collect materials for a County Genealogy brought down to the present time, but to preserve notices, now generally forgotten, of the older families connected with the County, and now, in many instances, extract. The Notes were commenced many years ago, and have been continued as opportunities of adding to them occurred, and every care has been taken to render them accurate, the sources of information having been County and other records, title-deeds of landed property, and, as far as possible, family documents. The materials here collected may be of use to future mquii-ers.
JOHN HENDERSON.
Ormlie Lodge, Thukso, 1882.
INTRODUCTION.
The Earldom of Caithness, although said to be traditionally of great antiquity, does not appear on record until 1129, in which year Mac William, desig- nated Earl of Caithness, occurs in a charter by King David I. to the Monastery of Dunfermline. From the period of tliis Earl's death in 1160, down to 1455, the dignity was held by seven different Earls, the last of whom. Sir George Crichton, Lord High Admiral, was created Earl of Caithness in 1450. Upon his death in 1455, the earldom was granted to William St. Clair, Earl of Orkney, by whose liiaeal descendants it is still enjoyed.
What territorial rights in the coimty were possessed by the Caithness Earls before the St. Claii'S, it is difficult to say, but it is improbable that the repeated grants of the earldom by the Crown carried nothing except the barren dignity, and it is certain that about 1373 David Stewart, Earl of Strathearne and Caithness, obtained from his father. King Eobert ii., the castle of Braal and lands thereof; and that in 1452 Sir George Crichton,
XXll INTRODUCTION.
the eighth Earl, obtained from James li. the lands of Braal, Dunbeath, Latheronwheel, and Watten.
William St. Clair's charter from James ii. in 1455 conveyed to him generally " Commitatum nostrum de Caithness cum titulis de Carnoch et Eminavir cum perti- nentiis etaliis pertinentiis dicti commitatus," and the estate so granted was declared to be a free barony.
In 1476 James iil. granted to WiUiam St. Clair, second Earl of this family, a charter of the lands of the earldom, on the resignation of his father, with the patronage of the Hospital or Chvu'ch of St. Magnus, at Spittal. A hospital, of what nature is unknown, was connected with this church, of which considerable ruins, together with its cemeteiy, still remain. The cemetery was the burial-place of the Clan Gunn. The patronage was retained by the Caithness family until at least as late as 1644, when George, Earl of Caithness, wa.s served heir thereiu to his father, John, Master of Berriedale. The settlement of the earldom by the first Earl was no more than a common conveyance of the lands, and yet the dignity as well as the estate was enjoyed by his thii'd son, although the title is not even mentioned, and no new creation by patent was issued, and both descended to his heirs. On the resignation of his grandson, George, a new Crown charter was granted to John, his eldest son, by which the dignity was limited to heirs-male, to the exclusion of heirs-general.
In 1527 William, eldest son of John, thii-d Earl,
INTKODUCTION. XXIU
obtained a Crown charter of Murkle, Thurso, and adjacent lands. Murkle probably formed part of the earldom before the accession of the St. Clairs, as John, an Earl of Caithness in 1297, there swore fealty to King Edward i.
The lands of the earldom were undoubtedly greatly extended by the family of St. Clair, and included, at one period, either in property or superiority, the larger por- tion of the county. The prosperity of the earldom reached its climax under George, the fourth Earl, and its decline commenced through the improvidence of his grandson and successor, George, fifth Earl. In the time of his great- grandson, George, sixth Earl, the estates had become so burdened with debt that he sold them in 1672 to his principal creditor, Lord Glenorchy, and by him and his successors all that remained of the family possessions was sold, — the then holders of many of the wadsets, with which the earldom was burdened, having become pur- chasers of the several lands possessed by them. In 1719 the Earl of Breadalbane sold to John Sinclair of Ulbster his remaining claims on and rights in the estates of the Caithness family, and Ulbster thereafter sold one-half of his purchase to Sir James Sinclau' of Dunbeath.
George Sinclair of Keiss, the seventh Earl, had a very small estate, and none of the families of Murkle, Eattar, and Mey, to which the succession to the title opened successively after the death of the seventh Earl, had large patrimonial possessions. The barony of Mey
XXIV INTRODUCTION.
was, in 1566, acquired from the Bishop of Caithness by the then Earl of Caithness.
It has been considered unnecessary to trace the an- cestry of the family of St. Claii' from the period of the Norman Baron, who obtained Roslyn from King David i., and these notes are confined to the descendants of William of Roslyn, thnd Earl of Orkney and first of Caithness. William, only son of his first marriage, was the ancestor of the family of Lords Newburgh and Sinclair, and his son Henry was, in 1488-89, by a special and singular Act of Parliament, declared to be " chief of his blood." This family had the lands of Dysart and Ravensheugh in Fife, and is now represented, in the female Ime, by Mr. Anstruther Thomson of Charlton, and the Earl of Roslyn, the male line having ended in the person of John, seventh Lord Sinclair, who died in 1676. The male line of Sir Oliver of Roslyn, eldest son of Earl William's second marriage, terminated in 1778, on the death of William Sinclair, then of Roslyn, and the representation of the family is claimed by the Chevalier Enrico Ciccopieri, a major in the Italian service. The chevalier has been served by the Sheriff of Chancery heir of line of Colonel James St. Claii', who died in 1807, since which time the representation had been in abeyance. Both the elder branches of St. Clair of Roslyn having thus failed, in the male line, the representation is undoubtedly vested in the present Earl of Caithness.
In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries land-
INTRODUCTION. - XXV
holders of the name of Sinclair were numerous, both as proprietors and wadsetters. In Calder's History of Caithness it is said that the family of Sinclair of Dun came into Caithness in 1379 ; but no evidence has been discovered of any of the name of Sinclair having settled in the county until the accession to the eai'ldom in 1456, of William, Earl of Orkney ; nor is there any trace of a Sinclair of Dun earher than 1540. Between 1508 and 1540 Dun was possessed by the family of Caldell or Calder.
From an eax"ly period the Crown had been in use to grant lands, and casualties of superiority, such as non- entry and ward, to persons having neither residential nor family connection with the county ; but of these it is not proposed to take notice further than as they may throw light on its family history.
From 1290 to 1350 the Federiths, a Morayshire family, held extensive possessions in Caithness. How these were acquired does not appear. Contemporary with them, and alhed by marriage, were the Chens or Cheynes, one of whom — styled in charters " Ranald Lord Chen " — obtained a grant from WUliam Federith " of that Ilk," of a fourth part of Caithness, which was confirmed by David ii. The possessions of the Cheyne family were scattered over the various parishes in the county, and on the death of Ranald Cheyne, the one- half passed to the Sutherlands, afterwards of Duffus or " Dove-house," through the marriage of one of his two
XXVI INTRODUCTION.
daughters and heiresses, to Nicolas, brother of the Earl of Sutherland ; and the remainder to the Keiths, after- wards Earls Marischall, by the marriage of the other daughter to John Keith of Inverruggie about 1380. In 1538 WUliam, Earl Marischal, got a Crown charter of Ackergill and the Tower thereof ; while Berriedale and Old Wick fell to the Sutherlands. Ultunately the Caithness holdings of the DuflPus family with other lands were acquired by the Oliphants, by the marriage of William, then styled of Berriedale, second son of Laurence, first Lord Oliphant, to Christina, heiress of Duffus.
The Inneses of Innes, another Morayshire family, claim to have had the " third rig in Caithness." Their his- torian, Forbes, supposes them to have acquired some part of their Caithness possessions as far back as 1260, in place of lands taken from them in Moray, and " given to the Kirk." Mr. Cosmo Innes, who edits Forbes's " Account of the Familie of Innes," says, however, that he had dis- covered no evidence of their possessions in Caithness previous to 1507. In that year a charter of Dunbeath, Reay, and Sandside was granted to Alexander Innes, son and heir of Alexander Innes of Innes, and these posses- sions were resigned in 1529 in favour of Alexander Sinclair of Stemster, grandson of the first Earl of Caith- ness. In 1541 and 1564 the family of Innes of Innes held heritable rights in Wick, Latheron, and Thurso, acquired from the Oliphants ; but they do not seem to
INTRODUCTION. XXvn
have been landholders in Caithness for any considerable period. Until comparatively recent dates there were several landliolders of the name, all believed to be of Moraysliire extraction, such as the Inneses of Thursater and their collaterals ; the Inneses, vradsetters, of Oust, of Skaill, and of Borrowstown ; and the late family of Innes of Sandside.
The veiy ancient family of the Muats, or Mowats, or de Monte alto, as they were named of old, occur as early as 1275, when William de Monte alto witnessed an agreement between Archibald, Bishop of Caithness, and WiUiam, Earl of Sutherland, and they were connected with the county as landholders from at least the beginning of the fifteenth centiu-y. This appears from the fact that between 1406 and 1413 the Duke of Albany, as Kegent of Scotland, confirmed to John Mowat a wadset of Fres- wick, granted to him by his father, William Mowat of Loscraggy. Down to 1661 the Mowats were proprietors of the estate of Freswick.
The Earls of Ross appear to have had at a remote period land rights in Caithness, but the origin or extent of these has not been traced. There is an original Precept of Sasine, dated 24th October 1429, by Alexander, Earl of Ross, in favour of his sister, Mariota, and her husband, Alexander de Sutherland, granting to them, " omnes et singulas ten-as nostras Dominii de Dunbeth ; " and it is supposed to be the earliest writ extant concerning these lands. Alexander Sutherland of Dunbeath was long
xxvm INTRODUCTION.
believed by all Scottish genealogists to have been the Master of Sutherland, the elder brother of John, third Earl, but in the Sutherland Peerage Case, in 1771, this was proved to be a mistake, his Will, made in 1456, hav- ing been discovered, and produced ; and it is probable that he was of the Thorboll branch of the Sutherland family. Whatever may have been his descent, he was evidently a person of position and wealth ; and liis daughter, Majory, having married William St. Clair, first Earl of Caithness, his connection with the county has been perpetuated in her descendants of that family.
Nottingham, the residence of Sutherland of Forse, is the ancient Nothingham and Nodingham, and " Henry of Nothingham," a Canon of Caithness in 1272, was probably so styled from this place. In 1408 it came into the pos- session of the present family by grant from Mariot Cheyne, with consent of Andrew of Keith, her son, and Sutherland of Forse is thus the oldest of the existing county families.
At one period the Earls of Sutherland held the follow- ing lands which belonged to the bishopric, namely, Stemster (Reay), half of Brims, Forss, and Baillie, Lyth- more, two-thirds of Oust, Dorrary, Myremeikle, Scrab- ster, Wick, and Papego, South and North Kilimster, Windless, Myrelandhorn, Ulgrunbeg and Ulgrimore, Halku-k, Easterdale, Westerdale, Tormsdale, Submin- ster, Deren, Alterwall, Stanstill.
Much property now in the hands of the landholders of
INTRODUCTION.
Caithness belonged at one period to the Bishopric, and was feued out in portions from time to time by various Bishops and other church functionaries to the Earls of Sutherland of Caithness and others. In 1550 Bishop Robert Stuart granted to John, Earl of Sutherland, the hereditary bailiary of the possessions of the Bishopric ; and in 1557 and 1559 Bishop Robert gave him a grant of the lands of Forss, Bailie, and Stemster, Lythmore, Wick, South and North Kilimster, and Winless ; Myrelandhorn, Scrabster, and fortahce thereof; Skaill, Dorrary, Ulgrun- beg, and Ulgrimore ; Halkirk, Subminster, Tormsdale, Deren, Alterwall, Stanstili, Brims, and Oust, etc. The Earl and his heirs were also appointed Hereditary Con- stables of the Castle of Scrabster and the Palace of Dornoch, " situated among the wild and uncivilised Scots, and in a wintry region." In 1201 Bishop John occupied the Palace of Scrabster, and in 1560 John, Earl of Suther- land, there signed a charter to the first Sinclair of Forss of the lands of Forss and Baihe, formerly part of the bishopric.
Budge of Toftingall dates from at least as far back as 1503, and the Murrays of Pennyland from the same cen- tury. Both families are now united and were represented by the late Sir Patrick Murray Threipland Budge. The Sinclairs of Forss have possessed Forss and Baillie since the year 1560.
Much of the information given in these Notes regard- the Earls of the Sinclair line is to be found in the works
XXX INTEODUCTION.
of Douglas and otlier genealogists, but, without repetition from these soiu'ces, the lines of descent from the principal family of many of the county families would have been incomplete.
It may not be out of place to note some particulars of the state of society in the county in last century, as given in 1786 by Captain John Sutherland of Wester, whose recollection extended beyond the middle of that century. He says the people in general took a great deal more trouble in other people's business than in their own, which is to be accounted for by the circumstances that the county lies in a remote corner of the island, and that the access to and from it is only by one difficrdt road (the Ord), so that the people of it have not that free and easy inter- course with other counties as the other and more southerly counties have ; and the county is so " interlarded " by marriages among themselves that a multiplicity of ques- tions arise, particularly in theway of succession, which often creates bad blood among relations. The same cause pro- duces a great deal of jaunting and visiting among relations. The Captain goes on to say that it was the general practice in the highland and inward part of the county, pre^aous to and about the middle of the century, to go to markets with arms, such as broad-swords or side pistols ; but the " parish of Canisbay," even in those days, " did not seem to be inspired with that warhke genius so mxich as the other parishes." But he had seen from four to six men, dressed in a sort of uniform, issue from the house of Fres-
INTRODUCTION. XXXI
wick (then occupied by William Sinclair, -who buUt it), to attend these markets, and with the result of the mal- treatment of persons with whom Freswick was at variance.^ Many of the lairds of this pei'iod, besides indulging largely in the luxury of litigation, passed portions of the year in Edinburgh, accompanied by members of their families, and went into good society, although few of them had incomes exceedmg £200 to £300 a year.
' About 1 739 or 1740 a disjjute arose of followers, armed witli flails, scythes,
between Freswick and George Murray and suchlike implements. Freswick,
of Clairden in regard to the right of as tutor for his nephew, William of
taking a description of sea-fowl, locally Rattar, the proprietor, proceeded to the
called " Layers or Liarts," and supposed Craig with eight followers, armed with
to be the Puffin, from the rocks at Craig broadswords and pistols. A scuffle
of Dunnet. Murray, as possessor of ensued, in which Clairden received
Dunnet, under a wadset, proceeded to some personal damage, and had the
exercise the privilege, along with a band worst of the fight.
THE ST. CLAIKS OE SINCL-AIES, EAELS OF CAITHNESS.
I. William St. Clair, Earl of Orkney, obtained The st. ciairs
or Siuclairs,
a grant of the Earldom of Caithness in 1455 from EarU of Caitu- James ii. He was the first of this family who enjoyed the dignity. He held many high public offices, possessed extensive landed property, and had in his time great influence ; and he appears to have lived in his castle at Eoslyn in almost regal splendour. In personal appear- ance he is described as having been " a very fair man, of great stature, broad bodied, yellow haired, and weU pro- portioned," and to be "much given to policy, as building of castles, palaces, and churches," among v/hich were Eoslyn Castle and its celebrated Chapel.
He was twice married — first, to Margaret, daughter of Archibald, fourth Earl of Douglas,^ by whom he had a son, Wilham, named " Williame the Waster," ancestor of the Lords Sinclair, and a daughter, Catharine, married to Alexander, Duke of Albany. He married, secondly, Marjorie, daughter of Alexander Sutherland of Dunbeath. In Gordon's " History of the Family of Sutherland,"
' [She was widow [of John Stewart, Earl of Buchan, and of Sir Thomas Stewart, natural son of Alexander, Earl of Mar.]
2 THE ST. CLAIRS OR SINCLAIRS,
this Alexander Sutherland is stated to have been the . eldest son of John, Earl of Sutherland ; and down to 1771 this was the general opinion of Scottish genea- logists. But it was then proved in the Sutherland peerage case, by the production of his original will, that he was alive in 1456, and that he had several sons and daughters, whereas Alexander, Master of Sutherland, appears to have died about 1444, when the earldom went to his younger brother. It is uncertain of what family Alexander Sutherland of Dunbeath was, but it is probable that he was of the ThorboU or Duffus branch of the family of Sutherland. It is on the supposed descent of Sutherland of Dunbeath from the Earl of Sutherland, and on the belief that his daughter Marjorie was the Earl's granddaughter, that the close blood connection, assumed by Douglas and others to have existed between the Earls of Caithness and Sutherland, is founded. By his second marriage Earl William had issue —
1. Sir Ohver of Roslyn.
2. William, his successor in the earldom.
3. Sir David of Swinburgh.
4. Robert, mentioned in a Crown charter in 1506.
5. John, Bishop nominate of Caithness.
William Sinclair of Warsetter in Orkney, who mar- ried a daughter of George, Earl of Huntly, was probably a son or grandson of Earl WiUiam.
His daughters, by the second marriage, were — 1. Eleanor; 2. Marion; 3. Elizabeth; 4. Marjorie.
EAELS OF CAITHNESS. 3
The seniority of Sir Oliver, and his brother-german The st. ciairs "William, has been a matter of controversy. The unequal garis of caith- distribution of their father's large succession has been"^^'^' considered to support the seniority of Sir Oliver, " for" — as observed in Father Hay's account of the family of Roslyn — " while the second Earl does not seem to have inherited anything beyond the barren domains belonging to the earldom, Sir Ohver received Roslyn and other extensive properties, any one of which was worth the fee-simple of the northern estates made over to his brother."
Nisbet, whose work was written about the beginning of last century, says, " To clear the seniority of these sons, I have seen a contract of the date the 9 th of February 1481, betwixt William Sinclair (WiUiam the Waster), son and heir of the deceased William, Earl of Orkney, Lord Sinclair and Zetland, and Henry Sinclair, son and apparent heir of the said WilUam Sinclair, on the one part, and Sir Oliver Sinclair of Eosline, on the other part, whereby the said Sir Oliver freely resigns and gives over to the said William and his son and apparent heir, Henry, the lands of Causland, Dysart, and Ravensheugh, with the castles ; and, on the other part, WilUam and his son Henry renounce all right to the barony of Rosline, Pentland Mure, etc., in favour of Sir Oliver and his heirs ; and the said Ohver obHges himself that he shall in time coming do worsliip and honour to the said WiUiam as accords him to do to
4 THE ST. CLAIRS OR SINCLAIRS,
The St. ciairs an elder brother, and if it happen any plea or debate
orSinclairs, . . , _ ■^. *^ -^ . .
Earls of Caith- to be Dctwixt the Said Wilham and his younger brother " (William, afterwards second Earl of Caithness) " for the earldom of Caitlmess, the said Sir Oliver shall stand evenly and neuter betwixt them as he should do betwixt his brothers, and take no partial part with either of them." ^
II. William, second Earl, obtained a charter from King James iii., on his father's resignation in 1476, of the earldom, includmg the patronage of the Hospital of St. Magnus, at Spittal. In 1505 he sat in Parhament as Earl of Caithness, and in 1513 he fell at Flodden.
By his wife, Mary, daughter of Sir Wilham Keith of Inveruggie, he had —
1. John, his successor.
2. Alexander, ancestor of the first family of Sinclair
of Stemster and Dunbeath. He had also a natural son, Wilham, who was legiti-
1 Mr. Burnett, Lord Lyon, who had all the older MSS., Sir David Lindsay's
the perusal of these notes, writes on 4th included, which was close to that period,
November 1873, to Principal Campbell, a mnllet for difference, is to me very
Aberdeen, " I observe he (Mr. Hender- convincing proof that Sir Oliver was
son) takes Nisbet's view of the respec- the third son of his father. This mark
tive seniority of Sir Oliver of Roslyn of cadency seems first to have been
and his brother William, Earl of Caith- allowed to be dropped in 1672, probably
nes3. My own belief is quite the other in consequence of both Lord Sinclair
way; the document quoted by Nisbetis and the Earl of Caithness having their
equally capable of either interpretation, arms otherwise differenced, and the Sinclaira of Koslyu having in
EARLS OF CAITHNESS. 5
mised in 1543, but of whose descendants, if any, no The st. ciairs
T 1 T ^ or Sinclairs,
account has been discovered. Earis of Caith-
ness.
III. John, thibd Earl, was slain in an expedi- tion to Orkney in 1529. He married EHzabeth, daugh- ter of Sir William Sutherland of Duffus, by whom he had —
1. William, who died in 1527, without issue.
2, George, his successor.
He had also a natural son, David, who held the office of Bailie to the Bishop of Caithness. In 1556, David's brother. Earl George, obtained a remission for imprisoning him m Girnigo Castle.
IV. George, fourth Earl, was Justiciar of Caithness by grant, in 1566, from Queen Mary ; and he was one of the peers who sat on the trial of BothweU.
He married Lady Elizabeth Graham, daughter of William, Earl of Montrose, and had —
1. John, Master of Caithness.
2. William, who was first Laird of Mey, and ancestor
of Ulbster.
3. George of Mey, Chancellor of Caithness.
1. Barbara, who married Alexander, Earl of Suther-
land, and was divorced by him in 1573.
2. Elizabeth, married first to Alexander Sutherland
of Dufiiis, and thereafter to Hutcheon M'Kay of Farr, ancestor of the Lords Reay.
6 THE ST. CLAIRS OR SINCLAIRS,
The St. ciairs 3. Another daughter, maraed to Alexander Innes, of
or Sinclairs, -|.
Earls of Caith- InneS.
°^'"'' Douglas mentions Janet St. Clair, a daughter of this
Eai'l, as third wife of Robert Munro of Fouhs, said by him to have died without issue. In 1582 Janet Sinclair, Lady Foulis, had a Tack of the Parsonage of Spittal, which belonged to the Caithness family.
John, Master of Caithness, died at Girnigo Castle in 1576. In 1543 he had obtained a charter from Queen Mary, by which the earldom became a male fee, to him and his heirs-male. He married Jean, daughter of Patrick, Earl of BothweU ; and had three sons and a daughter : —
1. George, afterwards Earl of Caithness.
2. James, first of Murkle.
3. John, first of Greenland and Rattar. 1. Agnes.
Douglas gives the Master a legitimate son David, but this is an error. In August 1587 David Sinclair obtained a charter of Alterwall from Henry Keir of Greenland ; and in a Crown charter which followed thereon he is designated "Jilio naturali quond. Joannis Magistri Cathanensis." In 1588 he obtained Letters of Legiti- mation. He had two sons, John, killed at Thui'so in 1612, and Colonel George, who perished in the same year in the luckless expedition to Norway, of which full details are to be found in Calder's " History of Caithness," and elsewhere. In Chambers's "Domestic Annals" (vol. i. pp.
EARLS OF CAITHNESS. 7
445-6), it is stated that in the Pass Kringelen there is a TheSt. ciairs tablet with the following inscription : — " Here lies Colonel Earis of caith- Sinclair, who with nine hundred. Scotsmen were dashed '''^^^" to pieces hke clay-pots by three hundred Boors of Lessee, Vaage, and Froen ; Berdon Segelstadt Ringeboe was the leader of the Boors."
The Master had also a natural son, Henry, who got a conveyance from his brother, Earl George, of part of the lands of Borrowstown and Lybster, with "the miln and fisliings," and in a reversion by him in favour of the Earl dated 23d September 1606, he is designed as his " brother naturall." By his wife, Janet Sutherland, he had a son John, and he is probably the ancestor of a, family of Sinclairs of Lybster, who occur as Wadsetters of these lands down to 1670.
In 1614, Henry Sinclair accompanied Earl George in an expedition to Orkney, and it is related by Gordon that, while besieging the Castle of Ku-kwall, he "went to bed at night in health, but before the morning he was benummed in all his sences, and remained so until his death," — an event evidently considered by the historian as a judgment on the Earl's proceedings.
V. George, fifth Earl, succeeded bis grandfather in 1583.^ He married Jean Gordon, daughter of George, fifth Earl of Huntly, and had two sons ; and a daughter Elizabeth, named in Douglas's Peerage Anne, who married
e THE ST. CLAIES OR SINCLAIRS,
The St. ciairs GeoTge, Lord Lindsay, afterwards Earl of Crawfurd, and Earls of Caith- died without issue. — Inventory of Caithness titles.
1. William, Lord Berriedale, who married Mary,
daughter of Henry Lord Sinclair. He died before his father, leaving a son, John, Master of Berriedale, who married Jean, daughter of the Earl of Seaforth, and died in 1639. John had three sons, — George, afterwards sixth Earl ; and John and Wilham, who died before him.
2. Francis of Northfield, who married Elizabeth,
daughter of Lord Eraser, and had a son, George
Sinclair of Keiss, afterwards seventh Earl, and
a daughter " Jean, Lady Mey," who died in
1716.
Francis Sinclair had a natural daughter, Margaret,
who in 1653 mai-ried John, son of Alexander Sutherland
in Lybster, to whom her father promised a tocher of 700
merks, which, however, the cautioners in the contract of
marriage, Patrick Sinclair of Ulbster, and John Smart,
Minister of Wick, were compelled to pay.
Earl George had two natural sons, Francis, who, about 1621,^ fought a duel with his relative, Sir WiUiam Sinclair of Mey; and John, who attained the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in the German wars. From Francis Sinclair are descended the Sinclairs of Stii"koke.
VI. George, sixth Earl, married Mary, daughter
1 Gordon, p. 450. - 1C43167C.
EARLS OP CAITHNESS. 9
of the Marquis of Argyle, and died at Thurso Castle in The st. ciairs
1676, without issue. Earls of Caith-
The earldom being much involved in debt, Earl °''^^' George disponed the estates and title to his principal creditor, John Campbell of Glenorchy, who, on the Earl's death, married the Cotmtess, and was created Earl of Caithness by patent. Glenorchy's right to the title was challenged by George Sinclair of Keiss, son of Francis Sinclair of Northfield, and after a proclamation in favour of the latter by the Privy Council in 1681, Glenorchy was created Earl of Breadalbane and Holland.
VII. George Sinclair of Keiss, seventh Earl of Caithness,^ and grandson of the fifth Earl, died in 1698 wthout issue.
With George Sinclair the heirs-male of the body of the fifth Earl came to an end, and the succession to the dignity opened to the descendants of James Sinclair, first of Murkle, in the person of his grandson, John Sinclair, then of Mmkle.
VIII. John, eighth Earl," was eldest son of Sn James Sinclaii', second of Murkle, and married Jean Carmichael of the Hyndford family.^
In March 1644 his father resigned the lands of Murkle in favovu: of liimself and of John, styled his
1 1681-98. rary, calls her simply "Jean Carmi-
2 1698-1705. chael." Mr. C. H. E. Carmichael's almost
3 [So designed in Douglas's Peerage, exhaustive researches in Carmichael 1764. Crawfurd, nearly a coatempo- genealogy have failed to afifiliate her.]
B
10 THE ST. CLAIRS OR SINCLAIRS,
The St. ciairs eldest kwfiil son, and the heirs of his body, whom failing, Earirof "caitii- to the other hehs-male of liis body.
°^^^- Earl John died in 1705, leaving four sons and a
daughter : —
1. Alexander, his successor.
2. John, Lord Murkle, one of the Senators of the
, College of Justice, who left no issue.
3. Francis, of Milton of Lieurary, who left no issue.
4. Archibald.
1. Lady Janet, who married, in 1714, David Sinclau' of Southdun, and had several cliildren. — {Vide Southdun.)
IX. Alexander, ninth Earl,^ married Lady Mar- garet Primrose, daughter of the Earl of Rosebery, and died in 1765, leaving an only child. Lady Dorothea, who married James, Earl of Fife, and died in 1819, without issue.
In 1761 the Eai'l executed an entail of his estates, in virtue of which, on failure of his heu's therein mentioned, they passed to the Sinclairs of Stevenson, — a family not related to that of Murkle.
Earl Alexander resided at Haimer Castle,^ which after
1 1705-65. been ou a very moderate scale, the Earl
2 Haimer seems to have heen a square having a]>iiarentiy possessed but a dozen building, like a tower or fortalice, and and a half of silver spoons of all kinds, to have contained some eight or nine an old tea-kettle and lamp, sugar-tongs rooms, including dining-room, drawing- and spoon, a couple of small salvers, a room, tearroom, two " pavilions," a few tankard, and some plated candlesticks, bedrooms, with sundry closets, cellars, and the like. Sumjjtuary laws were etc. From an inventory of the plate, less required in Earl Alexander's days the establishment would appear to have than in our time.
EAELS OF CAITHNESS. 11
his death was allowed to fall into disrepair, and now no The st. ciairs
. orSinclairs,
vestige ot it remains. Earis oi caitii-
On the death of Earl Alexander the male issue of ""°' John the eighth Earl, and of his father, Sir James Sinclair, and of his grandfather, James, first of Miirkle, became extinct, and the succession of the title devolved on William Sinclair of Kattar, as the lineal descendant of Sir John Sinclah of Greenland and Rattar, thii-d son of John, Master of Caithness, and younger brother of James, first of Murkle.
Sir James of Murkle had a son, David of Broynach, whose male descendants would have succeeded to the dignity in preference to the Greenland and Rattar branch, but his grandson, James, who claimed the title, failed to estabhsh the legitimacy of his father, David, son of David Sinclau- of Broynach, and WilHam of Eattar was served heir-male ; ^ and in May 1772 the Committee of Privileges adjudged the title to him. This was the second instance in which a remote heir-male had suc- ceeded to this peerage, to the exclusion of the heir of line, for Lady Fife did not claim the title.
X. William, tenth Eael, married Barbara, daughter of John Sinclair of Scotscalder, ar^ died in 1779. He had five sons and two daughters : —
1 . John, his successor ; 2. WiUiam, an officer, who died in America, immarried ; 3. James ; 4. Alex- ander; 5. David.
' November 1768.
12 THE ST. CLAIBS OR SINCLAIRS,
The St. ciairs These three died young and unmarried,
Earis of caift- 1- Ladj Isabella, who died unmarried.
°^°^' 2. Lady Janet, who married James Traill of Rattar.
XI. John, eleventh Earl, succeeded in 1779, and died unmarried in 1789, in his thirty-third year; and with him ended the direct male line of the family of Greenland and Eattar.
The Sinclairs of Freswick, descended from that William Sinclair of Ratter, who died in 1663, were the only collaterals of the family of GreenlarLd and Rattar ; and had John of Freswick survived John, the eleventh Earl, he would have succeeded to the earldom. He died, however, in 1784, without surviving male issue, and the title devolved on Sir James Sinclair of Mey, the lineal descendant of George, one of the younger sons of George, the fom^th Earl.
XII. Sir James Sinclair of Mey, twelfth Eaul, was served as nearest lawful heir-male of WiUiam, second Earl of Caithness, in May 1790, and his claim to the peerage was sustained by the House of Lords. He mar- ried Jane, daughter of Alexander Campbell of Barcaldine and his wife Helen, daughter of George Sinclair of Ulbster, and had issue.
It is to be hoped that the dignity will long remain in the present line ; but in the possibihty of the failure of an heir-male, the next in succession would seem to be the
EAELS OF CAITHNESS. 13
heir-male of Robert Sinclair of Durran, whom failing, the The st. ciairs heir-male (if any) of George Sinclair, first of OLrig, and Earis of caith- whom failing, the heir-male of George Sinclair, first o^^^^^- Barrock. These exhaust the elder branch of the Caith- ness family, and failing them the title would apparently become extinct, unless an heir is to be found in the descendants of Alexander Sinclair of Stemster and Dun- beath, second son of William, the second Earl.
THE SINCLAIRS OF STEMSTEE AND DUNBEATH.
The sinciairs of GoRDON, in his "Genealogy of the Sutherland Family," Dunbeath. states that " Dunbeath was given to the Sinciairs" hj that William, Earl of Sutherland, who died in 1370, at the time when, by the distribution of lands to his friends, he was strengthening his interests in prospect of his son's succession to the Scottish Crown. But there is no evidence either that the Sinclair family had a footmg in Caithness at so early a date, or that Dunbeath did at any time belong to the Earl of Sutherland. It is true that the earliest writ concerning Dunbeath supposed to be now extant, is a precept of sasine, dated 24th October 1429, granted by Alexander de Isle, Earl of Boss, for infefting his sister, Mariotta, and her husband, Alex- ander de Sutherland, in the lands of Dunbeath, and that this Alexander Suthei'land was, down to 1771, considered to have been the Master of Sutherland, as the eldest son of John, tenth Earl of Sutherland, but it is now certain that Sutherland of Dunbeath was not a son of the Earl.
In 1507 Dunbeath was in possession of the family of
THE SINCLAIRS OF STEMSTER AND DUNBEATH. 15
Innes of Innes. In 1529,^ on the resignation of Alex- The sinciairs of ander Innes, a Crown charter erecting Dunbeath, Reay, Dunbeatu. and Sandside into a barony was granted in favour of —
I. Alexander Sinclair, son of William, second Earl of Caithness, and Elizabeth Innes, his wife. This lady was no doubt of the family of Innes of Innes, and it is probable that through her marriage to Alexander Sinclair these estates came for the first time into the Sinclair family. In 1507 Alexander Sinclair had obtained a Crown charter of Stemster, and thus he appears to have been the first Sinclair of Stemster and Dunbeath. The Crown charter in 1529 contains the following clause of some antiquarian interest — " cum mulierum merchetis cum furca, fossa, sok, sak, thole, thieme, infangtheif, outfangtheif, pit, et gallons." Various explanations of the " mercheta mulierum " have been given, some of them sufficiently barbarous, but according to Hailes it really seems to have been the right of levying a fine from a serf or villain, on the marriage of his daughter. About 1657 the lands of Inverse of Dunbeath were erected into a burgh of barony, to be called the biu-gh of Magnusburgh.
Alexander Sinclair had two sons and a daughter : —
1. William.
2. Oliver, no doubt so named after his grand-uncle.
Sir Oliver of Roslyn. He is frequently men-
1 nth January 1529.
16 THE SINCLAIRS OF STEMSTER AND DUNBEATH.
The sinciairs of tioiied as the " brother-germaii " of William ; and
Stemster and . . , . -ii^^a
Dunbeath. ui a curious document given in the Account
of the Family of Innes,"^ entitled " The Maister of Elphinstoun's Letter," he occurs as " OHephare Syncklare, brother to William Syncklare of Dun- heytht. In the "Topography of Scotland," by John Harding, between 1437 and 1460, there is reference to the " Castel of Dunheke " as north of the " Water of Suthyrland."
I. Isabel, daughter of Alexander Sinclair, married
Gilbert Gordon of Garty, uncle to John, fifth Earl of Sutherland. She has attained an un- enviable notoriety as a murderer, by poison, of the Earl and his lady in 1567, for the purpose of opening the way for her own son's succession to the earldom. Alexander Sinclair seems to have died before 1541. His widow, Elizabeth Innes, appears also to have been dead about 1557, seeing that her son, William, then got a grant of the non- entry dues of Dunbeath and the barony, of which lands his father and mother had been jomt fiars.
II. William, second of Dunbeath, was apparently a minor, and unmarried, when his father died, for, in 1541, Oliver Sinclair of Pitcarnie, styled also of Solway Moss, obtained a grant of his casualty of marriage, and he was not infeft as heir to his father until 1557."
1 Forbes, r- 138. 2 Preceiit, May 1557.
THE SINCLAIES OF STEMSTER AND DUNBEATH. 17
In 1562 and 1564 William Sinclair obtained from The sincUirs of Adam, Bishop of Orkney, charters of Downreay, Brubster, cuubeath. Thura, and others, and in 1557 he got a Crown charter of confirmation. The charters from the bishop are alleged by Gordon to have been obtained through the fraudulent use of the title-deeds, which are said to have been deposited in the hands of WiUiam Sinclair, in confidence, by John, Earl of Sutherland, whose sister he had married. This story is repeated in the " Origines Parochiales," but both it and Sinclair's alleged complicity with his sister in the crime of poisoning the Earl, in order to escape the consequences of his fraud, must be ranked among the spiteful assertions so frequently made by Gordon when he has occasion to notice Caithness affairs. The Earl hved several years after William Sinclair had obtained the bishop's charters, and not only were they acquired on the Earl's own resignation of the lands, but there is nothing to show that WilKam Sinclair's title was ever called in question by the Earl.
In 1547 WilHam Sinclair obtained from William Gordon, Treasurer of Caithness, and Rector and Parson of St. Magnus' Hospital at Spittal, a charter of Mybster and Spittal, which was confirmed by Queen Mary in 1565.
William Sinclair was twice married — first (according
to Gordon, who is the more reliable authority in this
instance), to Beatrix, daughter of Alexander, Master of
Sutherland, and sister of John, Earl of Sutherland; or
0
18 THE smCLAIRS OF STEMSTER AND DUNBEATH.
The sinciairs of (according to Douglas), to Beatrix, the Earl's daughter. Dunbeath!" His second wife was Margaret, only chUd of Alexander Innes of Innes, and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of John, fifth Lord Forbes. After her father's death in 1553, Margaret Innes obtained a Crown charter of the lands of Ogston and others in Morayshire.
Eorbes and Douglas concur in saying that Margaret Innes married " a brother of the Earl of Caithness ;" and the former states that the Earl had sent over his brother, "William Sinclair, to Morayshire, " to woo the lady for him," but that she preferred himself to the Earl ; and that he got with her, for tocher, the Dunbeath and Reay estates, and also the lands of Monbeens, Leuchars, Inche, and others, near Elgin. For this story there is no foundation, since Dunbeath, Reay, and Sandside had certainly been acqiiired by the Sinciairs in 1529. Besides, Wilham Sinclair was not the brother of an Earl of Caithness.
Wilham Sinclair had five sons, and of these it has been supposed that by his first wife. Lady Beatrix Gordon, he had William, Richard, and George, and by his second wife, Henry and David. It is certain, how- ever, that WiUiam was a son of the second marriage. In 1540 Margaret Innes had got from her nat viral brother, James Innes of Ehick, the lands of Over and Nether Monbeens; and in 1575 a precept was granted by her and her husband for infefting therein " Wilham Sinclair of Stemster;" and Forbes, in noticing the infeftment on
THE SINCLAIRS OF STEMSTER AND DUNBEATH. 19
tliis precept, mentions Mm as the eldest son and heii' The sinciairs of of William Sinclair of Dunbeath and Margaret Innes. DuXath™ Whether any of the other sons were certainly of the first marriage, it is difficult to say. The sons were —
1. Wmiam, designed "of Stemster" — which, being the
original family estate, was most likely to have devolved on his father's actual eldest son and heir, vrithout reference to a first or second mar- riage— is supposed to have married Janet, eldest daughter of George, fourth Earl of Caithness. He died before his father, leaving a son George.
2. Richard, who got from his father in 1589 a charter
of Mybster, Achalipster, and a two penny land of Spittal. In 1620 he was served heir to his brothers, Henry and David, and was styled of Brims. He seems not to have died before 1625. He had two sons, Alexander and OHver, and a daughter. Alexander, styled also of Brims, died before his father. In 1619 Alexander married Anna, daughter of Hugh M'Kay of Scourie and Farr, and his wife Lady Jane, eldest daughter of Alexander, Earl of Sutherland, and he had two sons, John and WUHam. John was served heir m Brims to his father Alexander and his grandfather Richard. He married Anna M'Kay, by whom he had a daughter, Elizabeth, who married her cousin, John M'Kay, second of Strathy, and was afterwards styled " Mistress of Strathy." There
20 THE SINCLAIRS OF STEMSTER AND DUNBEATH.
The sinciairs of is some Uncertainty as to her mother, Anna
D^beltb? M'Kay, but she is believed to have been daughter
of Colonel Hugh M'Kay of Scourie. In 1647 John Sinclair and Hugh M'Kay of Dhlot and Strathy, who were cousins-german, executed a mutual entail. To this deed one of the witnesses was "James Sinclair of Gallowhill, brother-in- law to Brims ' and Keeper of a Copy.'" About 1660 John Sinclair sold Brims to John Sinclair of Tannach. Of Wilham, second son of Alexander of Brims, no particular's have been learned. Ohver, second son of B,ichard Sinclair, got, in 1630, a liferent tack of Spittal from his nephew, John of Brims. The daughter of Eichard Sin- clah married Alexander Bayne of Clyth, a man of some mark in his time, son of Heniy Bayne in Mybster. In 1631 her brother OHver granted a bond for 500 merks, as part of her tocher. 3. George Sinclair in Downreay and in Durran, the third son of William of Dunbeath, is not much noticed. In 1643 he renounced a bond over Brims, in favour of liis gi-and-nephew, John of Brims. He had a son, John, and a daughter, Barbara, who, in 1640, married David Sinclair of Lybster, in Reay, a descendant probably of Henry Sinclair of Lybster, natui'al son of John, Master of Caithness. It is conjectured that James Sinclah of Borlum, and latterly of Toft-
THE SINCLAIBS OF STEMSTER AND DUNBEATH. 21
kemp, who held Brubster and many of the The sinciahs ( lands which belonged to the Dunbeath family, may ciLbeatK possibly have been a son of this George Sinclau-.
4. Heniy Sinclau' of Brubster and Brims, who died
without issue, probably before 1610, for, in that year his brother Richard, who was served heir to him in 1620, is designed "of Brims." This appears in a renunciation signed at Brims by Margaret Innes, widow of their father. In 1586 he got a Crown charter of Ormlie.
5. David Sinclair of Thura, who died also without
issue.^
Wniiam Sinclair of Dunbeath, who led a long and
active life, was much harassed in his old age by his
relation the Earl of Caithness. Among other acts of
violence the Earl "wasted Dunbeath by fire and sword,
1 In reference to the younger children and David in 1598, when he is designed
of William Sinclair, Mr. Alexander Sin- of Mybaster (Mybster). Then he is of
clair writes as follows (March 1867) : — Browmes (Brims), in 1620. His oldest
"1. Henry, son of Margaret Innes, sou, Alexander, is only married in 1619
died s.]}., and his brother Eichard, in to the first Anna M'Kay, leaving John
1620, and Richard's grandson, John of and WiUiam, 1617; and Eichard had
Brims, in 1664, were both served heirs also a son, Olypher, of Spittal, 1647.
to him. Eichard had also a brother, George of
"2. David, whom you caU 'of Thura,' Downra, 1643. But in all this there is
another son of Margaret Innes, also no opening for James of Thura or his
died s.p., as Eichard was served heir sons. When Brims comes off Dunbeath
to him in 1620 in Thura and Borliim. in Henry and Eichard, and when the
"3. Eichard's history is difficult. He mutual settlement of Brims and Strathy
is son of William in 1569, in contra- takes place in 1647, the only younger
distinction to the sons of Margaret branches possible seem to be John's
Innes, who were minors in 1588. He brother, William, and his uncle, Oly-
is styled lawful son, and put after Henry pher."
22 THE SINCLAIRS OF STEMSTER AND DUNBEATH.
Tie sinciairs of and besieged liim in his house at Downreay ; " until at Dunbeath. length he retu'ed to Moi'ayslure, among his wife's friends, and there died in 1608. In the register of Confirmed Testaments, 1606-13, there is an entry of the "Testa- ment Testamentar, latter will and legacie and inventar of ye gudes and gear of umq^ an hon^*' man William Sinclair of Dunbeath." He was succeeded by his grandson,
III. George Sinclair of Dunbeath, who married Margaret, daughter of John, eighth Lord Forbes, and died in 1624, leaving an only child Margaret, of whom no forther notice is found.
George Sinclair's grandfather had resigned the estates in his favour in 1590, and, in May 1591, he obtained a Crown charter of confirmation. He was either facile, or a spendthrift* for, in 1602, he put himself imder "Interdiction." In 1610 he resigned the barony in favour of his brother-in-law Ai'thur, Lord Forbes ; and in 1624, Alexander, Master of Forbes, sold Dunbeath for 28,518 merks, or about £1550 sterling, to John Sinclair of Geanies, son of George Sinclair of Mey, who thus became the first of the second family of Sinclau'S of Dunbeath; "and thus," writes Gordon in 1630, with apparent satisfaction, " God in His just judgment hath not left the authors of the Earl of Sutherland's death unpunished; for Dunbeath, his house and familie, is now perished as we see, and his estate is come into a stranger's hand."
THE SINCLAIES OF STEMSTER AND DUNBEATH. 23
The remainder of the barony, and the lands of Spittal The sinciairs i and Mybster, were acquu'ed by Sir Donald M'Kay, first Dunbeath. Lord Reay. In 1624 he was infeft, on a charter by the Bishop of Orkney, in Thura, Borkmi, Downreay, and Brubster; and about the same time Sandside was pur- chased from Lord Forbes by William Innes, ancestor of the family of Innes of Sandside.
The only known existing descendants of the family of Sinclair of Stemster and Dunbeath are the descendants of Hugh and WiUiam, the elder and younger sons of Elizabeth, only child of John Sinclair of Brims by her marriage to John M'Kay, second of Strathy. For these reference is made to M'Kay 's " History of the House and Clan of M'Kay."
THE SINCLAIRS OF MUEKLE.
The siuciairs of I. James Sinclaie, FIRST OF MuRKLE, was the second son of John, Master of Caithness, and grandson of George, fourth Earl of Caithness. He is frequently, but erroneously styled Sir James ; the only knight of the fanaily having been his son and successor. Sir James.
The original estate of Murkle, as possessed by James Sinclair, and his wife, and their son Sir James, was acquired at various times between 1586 and 1637, chiefly from George, fifth Earl of Caithness, and his son William, Lord Berriedale ; the Bishops of Orkney and Caithness ; and the Earls of Sutherland. Without attempting to trace the various changes of possession which took place from time to time, it is sufficient to say that the family estate in which Sir James Sinclair was infeft consisted of Mm-kle, East and West, and Clairdon ; one-half of Ormlie, Thurdistoft, Acharascal, and Cama- biud, Lybster, and Borrowstone, all held of the Earl of Caithness ; one-half of Ormlie, held of the Bishop of Caithness ; Downreay, held of the Bishop of Orkney ; and Broynach, held of the Earl of Sutherland. Subse-
THE SINCLAIKS OF MURKLE. 2&
quently the following lands were acquired by the family, The sinciairs < viz. — Isauld, in 1723, by Alexander Sinclair of Murkle, ninth Earl of Caithness ; and Brubster and Brims in 1726-27, by his brother, Lord Murkle, to whom Alexander succeeded, as heir of conquest.
James Sinclair, first of Murkle, married Ehzabeth Stewart, daughter of Robert, Earl of Strathearn and Orkney, a natural son of King James v., and he had two sons and a daughter —
1. James, his successor.
2. Francis, who served in the German wars, and who
is stated by Gordon to have held the rank of serjeant-major. In 1621^ he had returned to Scotland, and married Janet, daughter of Alex- ander Sutherland of Forse, by whom he had a son, James, who left no issue. In a procuratory of resignation of Murkle by Sir James Sinclaii- in 1644, James Sinclair is mentioned as " eldest lawful son" of Francis, his brother, and in the Peerage case it was held that there was no other son of Francis.
I. Agnes, who married John M'Kay of Dhlot and
Strathy. James Sinclau- had also a natural son, John Sinclair, first of Assery. — Vide Assery.^
II. Sir James Sinclair, Knight, appears to have
1 Contract of Marriage, 19th July 1621. ^ Peerage case.
26 THE SINCLAIRS OF MURKLE.
The sinciairs of been twice married. In January 1633 a disposition was granted by him, with consent of Dame Margaret Dundas, his spouse, of part of the lands of Ormlie ; and in October 1634 there is a contract of marriage between him and Jean, eldest daughter of William Stewart of Burray, who is therein designed of " Manur." By Jean Stewart he had two sons and five daughters : —
1. John, afterwards eighth Earl of Caithness.
2. DavidofBroynach,whodiedbetween 1713 and 1716. David Sinclau' of Broynach married a daughter of
William Sinclair of Dun, by whom he had a son, James, and a daughter, Elizabeth.^ James died about 1754, without issue. Elizabeth married James Whyte, in Meikle Clyth, afterwards m Thui'so, and had two daughters, Henrietta and Jean. Henrietta Whyte married William Miller, and had a son, James, and a daughter, Isabella. Jean Whyte married Donald Oagg, weaver and merchant in Thurso, and had two sons, James and Donald, and two daughters, Janet and Anne. On the death of Lady Fife, only daughter of Alexander Sinclair of Murkle, ninth Earl of Caithness, James and Isabella Miller, and Donald and Anne Oagg, claimed and obtained a share of her executry,^ as the great grand- children of David of Broynach, Lady Fife's grand-uncle. David of Broynach had also, by one Janet Ewen,^ or
' See proof in Peerage case. vant, David of Broynach had two sons,
2 Receipt, 26th September 1789. David and Donald, and two daughters.
3 By Janet Ewen, wlio was his ser- David, the eldest son, enlisted as a
THE SINCLAIRS OF MURKLE. 27
Ewing, a son, David, who was reputed to be illegitimate. The sineiairs of and on his death the Earl refused to permit him to be buried in his burjing-place. On the death of Earl Alexander, James Sinclair, in Reiss, son of the reputed illegitimate son, David, and grandson of David of Broy- nach, claimed the title, on the allegation of his father's legitimacy, in opposition to William Sinclair of Rattar. In conjoined claims to be served heir before the Macers, after proof by both parties, the jury, on 28th November 1768, pronounced a verdict by a majority in favour of Rattar, which, after various proceedings before the Court of Session, was confirmed. In 1786 James Sinclau- threatened to renew his claim to the title ; but in 1788 he died, and the question of his father's legitimacy became unimportant, inasmuch as he had no issue, and no other heii--male of his grandfather then remained alive.
1. Jean, the eldest daughter.*
2. Mary, who married, first, George Sinclair of Forss,
and, on his death, William Sutherland of Geise.
3. Anne, " Mistress of Stemster," who married Alex-
ander Sinclair of Stemster, son of Alexander of Latheron.
soldier, and married one Margaret 1767 except one named Anne, who
More or M'Kay, by whom he had a married Alexander ilillis, merchant in
son, James, who resided iu Reiss, and Banfif. Janet Ewing was buried in the
John, who was alive in 1767. Donald Old Kirk o£ Olrig, under Durran's
Sinclair, David's second son, went to seat.
sea, and married, and had a sou and ' Disposition by her mother, ISth
five daughters, who were all dead in May 1692.
28 THE SINCLAIRS OP MT7RKLE.
The sinciairs of 4. Barbara, who married James Cimnlngham of
Murkle. -r^
Keaster. 5. Katharine, who married Walter Innes of Skaill.
III. John Sinclair op Murkxe succeeded to the earldom of Caithness in 1698 as the eighth Earl, and died in 1705. He married Jean Carmichael of the Hynd- ford family, by whom he had four sons and a daughter : —
1. Alexander.
2. John, Lord Murkle, of the Court of Session, who
married Jean, daughter of the fii'st Earl of Cro- marty, and his wife, Anne, daughter of Sir James Sinclair of Mey. He died in 1755 without issue.
3. Francis, who died without issue in 1762. In a
disposition in 1760 by him of the lands of Milton of Lieurary and others, he settles the lands on the " heirs-male of the marriage then subsisting between him and Mrs. Janet Morrison."
4. Archibald, who also died without isaue.^
1. Lady Janet, who married David Sinclair of South Dun, by whom she had a daughter, Janet, who married Stewart Threipland of Fingask, and other children.
IV. Alexander Sinclair of Murkle, ninth Earl of Caithness, married Margaret, daughter of the first Earl of Rosebery, by whom he had an only child —
' Peerage case.
THE SINCLAIRS OF MURKLE. 29
Lady Dorothea, who married James, Earl of Fife, and Tiie sinciairs of died without issue.
Earl Alexander had two natural sons, George Sinclau- in Geise, who died without issue, and Peter, who had a son, James, who died without issue, and seven daughters, of whom six married and had issue.
William Sinclair of Rattar was the lawful heir of Earl Alexander on failure of his own family, they being- descended from two brothers, James Sinclair, first of Murkle, and Sir John Sinclair, first of Greenland and Rattar. But they do not seem to have been on friendly terms, for in his correspondence with George Sinclair of Woodhall, Lord of Session, in reference to a settlement of his estates, Eai-1 Alexander says : " Rattar is next tho' very remote. Though he lives within four miles of me he never comes to see me, from which it seems he is disobliged because I did not give him all I had, and depend for subsistence on his generosity. He cannot be very wise, for he could not have taken a more effectual way to disappoint his expectations."
Earl Alexander died in 1765. In 1761 he executed an entail of the estate of Murkle and his other lands, by which, on failure of his own heirs therein mentioned, the property was disponed to Lord Woodhall and the heirs- male of his body, and failing them to his, Lord Wood- hall's, nearest lawful heirs-male of hne ; and under this destination the succession was taken up on the Earl's death by Sir John Sinclair of Stevenson, Lord Woodhall's
30 THE SINCLAIRS OF MURKLK.
The sinoiairs of nephew. The Sinclairs of Stevenson are descended from the Sinclairs of Longformacus, a branch of the family of Koslyn. Sir Gregory Sinclair, third son of Sir William of Roslyn, flourished in the reign of Robert the Bruce, and the first Sinclair of Stevenson was George, second son of Matthew, ninth Laird of Longformacus, who died about 1620. His son, John, was a merchant in Edinburgh, and was created a baronet, and purchased Stevenson and other lands. He is now represented by Sir Robert Charles Sinclair of Stevenson and Murkle, his lineal descendant, and ninth baronet of Stevenson.
THE SINCLAIRS OF ASSERY.
I. James Sinclaik, first of Murkle, had a son The sinciairs of named John, who, in a charter granted by his father in 1615, to which he was an instrumentary witness, is designed "fiho naturali dicti Jacobi Sinclair de Miirkel;" and who, in a bond dated 28th January 1619, also by his father, and in which he was cautioner, is mentioned as " John Sinclair, son natural" of the granter. In 1628 John Sinclair obtained from William, Lord BeiTiedale, a charter of the lands of Assery, to himself in Hferent, and to his eldest son, James, in fee. In 1631 he got a charter of Brawlbin ; and in 1633 a wadset of Forsie ; and from him are descended the Sinciairs of Assery, of Lybster, of Geise, and of Scotscalder.
John Sinclair was twice married, and had by his first wife —
1. James, his successor.
2. Lieutenant-Colonel Francis Sinclair, who, in 1659,
married Anna, daughter of Francis Sinclair of Stirkoke. In 1680, their daughter, Margaret, married David Henderson of Gersay, son of WiUiam Henderson of Nottingham and his wife.
32 THE SINCLATRS OF ASSERY.
The sinciairs of Janet Gordon, widow of James Sutherland of
Assery. „
r orse. Jolin Sinclair's second wife was Margaret Davidson, who is traditionally supposed to have been of the David- sons in Achingills or Buckles, and by her he had —
1. John Sinclair, first of Lybster.
2. WiUiam, who, in 1670, held the wadset of Forsie,
and who was afterwards in Ulgrimbeg and Ulgri- more. He married Jean, daughter of Wilham Sinclair of Dun, and had two daughters, Mary and Elizabeth. The former married, in 1705, Donald Gunn in Achalibster.
3. George, mentioned in 1652 and 1660.
1. Grizzel, who married John DouU, wadsetter of
Thuster, near Wick. — Vide Doulls.
2. Isabell, who married, first, Arthur Forbes, mer-
chant in Edinburgh, and, second, William Sinclair of Dun.
3. Janet, who married, in 1616, George Munro,
Sheriff-Clerk of Caithness. In a deed executed in 1665 by James, the eldest son of John Sinclair, in which he reserves Margaret David- son's Hferent of Assery, she is designed " my mother," but she appears to have been only his stepmother, seeing that John Sinclair of Lybster is mentioned as the eldest son of the second marriage.
II. James Sinclair, second of Assery, married
THE SINCLAIRS OF ASSERY. 33
first, Elizabeth Balfour ; and, second, Margaret, daughter The sinciairs of of David Munro, commissary of Caithness. He had ^^'^'^' several sons and daughters : —
1 . George, eldest son of his first marriage.
2. John, in Ulgrimbeg, married Bess Craigie. George
and John are named as brothers-german.
3. James, a merchant in Thurso, who died in 1713,
and had several sons, of whom Daniel was muiister of Longformacus. William was a mer- chant in Thurso, and Alexander was a notary- public in Thurso, and married Jean, daughter of James Sinclair of Wester-Brims. 1. Katharine, eldest daughter, married Alexander Gibson, Dean of Bower from 1668 to 1682.
III. Geokge Sinclair, third of Assery, was twice married. His second wife was Isabel, daughter of Patrick Sinclair of Ulbster. He had five sons and a daughter : —
1. James, apparent in 1700.
2. John, called eldest lawful son in 1691.
3. Patrick.
4. George, eldest son of Isabel Sinclair.
5. Francis, also of the second marriage.
1. Elizabeth, the only daughter, married Kichard
Sinclair of Thura. The creditors of James, second of Assery, had led apprismgs agauist the estates, which were acquired by
E
34 THE SINCLAIRS OF ASSERY.
Tiie sinciairs of Ulbster and Sir William Dunbar of Hempriggs. In 1675
^ '"■' Ulbster assigned his rights to John Sinclair (2) ; while,
in 1682, Sir William Dunbar conveyed his rights to
George Sinclair (4), then of Assery, and his sons, John
and Patrick.
IV. John Sinclair, fourth of Assery, succeeded his father, George, and in 1698 married Elizabeth Innes, widow of Laurence Calder of Lynegar, by whom he had an only son, John, his successor. He afterwards married Barbara, daughter of Patrick Murray of Pennyland, by whom he had an only child, Isabella, who married John Sinclair of Scotscalder.
V. John Sinclair, fifth of Assery, was served heii- in general to his father, John, in 1728, and in 1765 he was infeft as eldest lawful son. He married Katharine, eldest daughter of Robert Sinclair of Geise, and had —
1. Robert.
2. John.
3. Chaides.
4. James.
1. Isabella, eldest daughter, who married Robert
Manson Sinclair of Bridgend.
2. Katharine.
3. Jean, who married Sii- Benjamin Sinclair of Stem-
ster.
THE SINCLA.IE.S OF ASSERY. 35
VI. Captain Egbert Sinclair, sixth of Assery, "^^^ sinciuirs of was served heir to his father cum beneficio inventarii, in 1772. He married Katharine Sinclair, and had no issue.
The estate was brought to judicial sale by the creditors, and Captain Sinclair having died during the proceedings, they were continued against his brother, John ; and in 1784 Assery and Brawl bin were purchased by Ulbster. The trustees of Sir John Sinclair sold the lands to Mr. Campbell, merchant in London, and from him they were piirchased by the late James Sinclair of Forss, for about £9000.
^1^0369
THE SINCLAIRS OF LYBSTER.
The Sinclairs of I. JoHN SINCLAIR, FIRST OF LyBSTER, WaS eldest SOn
of John Sinclair, first of Assery, and his second wife, Margaret Davidson. In 1647 he was appointed "Bailie of Latheron" by the Earl of Caithness; in 1655 he ob- tained a wadset of Lybster from the Earl of Caithness ; and in 1692 the property was acquired by his son and successor, who obtained the right of reversion of the wadset. He married Beatrix Sinclair, supposed to have been of the Thura family, and had —
1. James, his successor.
2. George, whose only daughter, Beati'ix, married
Alexander Sinclair of Sixpennyland.
I. Elizabeth, who married Alexander Boynd in
Thurso.
II. James Sinclair, second of Lybster, married Katharine, daughter of Patrick Sinclair of Ulbster, and had five sons and two daughters : —
1. John, his successor.
2. Patrick, in Northfield in 1702, and who had a son,
Alexander, afterwards of Lybster.
THE SINCLAIRS OF LYBSTEB. 37
3. William of Hoy and Scotscalder. The sinciairs of
4. Robert of Geise, Advocate.
5. George (1731).
1. Beatrix, eldest daughter, who married, in 1707,
James Sutherland in Ausdale.
2. Elizabeth, who married John M'Kay in Kirtomy,
third son of John M'Kay of Strathy and DMot.
III. John Sinclair, third of Lybsteb, styled " Fiar " in 1694, and "of Lybster " in 1709, succeeded his father, James, and died without issue.
IV. Alexander Sinclair, fourth of Lybster, was the nephew of John, last of Lybster, and son of Patrick Sinclair in Northfield. In 1710 he was served heir to his uncle, and to his grandfather, James. He married jiEmilia, daughter of Alexander Sinclair of Sixpenny, and had a son and three daughters : —
1. Patrick, his successor.
1. Katharine, eldest daughter, who married James
Sinclair of Harpsdale, and was his third wife.
2. Margaret, who died unmarried.
3. ^Emilia, who died unmarried.
V. Lteutenant-General Patrick Sinclair, fifth OF Lybster, married Catharine Stewart, and had four sons and a daughter : —
1. Temple Frederick, his successor.
38 THE SINCLAIRS OF LYBSTER.
Tiie sinckirs of 2. Jeffrey, SurgeoEL-Genei'al in the Bombay Army, ' ^ ''^' who left two daughters.
3. Thomas Aubrey, Stipendiary Magistrate at Granada,
where he died unmarried.
4. Patrick, who died unmarried.
1. Susan, only daughter, who married David Laing, Surgeon in Thiu'so, and died in 1865, leaving issue.
VI. Temple Frederick Sinclair, the sixth and LAST OF Lybster, was a Captain in the Army, and died immarried. In 1868 the estate was sold by his trustees to the Duke of Portland for £24,000.
THE SINCLAIRS OF SCOTSCALDER
I. William Sinclair, third son of James Sinclair of TheSinciahsc Lybster, had the lands of Hoy and Geise, and in 1729, he exchanged them with James Murray, son of Patrick Murray of Pennyland, for the estate of Scotscalder, which formed part of the Bishopric of Caithness, and was acquired in feu by the Caithness family, and by them wadsetted to the Murrays of Pennyland, who afterwards acquired the right of reversion. In 1713 William Sinclair adjudged Ulgrimbeg and Ulgrimore from the Sinclairs of Assery, and these lands were also originally church lands. He had three sons and two daughters : —
1. Alexander, of whom there is little further notice,
unless he is the same person as Alexander Sinclair of Sixpenny.
2. John, afterwards of Scotscalder.
3. Robert. In 1734 John Sinclair mentions his
" brother Robert " in a letter in which he orders him to receive clothing such as would be required by a person in the seafaring line, such as canvas jackets, etc.
The Sinclairs of Scotscalder.
THE SINCLAIRS OF SCOTSCALDEE.
Janet, eldest daughter, who married John M'Kay, third of Strathy, and received a tocher of 6000 merks. The contract of marriage is dated 29th April 1731, and is witnessed by Francis Sinclair of Milton, William Sinclair, younger of Dun, Benjamin Williamson of Banniskirk, and others. She had two daughters, of whom Margaret married Patrick Honyman of Graemsay ; and Barbara married Major John Scobie of Melness. 2. Barbara.
II. John Sinclair, the second of Scotscalder, married Isabella, only daughter of John Sinclair, fourth of Assery, by his second wife, Barbara Murray, daughter of Patrick Murray of Penny land. On his marriage in 1731 his father conveyed to him, with consent of his eldest son, Alexander, the lands of Scotscalder, Ulgrrmbeg, and Ulgrimore. He had two sons and four daughters : —
1. William.
2. Eobert.
1. Isabella, eldest daughter, was second wife of Captain Thomas Dunbar of Westfield. She died in 1 829, and was interred in the chapel at Pennyland. Captain Dvinbar was the second son of Alexander Dunbar of Grangehill, and he was the male representative of that family, which is descended from Su- Alexander Dunbar of Westfield, son of James, Earl of Moray. Captain Dunbar took
THE SIXCLAIRS OF SCOTSCALDER. 41
the designation " of Westfield." He purchased The sinciairs of
Scotscalder.
Milton — now called Westfield — and Sibster (for Captain Dunbar's first marriage, vide Dunbar of Hempriggs) ; and by his second wife, Isabella Sinclair, he had two sons and three daughters : — James, who married a daughter of the Rev. Mr. Cameron, Halkirk, and died without issue ; and Alexander, who was tenant of Scrabster and other Crown lands, and died unmarried in 1859 ;^ the daughters were Isabella, Mrs. Robinson, who left a daughter ; Barbara, Mrs. Guthrie, who had two sons, namely, the late Colonel Charles Seton Guthrie of Scotscalder, and James BaiUie Guthrie ; and Catharine, Mrs. M'Gregor, who had issue.
2. Barbara, the second daughter of John Sinclair,
married William Sinclair of Rattar, tenth Earl of Caithness.
3. Margaret.
4. Catharine.
One of these two ladies was second wife of James Sinclair of Holbornhead.
III. Robert Sinclair, third and last of Scots- calder, had an only son. Lieutenant- Colonel James Sinclair of the Royal Artillery, and two daughters, one of whom married Mr. Aitken, and had a son,
J lOth March 1S59. F
42 THE SINCLAIRS OF SCOTSCALDEB.
The sinciairs of who died joung ; wliile the other married Mr. Steel, an excise officer, and had issue. About 1812 he sold the estate.^
' The original estate of Scotacalder to the Murrays of Pennyland, who sub- appears to have been at one time church sequently acquired the reversioD, and lands, and to have been feued out by from them it came, as stated, into the the Bishop of Caithness to the Caithness family of Sinclair of Hoy. family. By them it was first wadsetted
EGBERT SINCLAIR OF GEISE.
Robert Sinclair of Geise, Advocate, was fourth son Robert sincia of James Sinclair of Lybster, and brother of "William Sinclair of Hoy and Scotscalder. He married Catharine Ross, daughter of William Ross of Kindeace, and widow of George M'Kay of Bighouse, and had a son and four daughters : —
1. Katharme, who married John Smclair of Assery.
2. Jean, who married James Sinclaif of Holbornhead
and Forss. Vide Forss.
3. Barbara, who married Dr. William Sinclair, Physi-
cian in Thurso. Vide Freswick.
4. Mary, who married Patrick Doidl of Oldfield,
merchant in Thurso. Their only child, who was
alive in 1780, was Alexander, then in the East
Indies, who died unmarried. He was an officer
in the navy or marines, and his ship and crew
were blown up.
Robert Sinclair died in 1742, and his wife about 1757.
She retained the name of " Lady Bighouse," and resided
latterly in Trantlemore, in Sutherlandshire, where she
died.
THE SINCLAIRS OF GREENLAND AND RATTAR
The Sinclairs of J_ gjj^ Jqjjjj SINCLAIR, KnIGHT, tlie first of thIs
Greenland and
Ra-tar- family, was third son of Jolin, Master of Caitliness, and
was styled of Greenland, but Ids descendants have been designed of Rattar. He married Janet Sutherland, who was probably of the Sutherlands of Forse, since his nephew, Francis, son of his brother, James of Murkle, married also a lady of that family. From his brother George, the fifth Earl, he obtained, in 1609,' the feu farms of the lands of Rattar and others, l^y charter to himself in liferent and to his son, WiUiam, in fee ; and ia 1613 he got a disposition from the Earl of the lands of Rattar, Coi'sbach, Lieurary, Reaster, Miursay, and HaUand, which are described to be pertinents of the Barony of AchergUl, sometime pertaining to George, Earl Marischal, and WiUiam, Lord Keith, his son, and acquired by the Earl from them. In 1612 he occupied the Castle of Ormlie, near Thurso. He died in 1622, and had five sons and a daughter."
1. WiUiam, who died before his father. Of bim Sir
1 26tb January and 16th May 1609. 2 Peerage case.
THE SINCLAIRS OF GREENLAND AND RATTAR. 45
Ptobert Gordon writes : " This year of God, 1620, The sinciairs of the eldest son of Sir John Sinclair of Greenland Rattar! perished in the water of Kisgill, as he was riding that river in a great speat and storm of weather. He was a young gentleman of good expectation." This event must have occurred earher than 1620, for in 1618 his immediate younger brother, Alex- ander, obtained a precept as his heir.
2. Alexander, who in 1618 obtained from his uncle,
Earl George, a precept of dare as heir to WUliam. He died without issue.
3. John, who obtained in 1623 a precept of dare as
heir to Alexander. He also died without issue, and was succeeded by —
4. James of Roaster, who obtained a precept on 16th
December 1634, and was afterwards of Rattar.
5. Francis, who died without issue.
There is mention of a son, Thomas, as ahve about 1630, but there is no trace of any of his descendants.
1. Elizabeth, Sir John's only daughter, married John Cunningham of Geise and Brownhill. In Novem- ber 1630, her brother, James, borrowed from Sir John Sinclaii- of Geanies and Dunbeath £3000 "for payment of his sister Elizabeth's tocher to John Cunningham of Geise, her spouse." In Douglas's accounts of the Cunninghams there is much con- fusion and error as to this lady and her marriage.
Sir John had a natural son, George, mentioned in a
THE SINCLAIRS OF GREENLAND AND EATTAR.
The sinciairs of sasine in favour of liis brother, Alexander, in 1619, but
Greenland and Rattar.
of him we have no fmther accoimt.
II. James Sinclair of Reaster and of Rattah,' married Janet, daughter of WiUiam Bruce of StanstiU, and had two sons, and, so far as has been ascertaiaed, three daughters —
1. William, his successor.
2. John, who died without issue.
In an assignation dated 14th December 1636, by James Smclair, to his eldest son, William, whom failing, to his second son, John, he assigns a reversion of Eattar, in consideration of certain payments by " Janet Murray, Ladie of StanstiU, my mother-in-law."
1. Janet, eldest daughter, who married Walter Bruce
of Hain."
2. Margaret, who married in 1655 John Smith, son
of William Smith, Minister of Dunnet from 1614 to 1652.
3. Elizabeth or Elsj^eth, who married about 1652,
William Bruce of Stanstill.^
1 1634. marriage. WiUiam Smith of Dunnet
- Contract of Marriage, 20th Decem- and William Smyth of Watten were
ber 1642. different persons ; and the writer in
' In June 1S64, it was stated in a "Notes and Queries" has probably
notice in " Notes and Queries " tb»t mistaken the connection of the Smiths
WiUiam Smyth, minister of Dunottar, with the famUy of Rattar. William
afterwards of Bower and Watten, mar- Smyth was a rather remarkable man in
ried a daughter of James Sinclair of his time, and notices of him wiU be
Rattar, and had a son, George ; biit no found in M'Kay's " History " and in
evidence has been found of any such " Fasti Eccles. Scot."
THE SINCLAIRS OF GREENLAND AND RATTAR. 47
III. William Sinclair, third op Rattar, acquired The sinciairs oi the lands of Freswick in 1661, from Mowat of Buquhollie Rattar* and Hs son, Magnus.^ He married, first, in 1642, when in apparency only, Elizabeth, daughter of John Sinclair, first of Ulbster; and, second, in 1647,^ Jean, daughter of John Cunningham of Geise and Brownhill, and reHct of Alexander Sinclair of Latheron. John Cunningham, it has been seen, had for his second wife Elizabeth, aunt of Wilham Sinclau- of Eattar ; but it is thought that his daughter, Jean, was not Rattar's cousin-german, but was the daughter of John Cunningham by his first marriage. Jean Cunningham was long famous in the locality under the name of " Jeanag of Rattar."
By his first marriage William Sinclau* had John, his successor in Rattar.^
By his second wife he had three sons and two daughters.*
1. James of Freswick, said to have died in France, having been taken prisoner when on his way to Edinburgh to be married. In Chambers's " Domestic Annals" (vol. iii. p. 25, anno 1690) it is stated that having made his case known to the Scottish Privy Council, he was released in exchange for Mr. David Fairfoul, a priest detained in prison at Inverness.
1 Contract of Marriage, 24tli March. * Disposition by their father, 30th
„^ , ^ .,, . ,„^, . ^ March 1650. Crown Charter, 30th
'■ Contract of Marriage, 1 2tn August. . ., . , ,^ „ .
° April 1672, in favour of Jean Cunnmg-
3 Last Will, 1663. ham and her three sons.
48 THE SIXCLAIES OF GREENLAND AND RATTAR.
The Sinclairs of 2. Robert.
Kluar!' 3. David, who succeeded to Fres-nick on the death of
Robert.'
1. Janet, eldest daughter, who married Jolm Sinclair
of Ulbster, son of Patrick Sinclaii-."
2. Anne, who married, fii'st, Robert Sinclau- of Durran,
and, second, John Campbell of Castlehill, Com- missaiy and Sheriif-clerk of Caithness.^
IV. John Sinclair, fourth of Rattae, married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir WiUiam Sinclau' of Mey, and had two sons and fom- daughters : —
1. John, his successor.
2. Wilham, who, on the death in 1712 of his uncle,
David of Fresmck, succeeded to that estate.
1. Bai-bara, eldest daughter, who married John
Sinclaii- of Forss. By theii- descendant, William Sinclair Thomson Sinclaii", Esq., the estates of Freswick ai'e now possessed under an entail executed in 1775 by John Sinclair, then of Freswick.
2. Frances, who man'ied James Sinclair of Latheron.
3. Margaret, who married, first, Alexander Sinclaii- of
Brabster, and, second, Alexander Gibson, Minister of Canisbay. Vide Brabster and Gibson.
4. Katharine, who married George Manson of Bridgend.
> Retour, 1696, of David to James - Eetour, June 1712. and Robert. ^ Retour, 20th January 1713.
THE SINCLAIRS OF GREENLAND AND RATTAR. 49
V. John Sinclair, fifth of Rattar, married Janet, The sinciairs of
Greenland and
daughter of Patrick Sinclair of Southdun, and died in Rattar. 1733.^ He had two sons : —
1. John, who died unmarried in minority.
2. Wilham, who succeeded his father.
William was a minor at his father's death, and the estate was taken charge of by his uncle, William of Fres- wick. His mother also claimed the management, and, pending the dispute, "lodged in the garret while Fres- wick occupied the other parts of the house of Rattar." The widow afterwards married one Dun, a stay-maker in Edinburgh.
VI. William Sinclair, sixth of Rattar, married Barbara, daughter of John Sinclair of Scotscalder, and died in 1779.^ In 1772 his claim to the dignity of Earl of Caithness was sustained by the Committee of Privi- leges. He had five sons and two daughters : —
1. John, his successor.
2. William, an officer in the army, who died in
America unmarried.
3. James. 4. Alexander. 5. David. These died young and unmarried.
1. The eldest daughter, Lady Isabella, died un-
married.
2, Lady Janet, married to James Traill of Rattar, and
had issue. — Vide Traills.
1 Retour, 1719. 2 Retour, March 1773.
G
50 THE SINCLAIRS OF GREENLAND AND R ATTAR.
The Sinclairs of VII. JOHN SINCLAIR, SEVENTH AND LAST OF RaTTAR,
Kattar. Succeeded his father in 1779, and was the eleventh Earl
of Caithness.
In 1772 he entered the army as an Ensign in the 17th Foot, and became Major in the 76th Foot in 1777.' He served for some years in America, and was wounded at the siege of Charlestown. In 1783 he attained the rank of Lieutenant- Colonel. He died immarried in 1789, and was at the time of his death the last male representative of the family of Greenland and Rattar.
1 Scottish Nation.
THE SINCLAIRS OF FRESWICK.
I. William Sinclair of Eattar, grandson of Thesiuciahsof Sir John Sinclair of Greenland and Rattar, was the ^'''''™''' first "Sinclair of Freswick," that estate having been acquired by him, in 1661, from Mowat of Buquhollie, and his son, Magnus of Freswick. By his second marriage {vide Rattar) he had three sons and two daughters : —
1. James, eldest son.
2. Robert.
3. David.
1. Janet, the eldest daughter, who married John
Sinclair of Ulbster.^
2. Anne, who married in 1678 Robert Sinclair of
Durran. The sons were all named in the disposition to their father to the lands of Freswick dated 10th and 20th July 1661.
II. James Sinclair of Freswick obtained a Crown charter, on 30th April 1672, in favour of his mother in
1 Retours 1712-1713.
52 THE SINCLAIKS OF FEESWICK.
The sinciairs of liferent, and himself and his brothers in succession m fee. He died before 1696 without Issue.
The arms of the family,^ as recorded by James Sinclaii- in the Lyon Register, are : — Quarterly first azure, a ship at anchor, with Oars in Saltier, within a double tressure counter-flowered or; second or, a lion rampant gules; third as the second ; and the fourth azure, a ship imder sail or, and, over all, dividing the quarters, a cross en- grailed sable, all within a bordure chequi or and gules ; Crest, a cross pattee, within a circle of stars argent. Motto, Via crucis via lucis.
III. Robert Sinclair of Freswick succeeded his brother James, and, dying unmarried, was succeeded by his brother David.
IV. David Sinclair of Freswick was twice married, first, to Barbara, daughter of Sir Wilham Sinclah of Mey," and secondly to Sophia, daughter of Sir William Stewart of Biu-ray.^ He had no issue by either marriage. In April 1712 he executed an entail or destination of the estate in favour of his nephew, Wilham, second son of his half-brother, John Sinclair of Rattar, the destination being, failing his own heirs male or female, "in favour of WiUiam Sinclair, second son of John Sinclair of Rattar, and the heirs-male of his body, whom failing, to John
1 Nisbet. 2 Contract of Marriage, 9th April 1G95.
' Contract of Marriage, 25th June 1702.
THE SINCLAIRS OF FRESWICK. 53
Sinclair of Durran, my sister's son, and the heirs-male of The sincUirs of
his body ; whom failing, to return to the hehs-male of the
family of Rattar, my father's family." In 1712 and 1713,
his sisters, Janet and Anne, were served heirs to him, and
some legal proceedings touching the succession took place,
but were ultimately abandoned. Mrs. Janet Sinclair,
then relict of John Sinclair of Ulbster, executed in 1712
a deed from which the following is an extract : — " Out
of the respect I have to the family of Ratter, being my
father's family, and for supporting not only thereof, but
also of my brother's family of Freswick, and his memory,
condescended and agreed with the said William Sinclair
that I should ratify the foresaid disposition and right,
and denude myself of all title and right I have to the
said estate."
V. William Sinclair of Freswick, second son of John Sinclair of Rattar, and grandson of William Sinclair of Rattar by his first marriage, added to the family estates by the purchase of the wadsets of Dunnet and Greenland, held by Murray of Clairden, and of the reversion of these estates held by Sir James Sinclair of Dunbeath, and in 1751 he purchased Dunbeath from Sir WiUiam Sinclair of Keiss and James Sinclair of Latheron for £3000 ster- hng, and the lands of Warse and others in Canisbay from the Groat family. The House of Freswick was built by him about middle of last century. In 1778 James Sinclair, son of James Sinclair of Latheron, who sold
54 THE SINCLAIRS OF FEES WICK.
The sinciairs of Dunbeath, attempted to set aside the sale, but after many years' litigation the- action of reduction raised against Freswick's son and successor failed.
William Sinclau" of Freswick was a gentleman of ability and of considerable local note, while liis personal appearance is stated to have been dignified and imposing. As leader of one of the two poUtical parties into which the county was in his time divided (Sir William Dunbar of Hempriggs leading the other), he was an influential county gentleman. If vindictive and somewhat unscrupu- lous towards liis enemies and opponents, as they alleged, he was a warm, and, on many occasions, a generous and considerate friend. He was eager in the promotion of his own intei'ests, and his acquisition of a considerable estate from moderate beginnings, and the pohtical and family animosities prevalent in the times in which he lived, account, to some extent, for the rather unfavour- able traditionary character he bears.
He married Katharine, daughter of George Sutherland of Forse, and he died in 1769.^ He had a son and two daughters : —
1. John, his successor.
1. Elizabeth, eldest daughter, married, when some-
what advanced in life, George Bean, a Writer in Inverness.
2. Jean, married Alexander Sinclair of Barrock, and was
grandmother of Sir John Sinclair, late of Barrock.
1 Peerage case, 4th July 1769.
THE SINCLAIRS OF FRESWICK. 55
VI. John Sinclair of Freswick, Advocate, was The sinciairs ( Sheriff of the county, and was twice married. His first ^'■'*^"'"'''^- wife was Margaret, daughter of Sir John Dalrymple of Cousland, and a lady to whom he appears to have been much attached, although for some reason, now unknown, his father was much opposed to the marriage. By her he had a son and a daughter : —
1. William, who was a Lieutenant in the 78 th Regiment, in 1778. He predeceased his father without issue, and appears to have given him much trouble and distress from his extravagant habits.
1. Kitty, who also died before her father, in her fifteenth year.
By his second wife, Margaret, daughter of James Moray of Abercairney, who survived him, he had no issue.
In the contested county election, in 1754, John Sinclair was invited by the Brodie party to stand as a candidate, but he declined, and supported General Scott, who was returned.
He died and was buried at Bath, in 1784, and was the last surviving collateral heir-male of the Rattar branch of the Caithness family, so that on the death of John, Earl of Caithness, in 1789, the succession to the earldom devolved on Sir James Sinclair of Mey, in default of heirs-male of the Greenland and Rattar family.
In reference to the settlement of the Freswick estates.
56 THE SINCLAIRS OF FRESWICK.
The sinciairs of he WTote, in 1782, to his second cousin, Dr. William Sinclair of Lochend, afterwards of Freswick : "I look on my grandfather (John Sinclair of Eattar) as the head of my family ; from his descendants I never will give away what my father left me, but of these I will choose him I think the most worthy. A cousin or a nephew are equal with me in the scale. Whoever merits most will be pre- ferable." Accordingly, on 30th May 1775, he executed a strict entail of the estates, in the destination of which he preferred the descendants of his paternal aunt, Barbara, daughter of John Sinclair of Rattar, and two of the younger sons of WilHam, tenth Earl of Caithness, great- grandsons of John of Rattar, to the children of his sister, Mrs. Sinclair of Barrock, his nephew, William, the second son of Barrock, bemg the last named substitute of entaU. The estates were settled (1st), on the heirs-male and female of his own body ; (2d), on Robert Sinclair, eldest grandson of his aunt, Barbara, and her husband, John Sinclair of Forss ; (3d), on Dr. WUham Smclair, another grandson of Barbara Sinclair and John Sinclau' of Forss ; (4th and 5th), on his cousins, WilHam and James, younger sons of William Sinclair of Rattar, tenth Earl of Caithness ; and (lastly), on his nephew, William Sinclair, Writer to the Signet, the second son of Alexander Sin- clair of Barrock, by his sister, Jean. This settlement of the estates was the cause of great dissatisfaction to his sisters, who, in a process of reduction in 1789 for setting it aside, complained of the entail as " disinheriting them
THE SINCLAIRS OF FRESWICK. 57
and preferring: a person who, althougfli a relation of the The Sinciahs of
. ., ^ ^ T 1 • 1 » Freswick.
lamily, was not even the nearest heir-male.
John Sinclair is described as a man of quick parts, but proud and extravagant, and inattentive to his affairs.
VII. Robert Sinclair op Freswick, eldest son of James Sinclair of Holburnhead, and afterwards of Forss, succeeded in 1784, and died at Dunbeath Castle, without issue, in November 1794.^ He married Esther Bland, said to have been an actress, and to have been the sister, or near relative, of the celebrated Mrs. Jordan.
VIII. William Sinclair of Lochend, which estate he acquired by purchase, ia 1778, for £2015, was grand- son of John Sinclau- of Forss, and Barbara Sinclau-, and succeeded his cousin-german, Robert Sinclair of Freswick, in 1794. He was a Doctor of Medicine, and practised for many years in Thurso, and the county generally, before succeeding to the estates. He acquired Thura by pur- chase in 1801. He was twice married ; and died on 15th March 1838, aged 90.
By his first wife, Isabella, daughter of Alexander Calder, last laird of Lynegar, who died in 1812, he had —
1. John, who died unmarried in 1832 in the twenty- second year of his age.
1. Barbara Madelina Gordon, the late Mrs. Thomson Sinclair of Freswick, twin sister of John.
■ Retour 6th Octohcr. H
58 THE SINCLAIRS OF FRESWICK.
The sinckirs of 2. Isabella, who married Mr. Thomas Cochrane Hume
of HaUfax, North America/ and had a son,
Wilham Sinclair Hume, who died 9 th October
1859, in early life, and two daughters; of whom
one died young, and the other, Isabella Barbara,
married Captain John Hobhouse IngUs Alexander
of Southbar, R.N., and has issue.
In 1816 William Sinclair married, secondly, his cousin,
Jane, daughter of Jolm Sinclau- of Barrock, by whom he
had a son and three daughters : —
1. William James John Alexander, his successor.
1. Williamina, who died young.
2. Janet Sinclair Traill, who died in June 1870, at
Torquay, unmarried.
3. Jane, who married Major-General Augustus Halifax
Ferryman, and died in 1851, leaving one child, Augustus Hamilton Ferryman, now of Lochend and Thura.
IX. William James John Alexander Sinclair OF Freswick succeeded his father in 1838, while yet m minority. He served for a short time in the Army, and died unmarried at Nottingham House, on 20th February 1855, in the thirty-second year of his age, and was suc- ceeded by his half-sister, Barbara. He possessed good natural abilities, and but for his delicate health would, had his hfe been prolonged, have taken a lead in the
1 On 2Stli January 1S40.
THE SINCLAIRS OF FRESWICK. 59
county. In 1847 he issued an address to the Electors The smciairs of of Caithness, offering to represent the county in Parlia- ment on Conservative principles, but he did not go to the poll.
X. Mrs. Barbara Madelina Gordon Thomson Sinclair of Freswick married William Thomson, Esq., Deputy Commissary-General of the Forces, and had an only child, Wilham Sinclair Thomson Sinclau-.
XI. William Sinclair Thomson Sinclair, now of Freswick, was born 8th April 1844, married on 18th June 1872 Isabella, eldest daughter of James Henderson, Esq. of Bilbster, and in 1876 succeeded to the family estates on the death of his mother.
THE SINCLAIKS OF MEY.
The sinciairs of I. WiLLiAM SiNCLAiK, second son of Geoi'ge, fourth Earl of Caithness, obtained a charter in March 1572 from his fether, of the lands of Mey, and was thus the first laird of Mey. He died unmarried.
II. George Sinclair, second of Mey, succeeded his brother, William, and in 1573 got a precept of dare constat from Robert, Bishop of Caithness. In 1585 and 1592 he obtained Crown charters. In 1572 the Bishop appointed him Chancellor of the diocese of Caithness. He was a man of ability, who lost no opportunity of pro- moting his family interests, and considerable additions to the family estates were made by him.
Before 1583 he married Mai-garet, daughter of WiUiam, seventh Lord Forbes, and he died in IGIG. He had foiu- sons and five daughters : —
1. WiUiam, his heir.
2. Sir John, of Geanies and Dunbeath.
3. James, who died young.
4. Alexander of Latheron, ancestor of the Sinciairs of
Barrock and Brabster. 1. Janet, eldest daughter, who married Walter Innes of Inverbrakie.
THE SINCLAIKS OF MEY. 61
2. Margaret, who married, in 1608, Alexander Sinclair The sinciairs i
of Forss. '"^^•
3. Barbara, who married Alexander Keith of Pitten-
drum, in 1610.
4. Elizabeth, who married William Dunbar, first of
Hempriggs in Morayshire, and grandfather of Sir William Dunbar of Hempriggs, etc., in Caithness.
5. Anne.
III. Sir William Sinclair of Mey was created a knight,^ and was styled Sir WUham of CadboU. In 1600 he married Katharine, second daughter of George Ross of Balnagown, and was succeeded by his son, Su- James. It has been supposed that Sir WiUiam was created a baronet, but this is doubtful ; and in the Great Seal charters of 1623 and 1636 he is mentioned as " MUes " only.
In 1595 a mutiny broke out among the scholars and gentlemen's sons attending the High School of Edin- burgh, arising from a dispute with the magistrates as to their vacation. They laid in provisions in the school- room, mamied the same, and took in arms with powder and bullets ; and refused aU entrance to masters or magistrates until their claims were conceded. After a day passed in this manner, the Council resolved on strong measures, and a posse of officers, headed by Bailie John Macmoran, proceeded to the school, and failmg to
1 Charters 1623, 1630.
62 THE SINCLAIRS OF MBY.
The sinciairs of persuade the scholars to surrender, attempted to prize open the doors. The scholars, finding no attention paid to their threats, to " put a pair of bullets through the best of their cheeks," unless they desisted, " one Sinclair, the Chancellor of Caithness' son, presented a gun from a window, dhect opposite to the bailies' faces, boasting them and calling them buttery carles. Off" goeth the charged gun, pierced John Macmoran through his head, and pre- sently killed him, so that he fell backward straight to the ground without speech at all." The culprit was Wil- liam, afterwards Sir WilUam Sinclair of Mey ; but in the end he and seven other youths implicated got clear off.^
The following description of Barrogdl Castle, at this period, is taken from a poem dedicated to the Earl of Caithness and Sir William St. Clair of Cadboll : —
" Sir, sighting now thyself and palace faire, I find a novelty, and that most rare ; The time though cold and stormie, sharper sun, And far to summer, scarce the spring begun. Yet with good luck in Februar, Saturn's prey Have I not sought and found out fruitful May Flank'd with the marine coast prospective stands Right opposit to the Orcade Isles and lands. Where I, for ilowers, engorged strong grapes of Spain, And liquor'd French, both red and white amaine. Which palace doth contain, two four-squared courts Graft with brave works, where th' art drawn pensile spourts On halls, high chambers, galleries, office bowers, Cells, rooms, and turrets, platforms, stately towers."
1 Chambers's " Domestic Annals," vol. i. pp. "26], 2C2.
THE SINCLAIRS OF MEY. 63
IV. Sir James Sinclair was styled, in his father's The sinciairs of Hfetime, of Canisbay, as appears from a tack of teinds, dated 14th June 1635, by Sir William and Sir James, and from a Crown charter in favour of both, dated 17th February 1636. As before stated, it is doubtful whether his father was more than a mere knight, aiad if Sir James was so called in his father's lifetime there must have been a separate creation. His uncle, Sir John of Geanies and Dunbeath, to whose baronetcy he is supposed to have succeeded, was alive long after 1636, but if Sir James was so styled in the lifetime of his father and imcle, he may have been merely knighted, and may still have afterwards taken up his uncle's baronetcy.^ Sir James married Elizabeth, daughter of Patrick, Lord Lindores, and died in 1662. He had five sons and two daughters : —
1. John," who died young.
2. William, his successor.
3. Kobert of Durran.— ( FiVZe Durran.)
4. James ^ of Stangergill, who died without issue.
5. George of Olrig. — {Vide Olrig.)
1. Anne, eldest daughter, who married George, first Earl of Cromarty.
1 [Sir James Sinclair of Canisbay was liam and Robert : his property, on his created a Baronet June 2, 1631, with death s.p., was inherited by Robert, remainder "hseredibus auis masculis et In 1645 Sir James granted a bond over aasignatis quibuscunqiie." The precept Stangergill to John, his "second son." for the patent is on record.] In a discharge, dated 1667, Sir William
2 [This John and James seem to have enumerates his younger brothers as been really one person, namely, John, of John, Robert, and George.] Stangergill, intermediate between Wil-
THE SINCLAIRS OF MEY.
The sinciairs of 2. Elizabeth, who married her cousin, William Sii
Mey.
clair of Dunbeath.
V. Sir William Sinclair of Canisbay and Mey was infeffc in Mey in 1662 as heir to his father, on a precept of dare constat by the Bishop of Caithness. He married Margaret, second daughter of George, second Earl of Seaforth, and had two sons and three daughters : —
1. Sir James, his heir.
2. George.
1. Elizabeth, eldest daughter, who married John
Sinclau- of Rattar.
2. Barbara, who married David Sinclair of Freswick.
3. Mary.
The estate was so involved in debt by Sir William that it was, after his death, judicially sold by his creditors in 1694.
VI. SiB James Sinclair of Mey married — first, Frances, daughter of Sir John Towers of that Ilk and of Inverleith ; ^ and, secondly, Jean, daughter of Francis Sinclair of Northfield, second son of George, fifth Earl of Caithness.
The estates having been judicially sold for the debts of Su- James's father, they were purchased by his cousin, Viscount Tarbet, afterwards Eaid of Cromarty, who had
1 [This first marriage is given on formacus, who married the daughter Douglas's authority. It was Sir James's and heir of Sir John Towers of Inver- con temporary, Sir .lohu Sinclair of Long- leith.]
THE STNCLAIRS OF MEY. 65
married his atint, and in 1698 Lord Tarbet reconveyed Tiie Smdairs of them to the family by a disposition and deed of entail, '^^' " animo donandi," in favour of James, eldest son of Sii- James Sinclair, and other heirs.
By his first marriage Sir James Sinclair had a son and a daughter : —
Su' James, his heir.
Barbara, who married Francis Sinclair of Stu-koke,
Sir James had also a natural son, John, who held a wadset of Hollandmake, conveyed to him by his father.
VII. Sir James Sinclair op Mey, third of the name, married Mary, daughter of James, Lord Duff'us, and had three sons and a daughter : —
1. Sir James. 2. William. S.Kenneth. I.Margaret.
VIII. Sir James Sinclair, fourth of the name, obtained a Crown charter in 1740,^ and married Margaret, daughter of John Sinclau- of Barrock, by whom he had two sons : —
1. Su' John.
2. William, who married Elizabeth, daughter of
Kichard Sinclair, merchant in Thiu-so, second son of Alexander Sinclair, last lau-d of Dun. He had a son, John, captain in the 79th Foot, who was killed at Waterloo, and a daughter, Wil- hamina, who died unmarried. It is thought he had a second daughter, who was married.
1 Retour, 10th February 17-10. I
bb THE SINCLAIRS OF UEY.
The siaciairs of JX. SiR JoHN SINCLAIR OF Mey was Served heir of
Mej'.
taillie and provision in 1763, and married Charlotte, second daughter of Eric, Lord Duffus, by whom he had a son and a daughter : — - Sir James.
Mai-garet, who married the Reverend WilUam LesHe, of Darkland, by whom she had a son and seven daughters, viz., Archibald, who married, and left issue ; Charlotte, who married Arthur Geddes, and had issue ; Anne, who married Charles Black, and had issue ; Elizabeth, who married Captain Van Early, and had issue ; Isabella, who married James Imlach, and had issue ; Jessie or Janet, who married Colonel Peter Dunbar, and had issue ; Mary, who married Patrick Cameron, and had issue ; and Helen, who married Peter Brown of LinkAvood, and had issue.
X. Sir James Sinclair of Mey, eighth baronet, and ninth in descent from George of Mey, Chancellor of Caithness, was served heir to his father in 1785 ; and on the death of John, eleventh Earl of Caithness, he was served in May 1790, as nearest and lawful heir-male of William St. Clair, second Earl of Caithness of the line of St. Clair, and thereafter took the dignity of Earl of Caithness. Vide Earls of Caithness.
THE SINCLAIKS OF ULBSTER.
The ancestor of this family was William Sinclaii', first The sinciairs of laird of Mey, the second son of George, fourth Earl of Caithness, who granted him the lands of Mey in 1572. His elder brother, John, Master of Caithness, having, with his connivance, been imprisoned by his father in Girnigo Castle, he was, on the occasion of a visit to the dungeon of the Master, laid hold of and strangled by him. This event took place in 1572 or 1573, for in the latter year his brother, George, got a precept of dare constat as his heir. By Margaret, daughter of James Mowat of Buchollie and Lucy Gordon, daughter of Gordon of Gight, he left two sons, Patrick and John. In the Great Seal Record, Edinbiu-gh, Lib. 45, No. 18, there occurs a legitimation, dated 20th June 1607, "Patricio et Magistro Joanni Sinclair filiis naturahbus quondam WUlelmi Smclair de Mey." Further notices of the family are to be fovmd in " Stewartiana," 1843, by Mr. John Riddell, Advocate ; in "The Gentleman's Magazine," vol. xx. p. 260; and in Father Hay's account of the St. Clairs of Eoslyn, printed in 1845.
68 THE SINCLAIRS OF ULBSTER.
The Siuclairs of I. PATRICK SINCLAIR, FIRST OF UlBSTER, ffot a dis-
UlbsU-r. . .
position of these lands in 1596 from his cousin, George, fifth Earl of Caithness, and, dying without issue, he was succeeded by his brother, John.
II. John Sinclair of Ulbster was a man of education and ability, and as his name is seldom mentioned without the prefix of Mr. or " Maister," there is ground for think- ing that he was brought up as a pedagogue or teacher, although it was not unusual to designate as " Maister " gentlemen of landed property, as well as pedagogues, preachers, notaries, and the like. In 1601 the General Assembly arranged that certain ministers should plant themselves in the families of the CathoKc nobles ; and Lord Gordon, eldest son of the Marquis of Hvmtly, and the Master of Caithness, eldest son of the Earl, " were brought up together under the care of two pedagogues, Thomas Gordon and John Sinclair, who were compelled to declare themselves adherents of the reformed faith." That John Sinclair, the pedagogue, was John Sinclair, afterwards Mr. John Sinclan of Ulbster, seems to admit of no doubt, for we find by a letter from him to his uncle, George of Mey, that, in 1604, he and the Master hved in the family of the Marquis of Huntly at Bogg Gight ; and in regard to the Master he writes : " always the Mr. is verie weiU, God be praysit, and commends him lieartdy to you." ^
' "Domestic Annals of Scotland."
THE SINCLAIRS OF ULBSTER. 69
John Sinclair was twice married — first, to Jean The sinciairs of Chisholm, who is no doubt the " Kesohne, daughter to the laird of Straglass," who is said by Hay to have married the first laird of Ulbster ; and, secondly, to Katharine Stewart. By his first wife he had two sons and a daughter : —
1. Patrick, his successor.
2. George, a merchant in Leith.
1. Henrietta, who married WiUiam Abernethy (son of John, Bishop of Caithness), who was minister of Halkirk in 1627, and of Thurso in 1636.
By his second wife John Sinclair had a son and two daughters : —
1. John of Tannach and Brims, who served m the German wars, and in 1660 purchased Brims from the heirs of the first Sinciairs of Dunbeath. He married Ann Goldman, and had three sons and two daughters : — John, afterwards of UJbster ; WiDiam of Thrumster ^ (who married Margaret, daughter of James Innes of Thursater) ; and Charles ; Jean, who married Francis Sinclair of Dun, and afterwards David Sinclair of South- dun ; and Elizabeth, who married WilHam Sinclair of Rattar.
John Sinclair of Tannach had two natural
1 William Sinclair of Thrumster their son, William, had Oust, whicl seems also to have had Oust, for his he disponed in 1719 to John Siuelaii wife had it in liferent, but at aU events of Brims.
70 THE SINCLAIRS OF ULBSTER.
The sinciairs of sons. One of whom was James, probably James
Sinclair " in Lythmore," and the same James Sinclair who, in 1702, obtained from his brother, John of Ulbster and Brims, a wadset of Holborn- head, Uttersquoy, and Sandiquoy.
III. Patrick Sinclair of Ulbster was served heir to his father, John, in 1640, and in 1647 he married Eliza- beth, daughter of John M'Kay of Strathy and Dirlot. He had two sons and seven daughters : —
1. John, his successor.
2. Sii' George of Bilbster and Clyth, who married
Jean, daughter of William Sinclair of Dunbeath, and had no issue. He had, however, three natural daughters : — Jean, who married William Sinclair, younger of Thrumster, Mary, and Anne. Patrick Sinclair's daughters were : —
1. Anne, who married Francis Sinclair of Stirkoke.
2. Elizabeth, who married, in 1660, John Sinclair of
Brabster.
3. Maiy, who married, in 1675, Sir Robert Uunbar
of Northfield.
4. Isabel, who married, iii 1673, George, eldest son
of James Sinclair of Assery.
5. Mai'garet, who married, in 1679, her cousin-gernian,
Hugh M'Kay of Cainiloch, son of John M'Kay of Skerray.
THE SINCLAIRS OF ULBSTER. 71
6. Jean, who married Ano-us M'Kay, apparent of The sinciahs of
Bighouse.
7. Katharine, who married James Sinclau- of Lyb-
ster. In 1660 Patrick Sinclair and his son, John, purchased from the Earl of Caithness, for 22,485 merks, or little more than £1200 sterling, East and Mid Clyth, Roster, a,nd Tannach. In 1676 Lord Glenorchy granted a wadset of West Clyth, and the rest of that estate, redeemable for 15,465 merks, and in 1706 he disponed these lands so wadsetted, and Swordale, Aimster, Carsgo, Gerston, Achscoraclate, Stainland or Staneland, and fishings of Thurso.
IV. John Sinclair of Ulbster, married Janet, daughter of William Sinclair of Battar and his second wife Jean Cunningham.
Having no family, John Sinclaii- settled the estates, in 1709, by an entail, the first substitute called being his cousin, John Sinclair of Brims, the eldest son of John of Tannach and Brims, and the subsequent heirs being Charles Sinclair of Bdbster, George M'Kay of Bighouse, George Sinclair of Brabster, Patrick, his brother, John Sinclair of Lybster, Wilham, Robert, and George, his brothers, John Sinclair of Assery, Patrick Dunbar of Bowermadden, and his brothers, William, James, and David, the whole substitutes, except John Sinclair of Brims, being the descendants of his sisters.
72 THE SINCLAIRS OF TTLBSTER.
The Sinclairs of V. JoHN SINCLAIR OF BrIMS AND UlBSTER WaS twice
maiTied, first to Jean, daughter of Munro of Ciilrain, and, secondly, to Jean Cores. By his fii'st marriage he had four sons and three daughters : —
1. John, his successor.
2. Patrick of Brims. There is a tradition that he had
an intrigue with a daughter of James Sinclair of Uttersquoy, who was probably the natural brother of John Sinclair of Brims and Ulbster, and that she having mysteriously disappeared, was supposed to have been made away with by Smclarr, and her body concealed in the castle, which consequently had the reputation of being haunted. Patrick left the county, and is said to have enlisted in the Guards.
3. James of Holbornhead. This property was dis-
poned to him by his father, and by him sold to Robert Sinclair of Geise.
4. Gustavus, a merchant in Leith.
1. Sidney, eldest daughter.
2. Jean or Janet, who married, first, Benjamin Dunbar,
younger of Hempriggs ; and, secondly, George, thu-d Lord Reay.
3. Elizabeth, who married John M'Kay, second of
Strathy.
yi. John Sinclair of Ulbster, sometime younger of Brims, married Henrietta, daughter of George Brodie
THE SINCLAIRS OF TJLBSTER. 73
of Brodie, and died in 1736. He had three sons and a The siDoiaira of
1 1 , Ulbster.
daughter : —
1. George, his successor.
2. James of Harpsdale, who married, first, Marjory,
daughter of David Sinclair of Southdun, by whom he had two daughters, Henrietta of Southdun, and Janet, who married Colonel Williamson of Banniskirk. His second wife was Mally Suther- land, Spinnuagdale, by whom he had a son, Alexander, who died young. His third wife was Katharine, daughter of Alexander Sinclair of Lybster, by whom he had two daughters, Katharine, who married Major George William- son, and Helen, who married Captain David Brodie of Hopeville (Sibster).
3. Captain John Smclair, in " Burke," called Major
John, who married Elizabeth, widow of John WUmer, Esquire. 1. iEmelia, only daughter, married John Sutherland of Forse.
VII. George Sinclair of Ulbster married Janet, daughter of Lord Strathnaver. He died in 1776, and left a son and three daughters : — 1. John, his successor.
1. Helen, eldest daughter, who married Alexander Campbell of Barcaldine, whose daughter, Jane, married James, Earl of Caithness, in 1784.
74 THE SINCLAIRS OF ULBSTER.
The sinciairs of 2. Marj, wKo married James Homerigg of Gamalsliiels. 3. Janet, wlio married William Baillie of Polkemmet, Lord Polkemmet of the Court of Session.
VIII. Sir John Sinclair of Ulbster was born in 1754, and was created baronet in 1788, with remainder, in default of male issue, to the male issue of his daughters. He married, first, in 1776, Sarah, daughter of Alexander Maitland of Stoke Newington ; and, secondly, in 1788, Diana, daughter of Alexander, first Lord Macdonald, and had issue by both marriages. He was svicceeded by his son, of his second marriage, Sir George Sinclair.
THE SINCLAIRS OF DUERAN.
Calder mentions a "Sinclair of Durran" in 1621, TheSinciairsof who, having been ejected by the Bishop's Chamberlain ""'^' from lands which he occupied as tenant under the Earl of Caithness, killed one Lindsay, to whom the lands had been given. The Earl held church lands in feu, but had been deprived of them, and as the lands of Durran seem, in 1657 and 1659, to have belonged to the bishopric, it is probable that they were the lands from which Sinclair had been ejected ; and that he was styled of Durran as the occupier only, or perhaps the wadsetter under the Earl. Of what family this Sinclair of Durran was we cannot say; but he seems to have been "kinsman" to Sir Andrew Sinclau', envoy for the King of Denmark, for whose intervention he applied to obtain his pardon for the murder of Lindsay. Of Sir Andrew's connection with the county we have no account.
I. Robert Sinclair, third son of Sir James Sinclair of Canisbay, and the great-grandson of George, fotn-th Earl of Caithness, was styled of Durran ; but until 1717, when Lord Glenorchy granted a disposition to John
76 THE SINCLAIBS OF DURRAN.
The sinciairs of Sinclair of Durran, of the lands of Durran, and of Stan- gergill, Thurdistoft, and others, which now form part of the Castlehill estate, the Durran estate was held in wadset from the Earl of Caithness, by Sir William Sinclair of Cadboll and Sir James of Canisbay.
Robert Sinclair married,* in 1678, Anne, youngest daughter of William Sinclair of Rattar, afterwards styled " Lady Harland," and had a son and two daughters : —
1. John, his successor.
1. Anne, who was third wife of James Sutherland of
Langwell, and on his death married John Sinclair of Barrock.
2. Janet.
II. John Sinclair of Durran married Ehzabeth, eldest daughter of George Sinclair of Barrock," by his second wife, Ehzabeth Murray. He died in 1728, and had foiu" sons and a daughter : —
1. Robert, who died in 1725.
2. John, who died in 1727.
3. James, afterwards of Durran.
4. George, Major in the 65th Regiment, who died
without issue. 1. Jean, who married her cousin-german, James Sutherland of Swinzie. Vide Swinzie.
1 Contract of Marriage, March 1. ^ Douglas.
THE SINCLAIRS OF DURRAN. 77
III. James Sinclair of Durran married, first, Eliza- The sindairs of beth, daughter of Sir Patrick Dunbar of Northfield, by "™°' bis second wife, Katharine, daughter of Joseph Brodie of Milntowii. By this marriage Tister came into the family,^ Sir Robert Dunbar having, in 1758, given a disposition in favour of his daughter and husband in liferent, and to the heirs of the marriage in fee. James Sinclair died in 1793, and had three sons and four daughters : —
1. Patrick, his successor.
2. George, Writer to the Signet, who married in
1775 Elizabeth, daughter of John Sutherland of Forse. He died in 1779, leaving a son, John Sutherland, Lieutenant- Colonel in the Royal Artillery, who was thr-ee times married, and died in 1841. By liis first marriage, to Miss Gamble, Colonel Sinclair had two sons, George, W.S., who died in 1834, and John, Lieutenant in the Royal Artillery, who died in 1828, and a daughter; all of whom died unmarried. By his second marriage, to Miss Ramsay, he had two daughters, and by his thii'd marriage, to Euphemia, daughter of Thomas Buchan of Auchmacoy,^ he had several children, of whom there are surviving James Augustus and Charles Home.
3. Major Robert,^ who died at Bombay, in 1793,
unmarried.
' " Gentleman's Magazine. " 2 Died December 1S72.
2 " Gentleman's Magazine."
ta THE SINCLAIES OF DURRAN.
The sinciairs of 1. Margaret, who married Patrick Honyman of
Diirran. ^^
Graemsay.
2. Katharine, who married Alexander, son of James
Robertson of Bishopmiln.
3. EHzabeth, who married William Robertson of
Auchinroath. James Sinclaii- married, secondly, Dorothea Bruce, by whom he had an only child —
John, who seems to have died young before 1789.
IV. Patrick Sinclair of Durran, Captain in Royal Navy, died at St. Domingo in 1794, in command of the Frigate " Iphigenia." He married Anne, daughter of James Sinclair Sutherland of Swinzie, and had two sons and a daughter : —
1. Pati-ick, who died yoimg and unmarried.
1. Katharine.
V. Jajvies Sinclair of Durran was a Lieutenant of Marmes. He was killed in action in 1801, at cutting out the French Corvette "La Chevdrit^," and was succeeded by his sister, Katharine.
VI. Katharine Sinclair of Durran married Cap- tain John Worth of Oakley, R.N., and died in 1849, leaving a daughter —
THE SINCLAIRS OF DITRRAN. 79
Mary Katharine, who married, in 1834, Admiral Sir The Sinciairs of
Baldwin "Walker, Bart., K.C.B., etc., etc., who ""'^'
died in 1876, and was succeeded by his eldest
son, Baldwin "Walker, a Lieutenant in the Navy.
The estate of Durran was sold in 1827 by Mrs. Worth
to the late Alexander, thirteenth Earl of Caithness, for
£15,000. The nearest existing respresentatives of the
family in the male line are the two sons of Colonel John
Sutherland Sinclair, namely, James Augustus and Charles
Home Sinclair, both of whom are married. The family
of Sinclair of Durran is next in succession to the earldom
of Caithness, on failure of heirs-male of the present Earl.
THE SINCLAIES OF OLEIG.
The siiiciairs of J. The first of the family of Siiiclah-s of Oh'ig was George, fifth son of Sir James Sinclair of Canisbay. He married EUzabeth, daughter of his relative, Alexander Sinclair of Latheron, and widow of Walter Bruce of Ham. He had a son, Alexander.
Jolin, Master of Berriedale, granted a wadset of Olrig to Su- Wilham Sinclair of Mey, and liis son, Su- James, for 8000 merks, which the latter assigned as a provision to his son, George ; and in 1708 Lord Glenorchy sold the property to Alexander Sinclau% then of Olrig, for 12,900 merks, or about £650 sterHng, "reserving the swans and swans' nests on the Loch of Durran."
II. Alexander Sinclair of Olrig married Katha- rine, daughter of Donald Budge of Toftmgall, and was killed in a duel, in 1710, by William Innes of Sandside. He had fom- sons and three daughters : —
1. Donald, his successor.
2. James, who was in Duncansbay and Warse in
1739-1747, and who was also a merchant in Freswick.
THE SINCLAIRS OF OLRIG. 81
3. Alexander. The Sinclairs of
4. William.
1 . Elizabeth, who married Charles Sinclair' of Bilbster.
2. Esther, who married John Sinclair of Forss.
3. Katharine, who married William Budge of Toftin-
gall, W.S. William Budge married a Katharine Sinclair, and in 1741 James Sinclair, Tacksman of Warse, and son of Alexander Sinclair of Olrig, is mentioned as "brother-in-law" of WilHam Budge. Esther and Katharine Sinclair' were both ahve and widows in 1767. — (Proof in Rattar's Peerage case.)
III. Donald Sinclair of Olrig and Bilbster mar- ried Fenella, only daughter and heiress of Charles Sinclair of Bilbster, and had a son and a daughter : —
1. Charles, his successor.
1. Henrietta, who is mentioned in 1786 as relict of lin Benjamin Moodie.
IV. Charles Sinclair of Olrig married Elizabeth, daughter of Eric, Lord Duffus, and Elizabeth Dimbar, daughter of Sir James and Dame Elizabeth Dunbar of Hempriggs. He had a son and three daughters : —
1. Donald, his successor.
1. Fenella.
2. Elizabeth.
3. Janet.
L
82 THE SINCLAIRS OF OLRIG.
The Sinclairs of V. DONALD SINCLAIR OF OlRIG died without isSUe,
and was succeeded by his sister, Fenella.
VI. Mrs. Fenella Sinclair of Olrig married Archibald Cullen, Barrister-at-Law, and had two sons and four daughters : —
1. William, Major- General in the Madras army.
2. David, who died, young.
1. Elizabeth.
2. Anna.
3. Sinclair.
These three daughters died young.
4. Marion Robma, who married Edward Marjoribanks,
Esquire. The lands of Olrig and Bilbster were sold by Mrs. Cullen.
THE SINCLAIRS OF DUNBEATH AND LATHERON.
I. About 1624 Duubeath was purchased by Sir John The sincUirs oi Sinclaii- of Geanies, second son of George Sinclair of Mey, Latheron. from Lord Forbes, to whom it had been disponed by George Sinclair, the last of ihe first family of the Sinclairs of Dunbeath. Sir John Sinclair had made a fortune as a merchant, and he had acquired possessions in Ross-shire, as well as Dunbeath, Stemster, and Brabster-myre in Caithness.
In 1631 he was created a knight baronet^ by patent to him and the " heirs-male of his body," according to Douglas, but by Wood's Peerage the title was to his "heirs-male whatsoever." It has been supposed that this is the original baronetcy stiU in the Mey family, and which was taken up by his nephew, Sir James Sin- clair of Mey, the son of his immediate elder brother, William. If this has not been the case, and that the baronetcy was limited to heirs-male of his body, it is extinct.
^ [This Sir John was only a knight. As to the Mey baronetcy, see \>. 63, note.]
«4 THE SINCLAIBS OF DUNBEATH AND LATHERON.
The sinciairs of Sir John was twice married. His second wife, as Latheron. appears from an inscrijation ^ in the family burying-place at Latheron, was Christian, daughter of Magnus Mowat of Buchollie. He had no sons, and of his three daughters, the second and thii'd were of his second marriage, but of which marriage the other was is uncertain.^ The daughters were —
1. Margaret, who married Hugh Rose of Kilra-
vock.
2. Gemma, who died young.
3. Cloristian, who died unmarried.
On his daughter, Margaret, Su- John settled 50,000 merks and lands in E.oss-shire; the remainder of his property he distributed among the sons of his brother, Alexander Sinclair of Latheron.
Alexander Sinclair was wadsetter of Latheron, of which he got a charter in 1635, but his descendants acquired the reversion, and held the lands in fee, and he
' The inscription referred to is much early life, the other in old age. Their
obliterated, but the following seems to mother was the second wife of the
be a probable rendering of the original Knight of Dunbeath. There might
Latin: — "John Sinclair of Dunbeath, have been a more abundant list of the
crowned knight, erected this monument innumerable praises of both had this
to his dearly beloved ones — namely, to small monument admitted. Learn
his wife, Christian Muat, daughter of hence, O Mortal, that the divinities
Magnus, Lord of Bolhjuholly, who died who spin the fatal threads of life, spare
prematurely, in the bloom of life, and neither young nor old."
to his daughters, etc. 2 [-jfjg afterwards married Catherine,
Thkir Epiiaph. daughter of Hugh, seventh Lord Lovat.
This monument covers ladies turned Christian Mowat was mother of Mar-
into ashes, whose names were Gemma garet. — Family of Kilravock (Spalding
and Christian ; the one was cut off in Club), i>. 339.]
THE SINCLA.IRS OF DUNBEATH AND LATHERON. 85
seems also to have had some rights over Stemster. He The sinciairs of married, in 1632, Jean, daughter of John Cunningham l^J^.^jj"" of Brownhill. In 1647 he was dead. He left four sons and three daughters : —
1. Wilham of Dunbeath and Geanies.
2. John of Brabster-myre, ancestor of the family of
Sinclair-Sutherland of Brabster.
3. Alexander of Stemster, who married Anna, daugh-
ter of Sir James Sinclair of Murkle, and died without issue.
4. George of Barrock, ancestor of the Sinciairs of
Barrock.
1. Elizabeth, who married, in 1657, Walter Bruce of
Ham, and was afterwards "Lady Olrig," as wife of George Sinclair of Olrig.
2. Jean, who married, in 1651, Magnus Mowat of
Buchollie.^
3. Margaret, who married Sir William Dunbar of
Hempriggs.
II. William Sinclair of Dunbeath, Latheron, and
Geanies, sometimes erroneously styled " Sir William," was a gentleman of considerable estate and position, and, in addition to his landed property, held large apprisings affecting the earldom, although before his death he appears to have had considerable debts. In 1661 he was one of the County Commissioners in the Scottish
1 Contract of Marriage.
86 THE SINCLAIKS OF DUNBEATH AND LATHERON.
Tiie sinciairs of Parliament. He married, in 1656, his cousin, Elizabeth, Latheron. daughter of Sir James Sinclair of Mey, who survived
him, and died in 1722. He died in 1690, and had five
sons and six daughters : —
1. Alexander, younger of Dunbeath, a Commissioner
of Suj)ply in 1685. He died without issue.
2. John, heir to his father.
3. William of Stemster, to which he succeeded on
the death of his micle, Alexander. He married Helen Munro, and died without issue in 1699.
4. James, afterwards Sir James.
5. David, who died without issue.
1. Anne, eldest daughter.
2. Elizabeth, who married, in 1698, James Sutherland
of Langwell, and died without issue.
3. Janet, who married Andrew Bruce of Muness,
Shetland, and died without issue.
4. Jean, who married, in 1682, Sir George Sinclair of
Clyth.
5. Margaret.
6. Katharine, "Lady Bowermadden," who married
Sh Patrick Dunbar. The daughters are mentioned in the above order of seniority in a "Memorial" in 1754 regarding their provisions.
III. John Sinclair, as the eldest surviving son, took up, on the death of his brother, Alexander, the
THE SINCLAIRS OF DUNBEATH AND LATHERON. 87
succession to the estates of Dunbeath, Lathevon, and The Sindairs of Geanies, the last named of which he sold, in 1703, to Latheron "" -^neas Macleod of CadboU.
He is said to have been a weak man, and to have made a marriage so displeasing to his father that "he conceived a mortal hatred to him." Certain it is that in addition to his wife's liferent of Dunbeath, and his own debts, his father burdened him with large provi- sions to his other children, besides reserving the appris- ings against the earldom, amounting to 14,000 merks.
John Sinclair mai'ried Isabella, daughter of M'Kenzie of Ardloch, and had two sons and a daughter : —
1. James, his successor in Latheron.
2. William, Colonel in the Bavarian service, who left
no issue. He is named in a disposition and settlement by his brother in 1746. 1. Barbara, who died unmarried.*
IV. James Sinclair of Latheron, and heir-apparent of Dunbeath, never got possession of the latter estate, through the machinations of his uncle, James. In 1728 he married Frances, daughter of John Sinclair of liattar, by whom he had an only child, James.
1 [There must have been a married in the Kirktown of Latheron ; on Sept.
daughter, Mrs. Tyrie : for David Tyrie, 27, 1790, heir-general of his uncle,
cabinetmaker, Edinburgh, was, on Nov. James Sinclair of Latheron, and on
22, 1790, served heir of line and pro- Dec. G, 1792, heir-general of his cousin,
vision special of his great-great-grand- James Sinclair of Latheron.] father, Alexander Sinclair of Latheron,
88 THE SINCLAIRS OF DUNBEATH AND LATHERON.
The sinoiairs of In 1751 and 1753, with consent of his son, he sold
Dunbeath and ,. ,. -r^i t i-i i • ^ -fiyii-
Latheron. liis claim to Dunbeath to his brother-m-law, Wilham Sinclair of Freswick. He supported the Rebellion in 1745, and although considered " a weak and tunid man," he collected one hundred men, and attended a muster at Spittal Hill. He also fought a duel with William Sinclair of Bridgend, son of George Sinclair of Barrock. He died in 1775.
V. James Sinclair, the last of Latheron, died unmarried in 1788.
Robert Manson Sinclair of Bridgend, as trustee for James Sinclair of Latheron, raised a reduction of the sale of Dunbeath to William of Freswick against his son, John, on various grounds, but after considerable litigation the process ended unsuccessfully.
VI. Reverting to the succession to the estate of Dunbeath, it appears that on the death of William Sinclau-, his fourth son, James, got from his mother a renunciation of her liferent of Dunbeath, at that time worth £200 per annum, and then he ejected her from possession, a step which led to a complaint at her instance to the Privy Coimcil. Next he bought up the famUy provisions and the debts due by his brother ; and finally, in 1720, he adjudged Dunbeath for £48,000 Scots, and was infeft in 1722. In the same yeai- his mother's liferent ceased by her death, and he entered on possession
THE SINCLAIRS OF DUNBEATH AND LATHERON. 89
of Dimbeatli. In 1704 he was created a baronet,^ and lie The smciairs o: died in the Abbey in 1742. ^^ '^'^'
Sir James Sinclair appears to have been a man of a violent and somewhat unscrupulous character. In 1734, as Baron of Dunbeath, he held a Criminal Court and adjudged one William Sinclair to death for the crime of . theft. But the proceedings were quashed, and Sinclair having raised an action against Sir James, obtained large damages. In 1739 one George Sutherland raised an action for wrongous imprisonment against Sir James, in which the latter was subjected to a fine and damages, and declared incapable of public trust in time coming.
Sir James was twice married — first, to Isabel, daughter of Sir Archibald Muir of Thornton, Provost of Edinburgh, by whom he had four sons and a daughter: —
1. William, afterwards Sir William.
2. Alexander, to whom his brother, Benjamin, was
served heir.
3. Benjamin, afterwards Sir Benjamin.
4. Archibald, who died in Jamaica, unmarried.
1. Margaret, who married William Sinclair- of Achin- gale and Newton.
Sir James married, secondly, and shortly before his death, Isabel, daughter of John Lumsden, shipmaster in Aberdeen, by whom he had a daughter —
' [By patent, dated Oct. 12, 1704, to him " ejusque haeredes masculos in perpetuum." — Register of the Great Seal.]
M
90 THE SINCLAIRS OF DUNBEATH AKD LATHEROX.
The Sinciairs of Jean, who married Kobert Campbell, linen draper,
Uunheath and
Latueron. Abbey hill, Edinburgh.^
In 1721 Murdoch Campbell in Brubster married Janet, a daughter of Sir James, and probably a natural child, as no mention of her is found in the family pedigree.
VII. Sir William Sinclair of Dunbeath and Keiss succeeded his father, Sir James. Keiss was acquired by the famdy through a transaction with Lord Breadalbane, embracing the discharge of the apprisings against the earldom. As heir-apparent to Dunbeath, Sir WUliam sold his interest therein, in 1752, to William Sinclair of Freswick, and, in 1753-54, he made up a title. Having fallen into pecuniary difficulties, he sold Keiss to " Ulbster " for £7000 sterling.
He married Charlotte, second daughter of Dame Elizabeth and Sir James Dunbar of Hempriggs, and had two sons and a daughter : — •
1. Captain Alexander Sinclaii\
2. Kennedy Muir Sinclair, of whom there are no
particulars, but it is presumed he died without issue.
Vin. Captain Alexander Sinclair married Eliza-
^ [As "wife of Lieutenant Robert wife of Sir James Sinclair, in Keiss and Campbell, — Regt.," she was served heir other lands, on Dec. 19, 1777. See to her mother, Dame Isabel Lumsden, p. 91.]
THE SINCLAIES OF DUNBEATH AND LATHERON.
beth, daughter of Eric Sutherland, eldest son of Kenneth, The sinciairs of third Lord Duffus, a only son, Alexander.
third Lord Duffus, and died before lais father, leaving an Latheron.
IX. SiB Alexander Sinclair went to the West Indies, and perished at sea on his passage from Jamaica to HaHfax in 1786. He is not known to have left any issue.
X. Sir Benjamin Sinclair of Stemster, third son of Sir James, took up the title on the death of his grand- nephew. Sir Alexander. He was served heir to his brother, Alexander, and in 1740 he had received a dispo- sition to Stemster from his father, but he was all his life in straitened circumstances. He manned Jean, youngest daiighter of John Sinclair of Assery, and had a son and two daughters : —
1. John.
1. Isabella, eldest daughter, who died unmarried.
From the reduced circumstances of her father she was quite unprovided for, and was dependent on her aunts, " Mrs. Ay ton of Kippo and Mrs. Captain Campbell of St. James' Square." Who Mrs. Ayton was does not appear, but her aunt, Jean, having married a Mr. Campbell, she is probably the Mrs. Captain Campbell mentioned.
2. Helen, who married Dr. Watson, head of the
Medical Board at Madras, and had a son.
'J'2 THE SINCLAIRS OF DUNBEATH AND LATHERON.
The sinciairs of XL SiR JoHN SINCLAIR, onlj son of Sir Benjamin, Latheron. took up the stjle of " Sinclair of Dunbeath," as heir to the baronetcy created in 1704 in the person of his grandfather. Sir James, then in possession of that estate. After serving as heutenant in the Sutherland Fencibles, he went to India, where he attained the rank of Major- General, and returning to England he died there in 1842. He married Miss Notley at Madras in 1803. She died in 1806. By her he had a son and a daughter : — John Notley, who died young.
Jane, who married, in 1822, Patrick Wallace, of the Honourable East India Company's Naval Service, and has issue. Sir John married, secondly, Sarah Charlotte Carter, who died, in 1867, without issue, at the age of 85.
Sir John was the last heir-male of Sir James Sinclair in the direct line, and by the death of James Sinclair of Latheron in 1788, the baronetcy opened up to the descendants of George Sinclair, first of Barrock (Sir James Sinclair's uncle), in the person of John Sinclair, fifth of Barrock, who was accordingly served heir in 1842, The heir-male of John Sinclair, fii'st of Brabster, an elder brother of George Sinclair of Barrock, would have been prior in succession, but the Brabster male line had failed on the death of the two sons of George, thu'd of Brabster. In the event of the failure of heirs-male of Sinclair of Durran, the family of Barrock appears to be next in succession to the earldom of Caithness.
THE SINCLAIR SUTHERLANDS OF BRABSTER OR BRABSTER-MYRE.
I. John Sinclair, first of this family, was second son The Sinclair of Alexander Sinclair of Latheron, and his wife, Jean Brabster "/ ° Cunningham, daughter of John Cunningham of Brown- Biabster-myre. hill. On 2d December 1650 his uncle, Sir John Sinclair of Geanies and Dunbeath, disponed to him the lands of Brabster-myre, which he had acquired from the Mowat family. He had probably been involved in the political troubles of the time, for in 1658 John Murray, writer in Edinburgh (son of Mun'ay of Pennyland), writing to Walter Bruce of Ham, who had married Brabster's sister, says — " If your brother-in-law, John Sinclair, be come home, he would doe weill to keep himself quiet, for this day Ortoun shews me who has been in Dalkeith, yet the General has sent ane ordere to Capt. Pantimane to apprehend him when he comes into the country." John Sinclair married Elizabeth, daughter of Patrick Sinclair of Ulbster, and had a son and a daughter : — Alexander, his successor.
Jean, who married Harry Innes of Borlum, ancestor of the late family of Innes of Sandside.
THE SINCLAIE SUTHERLANDS
The Sinclair From a bond of annuity dated 6th December 1683,
Brabsteror Jobn Sinclair appears to have had a second wife, for in
Brabster-myre. ^j^-^ ^^^^ j^^ providcs an annuity of 500 merks to his
" beloved bedfellow and spouse," Sibella Halcrow. This
lady may have been of the Orkney family of Halcro of that ilk.
II. Alexander Sinclair of Brabster married Margaret, daughter of John Sinclair of Kattar, and had two sons : —
1. George, his successor.
2. Patrick.
After the death of Alexander SLaclair, his widow married Alexander Gibson, minister of Canisbay.
III. George Sinclair of Brabster married Janet, second daughter of James Sutherland of Langwell, and his wife, Ann, daughter of Patrick Sinclau- of Ulbster, " Lady Brabster " lived to a great age, and was a shrewd active woman when in her eighty-first year. In 1787 she purchased West Canisbay. George Sinclair had tAvo sons and a daughter : —
1. Captain Alexander, who died in 1756.
2. James, who was dro%vned at Elgin. 1. Anne, his successor.
IV. Mrs. Anne Sinclair of Brabster married, in 1762, her cousin, Robert Sutherland of Langwell, son of
OF BRABSTEB OR BRABSTER-MYRE. 95
James of Langwell, and his wife, Rachel Dunbar, daughter The Sinclair of Dame Elizabeth and Sir James Dunbar of Hempriggs, Brabster or and had two sons and a daughter : — ""* ster-mjre.
1. James, who died in his nineteenth year.
2. George, her successor.
1. Alexandrina, who married James Macbeath, and had issue.
V. George Sinclair Sutherland op Brabster married his cousin, Margaret, daughter of George Gibson, and grand-daughter of Alexander Gibson, minister of Canisbay, and his wife, Margaret, daughter of John Sinclair of Rattar. He died in 1840, and had seven sons and five daughters : —
1. Robert, Lieutenant-Colonel in the East India
Company's Service, who died in 1863, without surviving issue. He married his cousin, Mar- garet, daughter of Donald Robeson, Writer in Thurso, who survived him, and died in 1869.
2. James.
3. George, who died without issue in 1869.
4. Alexander, who died without issue in 1862.
5. John, Captain in the East India Company's Ser-
vice, who died vsdthout issue in 1844.
6. David, a merchant in America, who has issue.
7. WiUiam, M.D. in Austraha, who has issue.
1. Janet, who died unmarried in 1865.
2. Anne, who died unmarried in 1824.
96 THE SINCLAIR SUTHERLANDS.
The Sinclair 3. Margaret, who died unmarried in 1868.
Brabsteror 4. Camilla, who died unmarried in 1849.
Brabswr-myre. ^ Elizabeth, who married the Rev. Mr. M'Gregor, and has issue, three sons.
VI. James Sinclair Sutherland of Brabster suc- ceeded in 1863, when the estate was conveyed to him by his father's trustees ; and in 1865 he sold it to the Earl of Caithness for £16,500. He left two sons.
Had George Sinclair Sutherland, fifth of Brabster, been an heir-male of this family, he, as the descendant of an elder son of Alexander Smclair of Latheron, would have succeeded in 1842, in preference to John Sinclair of Barrock, to the baronetcy of Dunbeath.
THE SINCLAIRS OF BAEROCK.
I. George Sinclair, first of Barrock, was the The sinciairs of
fourth son of Alexander Sinclair of Latheron, and was grandson of George Sinclair of Mey. From a provision of 6000 merks received from his uncle, Sk John Sinclair of Geanies and Dunbeath, he acquired the lands of Bar- rock, which he held in wadset from the family of Battar, and although the wadset was redeemed in 1673 by John Sinclair, then of Rattar, and though the lands now belong to Mr. Traill, the family designation continues to be "Sinclair of Barrock." Between 1681 and 1697 he purchased one-third of Lyth, part of Hastigrow, Fitches, and Sortopt (all of which, except Hastigrow, still form part of the family estate) ; and in 1698 he acquii'ed from the Mowats the estate of Swinzie, now called Lochend.
George Sinclair was thi'ee times married, and died in 1724, aged 90 years.
By his first wife, Anne Dunbar, daughter of John Dunbar of Hempriggs, he had a son and three daugh- ters : —
1, John, his successor.
1. Jean, who married John Sinclair of Stirkoke.
Barrock.
98 THE SINCLAIilS OF BAKROCK.
The sinciairs of 2. Katharine, wlio married Charles Sinclair of Bilb-
Barrock. ,
ster.
3. Margaret, who married James Murray of Clairden.
By his second wife, Elizabeth Murray, daughter of David Murray of Claii'den, and widow of William Innes of Isauld and Sandside, he had three sons and two daughters : —
1. Alexander Sinclair of Swinzie, which he got from
his father. — Vide Sinclair Sutherland of Swinzie.
2. William, who married Sidney, daughter and co-
heiress of George Manson of Bridge-end. — Vide Manson Sinclair.
3. David.
1. Elizabeth, who married John Sinclau' of Durran.
2. Anne, who died unmarried.
His third wife was Elizabeth Cuuuning, daughter of William Gumming, the last Episcopal mmister of Halkirk, and his wife Katharine, daughter of John Murray of Penny land. By this marriage he had four sons and a daughter : —
1. James, who died abroad.
2. George.
3. Robert.
4. Benjamin, who was sometime in Duncansbay.
I. Janet, who died unmarried in 1772. None of the sons left issue.
II. John Sinclair, eldest son of George, was the
THE SINCLAIRS OF BABROCK. 99
second Sinclair of Barrock. Between 1696 and 1737 heTteSmoiairst purchased the following lands, viz., from the Mansons part of Kirk ; also the remainder of Kirk and part of Myi'elandhorn and Bowertower ; from James Calder the lands of Sibster or Sibsterwick, Thurster, Heshwell, and Quoylee, parts of the Stirkoke estate; and from Sir James Sinclair of Dunbeath, Howe, Myreland, and Quintfal. In 1726 he excambed his part of Kirk, Hastigrow, and Myrelandhorn, with David Sinclair of Dun, for the other two-thirds of Lyth, Blister, Alterwall, and Crooks of Howe. He died in 1743.
He was twice married,^ first to Anne, daughter of Eobert Sinclair of Durran, and widow of James Suther- land of Langwell. By her he had a son and three daughters : — ■
1. Alexander, liis successor, who was bom in 1706.
1. Jean, who married George Murray of Claii'den.
2. Margaret, who married Su- James Sinclair of Mey.^
3. Elizabeth.
His second wife was his cousin, Janet, daughter of Dame Elizabeth and Sir James Dunbar of Hempriggs.^ She afterwards married Harry Innes of Borlimi and Sandside. By her John Sinclair had three sons and a daughter : —
1. George, who was an officer m the army, and who
1 Contract of Marriage, 25tli July 1709.
2 Contract of Marriage, 27th November 1735.
3 Contract of Marriage, 31st December 1737.
100 THE SINCLAIRS OF BARROCK.
Tiie sinciairs of died of a wound ill Antigua in 1759, wliile he
Barrock. . °
was still a minor.
2. James, who died young.
3. John, who succeeded to Sibster, and who married
Helen, daughter of George Sinclair of Stirkoke, by whom he had a son, Benjamin. The estate was judicially sold, and John Sinclair and his son left the county.
III. Alexander Sinclair of Barrock married
Jean, second daughter of William Sinclair of Freswick,^ and had three sons and four daughters : —
1. John, his successor.
2. William, W.S., who died unmarried. He was last
substitute in the entail executed by his uncle, John of Freswick.
3. George, bond of provision dated in 1764.
1. Katherine, who died unmarried.
2. Anne, who died unmarried.
3. Margaret, who married Colonel Borth'odck, and
had no issue.
4. Jean, who married William Charles Beoch,^ and
had no issue.
IV. John Sinclair of Barrock married, first. Miss
1 Contract of Marriage, 29th October 1753. - Contract of Marri.-ige, 6th August 1795.
THE SINCLAIRS OF BARROCK. 101
Ann Longmire of Penrith,^ and had two sons and five The smciairs of
, , Barrock.
daughters : —
1. Alexander, who died young.
2. John, his successor.
1. Maria, who died unmarried, 9th March 1876, aged
87.
2. Jane, who married William Sinclair of Freswick.
3. Anne, who married Wdham Smith, minister of
Bower, and had issue.
4. Margaret, who married Mr. Paton, and had issue.
5. Elizabeth, who married Allan Robertson, a Lieu-
tenant in the army, afterwards Sheriif-clerk of Caithness, and had issue, a son and several daiighters. John Sinclair's second wife was Janet MUler, by whom he had two sons and three daughters : —
1. William, who died young.
2. Donald, M.D., who died in 1873, and left issue.
1. Isabella, who married the Rev. Peter Jolly, Dun-
net, and had two daughters.
2. Jessie, who married Mi\ Scarth of Binscarth.
3. Catherine, who married Mr. Sime.
V. John Sinclair of Barrock succeeded his father, and in 1842, on the death of General Sir John Sinclair, he took up the baronetcy of Dunbeath, granted in 1704 to James Sinclair of Dunbeath, nephew of George Sin-
' Postnuptial Contract of Marriage, 6th and 10th February 1796.
102 THE SINCLAIRS OF BARROCK.
The sinciairs of clair, first of BaiTock. In 1821 he married Margaret,
Barrock. .
daughter of John Learmonth, Esq., Edinburgh. Sn John died 21st April 1873, and was buried at Holy rood. He had three sons and a daughter : —
1. John, his eldest son. Captain in the 39th Madras
Native Infantiy, was killed in action, at Jhansi, in the Indian Mutiny, 5th April 1858. He was unmarried.
2. Alexander Young, Lieutenant- Colonel in the Bom-
bay Army, died at Jeypore, Bombay, 3d February 1871. In 1861 he married Margaret Crichton, daughter of James Alston, Esq. He left two sons and a daughter : —
1 . John Rose George, who is a minor, and who
has succeeded to the estate and baronetcy.
2. Norman Alexander. 1. Margaret.
3. George, retired Captain in the Bengal Army,
married in 1859 Agnes, only daughter of John Learmonth of the Dean, and died 23d March 1871, leaving three sons. 1. Grace Elizabeth, Sir John's only daughter, died
yoimg. His three sons were gentlemen of high character and promise, and their death in the prime of life occasioned much general regret.
THE SINCLAIES OF STIRKOKE.
I. In 1507 David Sinclair obtained a Crown charter The sinciairs of of Stirkoke and Alterwall, in wliich he is designed " filio natnrali quond. Joannis Magistri Cathanensis," and in
1588 he obtained letters of legitmiatiou. He died before 1595, and left a son, John, as also a natui-al son. Colonel George Sinclair, who was slain in an expedition to Nor- way in 1612.
II. John Sinclair of Stirkoke was slain in a fight at Thurso in 1612. It is uncertain whether he had any issue.
III. Francis Sinclair, Laird of Stirkoke, in 1624, was a natural son of George, fifth Earl of Caithness.
In Captain Kennedy's MS, relative to Caithness matters, he states that Francis Smclair's mother was one Barbara Mearns. In February 1670 Christian Mearns, daughter of William Mearns in Wick, as nearest heir of her grandfather, George Mearns of Occumster, Achavar, and Smeraiy,^ and of her grand-uncle, Wilham Mearns of
' Inventory of Caithness titles.
104 THE SINCLAIRS OF STIRKOKE.
The sinciairs of Occiimster, granted a disposition to Francis Sinclair, whose mother, if Captain Kennedy's account is correct, was perhaps of this family.
Francis Sinclair married Margaret WiUiamson, and had thi'ee sons and two daughters : —
1. Francis, his successor.
2. John.
3. Gustavus.
1. Marjory, who was the fifth wife of Donald, first
Lord Reay, by whom he had three sons, WiUiam of Kinloch, Chai'les of Sandwood, and Rupert ; and two daughters, Margaret, who died in Thurso in 1720, and Christian, who married, in 1650, Alexander Gunn of Killernan (Clan Gunn), and was in 1668 infeft in liferent in lands of Navi- dale, etc., on disposition by her husband.
2. Anne, who married Colonel Francis Sinclair' in
Scrabster, a son of John Sinclair, first of Assery.
IV. Francis Sinclair of Stirkoke married, in 1658, Anne, eldest daughter of Patrick Sinclau- of Ulbster. His mother, Margaret WilUamson, and his "uncle," Francis of Northfield, second son of George, fifth Earl, were parties to the contract of marriage, thus showing that his father, Francis, must have been one of the two natural sons of Earl George. Francis Sinclair had four sons and a daughter : —
1. Patrick, eldest son in 1676.
THE SINCLAIRS OF STIRKOKE. 105
2. John, his successor. The SincUirs of
3. George, called the second son, who had a charter ^^^''^° '^'
to Sibster-Wick in 1673-75.
4. Charles of Bilbster, who married, first, Katharine,
daughter of George Sinclair of Barrock, and, secondly, Mary Dunbar. His only child, Fenella, married Donald Sinclair of Olrig. Charles Sinclair had the unenviable sohriquet of " Earl of Hell." 1. Jean, who married John Gibson, minister of Evie, Orkney, brother of Alexander Gibson, minister of Canisbay.
V. John Sinclair of Stirkoj^e was served heir to his father in 1681, and died about 1706. He married Margaret, daughter of Sir James Sinclair' of Mey, and had two sons : —
1. Francis.
2. George.
VI. Francis Sinclair of Stirkoke had several daughters, but no male issue ;^ and in 1710 he disponed the estate to his brother, George. His daughter, Frances, was married to Bernard Clunes, merchant in Cromarty, by whom she had a family. Some litigation took place between her and her uncle in regard to the succession to
1 170G.
o
106 THE SmCLAIRS OF STIRKOKE.
The Sinciairs of tlie lands, wHcli, uudei" a submission, were awarded to
Stirkoke. , . , . ,
nnn as neir-male.
VII. George Sinclair of Stirkoke married Isabella Strahan. He died in 1744, and had three sons and two daughters : —
1. Charles, apparent in 1768.
2. Francis, who was a shipmaster in Wick.
1. Elizabeth, who married George Smith in Dunnet.
2. Helen, who married John Sinclair of Sibster.
VIII. Charles Sinclair of Stirkoke mai-ried Eliza- beth, daughter of Alexander Sinclair' of Olrig, and had an only daughter, Katharine Sinclair of Stirkoke, who resided and died at Scorraclett unmarried.
The arms of Francis Sinclair of Stirkoke, as recorded in the Lyon Office, were : — " Tlie quartered coat of Caithness, with the cross ingrailed, dividing the quarters, all within a hordure gohonated gules and or ; Crest, a naked arm issuing out of a cloud, grasping a small sword, with another lying by, all proper ; Motto, IHe vincit, ego mereo." The " bordure gobonated" is a distinctive mark of Ulegitimacy.
THE SINCLAIES OF DUN.
There is difficulty in determining Avitli certainty the The sinciairs of origin of the Sinciairs of Dun, but they are believed to be cadets of the Caithness family.
In a notice in Calder's " History of Caithness " they are said to have settled in Caithness in 1379, and to have possessed the lands of Dun nearly a century before any others of the name appear to have acqiiired a footing in the county. But no evidence has been found to support this view ; and there is no reason given for fixing on so early a date as the period of the settlement of this branch of the Suiclahs in Caithness ; nor indeed does it appear " that the name had any connection with the county till after the grant of the earldom in 1456," as stated by Mr. Alexander Sinclair.^ On the other hand, it is certain that in 1508, and even at a much later period, the lands of Dun were possessed by the Caldells or Calders, and there is no trace of a " Sinclau- of Dun " sooner than 1540. In that year, as appears from an old inventory of title- deeds of the Groats, which is given by Calder, one " John Sinclair of Dmi " was, along with other " honest men," a witness to a deed granted by the Earl of Caithness. In
1 Letter, March 1867.
108 THE SINCLAIRS OF DUN.
TheSinciairsof 1541 " David Sinclair of Dunn" was cautioner in a tack of teinds to the Earl of Caithness, and in 1544 " William Caldall of Dunn " m witness to an instru- ment of sasine in favour of Margaret and Helen Brisbane.
In a MS. wiitten about 1770, by the late William Sinclair of Freswick, who was himself a descendant of the family of Dun, their progenitor is said to have been David, second son of William, second Earl of Caithness. In a charter granted in January 1560, to David Sinclair, then of Dun, by John, fifth Earl of Sutherland, and his wife Eleanor, they style liim, "noster consanguineus- germanus ; " but even on the supposition at one time generally entertained by genealogists, though now dis- carded, that Lady Marjorie, the mother of William, second Earl of Caithness, was cousin-german, or, as she is called by Gordon, " near cousin," to Ehzabeth, Countess of Sutherland (the grandmother of Earl John), David, the supposed son of the Earl of Caithness, would only, after all, stand to Earl John in the degree of third cousin. If, however, as stated in the notice in Calder's " History," the relationship between David Sinclair of Dun and Earl John was merely that of " cousins hy conscmguiniti/," that requirement is no doubt met if David Sinclau' really was the son of Earl William. But Earl William's only sons of whom we have certain mention are John, liis successor, Alexander of Stemster, and William, a natural son, who was legitimized in 1542. How then David of Dun and
THK SINCLAIES OF DUN. 109 i
Eai'l John could liave been cousins-german, remains to be The sinciairs of j
, . , Dun.
explained.
In a MS. on Caithness aflfairs by the late Captain j
Kennedy of Wick, it is said that " George, foinrth Earl '
of Caithness, had a son called David, who begat John
. . I
Sinclair of Dun and William Sinclair of Forss-Milns." ^
This, if true, might account for the John Sinclair of 1540, ;
mentioned in Groat's Inventory; but then there is no I
evidence that the fourth Earl had a son named David, although he had a natural brother, David Sinclair, who was Bailie to the Bishop of Caithness, and who appears in 1541 as cautioner for the Earl in a tack of the teind sheaves of Canisbay, and who is likewise mentioned as having been imprisoned by his brother in Girnigo Castle. About the middle of the sixteenth century, and pro- bably not later than 1557 or 1558, George, the fourth Earl, arranged a marriage between Y M'Kay of Farr, and Christian Sinclair, who is designed by Gordon as "daughter to the laird of Dun, and cousin to the Earl." It is evident that, if this lady was the Earl's cousin only, the Earl could not have been the father of this laird of Dun. M'Kay, referring to this marriage, says (p. 152), that Christian Sinclair was the daughter of " William Sinclau", laird of Dun," and that she was the Earl's cousin. If Earl George's illegitimate uncle, William, the son of WiUiam, the second Earl, was laird of Dun, then Chris- tian Sinclair and Earl George were certainly cousins- german ; but there appears to be no evidence that
110 THE SmCLAIRS OF DUN.
The sinciairs of Christian Sinclair's father was named William, although so stated by M'Kay.
In the above-mentioned charter granted to David Sinclair of Dun, in 1560, the Earl of Sutherland gives to him in liferent, and to " his sons," William, Alexander, and Hemy, in succession, and to the " heirs-male of their bodies lawfully begotten," in fee, the lands of Forss and Baillie. It appears that in 1586 a Henry Sinclair, who unques- tionably was the brother of Clii'istian, the laird of Dun's daughter, was killed m a fight with the Clan Gunn, then under command of Hutcheon M'Kay, who was a son of Christian Sinclair, and therefore Henry's own nephew. As no other Henry Sinclair is mentioned about the same period, except Hemy, the son of David of Dim, it may be that Christian Sinclair's brother was the same Hemy Sinclau' who is named in the charter, and thus that she was a daughter of David Smclair of Dun. If so, as she was " cousin to the Earl of Caithness," so must her father also have been connected with that family.
There is extant a summons dated 12th March, in the 20th year of Queen Mary — that is the year 1562 — at the instance of John Sinclair, " eldest son and heir of the deceased David Sinclair of Dim," with consent of his curators, the Earl of Caithness and John Grote, against William Sinclair of Forss, as an intromitter with the writs and evidents of David Sinclair, immediately after his decease in March 1560. In this action WiUiam Sinclair is called upon to produce acquittances given to
THE SINCLAIRS OF DUN. Ill
David Sinclair of Dun by the Execiitors of James Brodie, The sinciairs of
Archdeacon of Caithness, for rents due by the tenants
in the temporal lands of the Arch-deanery, from 1547 to
1558; acquittances from 1528 to 1560, by the Bishop,
for the teind sheaves of Staneland, Forss, and Baillie,
and for the maills and duties of the temporal lands of
the bishopric, and fitted accounts between the Bishop
and David Sinclair of Dim, of his intromissions with the
farms and duties of the earldom of Caithness. If David
Sinclair had been the Chamberlain or Bailie of the
Bishopric, the writs which William Sinclair is called upon
to produce, as taken by him from the repositories of the
deceased, are just such documents as David would properly
have had in his possession ; and it has been shown that
David, a son of John, Earl of Caithness, actually held the
office of Bailie to the Bishop. As this Earl lived till 1529,
there is no difficulty in supposing his son to have lived till
1560 ; andthus, the father of John Sinclair of Dun of 1562,
may have been David, the natural son of Earl John.
The summons makes no reference to any relationship between David Sinclair of Dun and William Sinclair of Forss ; and thus, while it is certain that the latter was a son of the David Sinclair of Dun who got the charter in January 1560, and that John Sinclair was the son of a David Sinclair of Dun who died in March 1560, still it is not known that the two Davids were identical, and that William Sinclair of Forss and John Sinclair of Dun were brothers.
112 THE SINCLAIRS OF DUN.
The sinoiairs of If the circumstance that John Sinclair sues, in 1562, tdth consent of curators, is to be taken as proof that he was then a minor, it is difficult to reconcile the fact of his having been the eldest son and heir of his father, with his being brother to WilHam Sinclair of Forss, for the latter in 1561 had been admitted as vassal in Forss to the Earl of Sutherland ; had granted deeds as owner in possession of these lands ; had been witness to the execu- tion of important deeds, and had thus conducted himself as a man of full age. But if the David Sinclair who got the charter in January 1560, and the David Sinclair who died in March of the same year, were the same, then William of Forss and John of Dun must have been brothers, and WHliarn Sinclair and his brothers, Alex- ander and Henry, may have been sons by a previous marriage, and John may have been made the heir to the Dun estate under some family arrangement similar to that by which William was provided with Forss and BaUhe. Or, lastly, David Sinclair may have had an elder son, David, who, after succeeding to Dun, had died young and left his son and heir, John, a minor, who would thus be the nephew of William Sinclau', and not his brother. Among the writs taken possession of by William Sinclair, the summons of exhibition includes a contract between David Sinclair of Dun and the Master of Oliphant, in regard to these lands, by which the Master, who had in 1549 obtained a grant of the non- entry dues of Dun, obliged himself to give a new infeft-
THE SINCLAIES OF DUN. 113
ment thereof. This deed, if it be still in existence, The smcuirs of
would no doubt throw some light on the history of the
family.
Finally, there is an account of this family in Father Hay's " St. Clairs of Roslyn." It is there said : " St. Clair of Doun is a great-grand-child of John, Lord Beridall. The first of this surname who obtained these lands was one David, who married one Marie, heretrix of Doun, daughter to Wilham Caldar, and begot John, who espoused Agatha, daughter of Heugh Grant or Grott of Souldon, upon whom he begott William, who espoused Margaret, daughter of Sir WiUiam Keith of Loutquarne, by whom he had several childering : they all dieing, their uncle, William, second sone to the foresaid John and Agatha, succeeded, and married Marjorie, daughter to Saul Bruce, Laird of Leith (Lyth), who bore to him David, his successor, married upon Janet, daughter of John Saintclare of Olbstar. This David was laird of Doun."
It is noticeable that these various accounts of the origin of the family, with the exception of the incidental reference to John of 1540, all point to a David Sinclair as the first laird of Dun, although they difier as to his paternity. But if Hay's "David, laird of Dun," who married Ulbster's daughter, was the son, as he is supposed to have been, and not the grandson of John Sinclair, as his pedigree of the family makes him to be, then this David Sinclair might have been ''the great- P
114 THE SINCLAIRS OF DUN.
The sinciaivs of c/rand-cMld of John, Lord Beridall" (afterwards third Earl of Caithness), and the grandson of the Earl's natural son, David, the Bishop's Bailie. Mr. Alexander Sinclair (Ulbster), who has given much attention to genealogical subjects, writes in March 1867, "I always thought that Dun came from David, son of John, thii'd Earl of Caith-
JoHN Sinclair, eldest son and heir of David, suc- ceeded him in these lands. In 1591 he was infeft on a charter by the Earl of Caithness, and in 1592 he got a Crown charter of confirmation. He was twice married, and had by his first wife, whose name is imknown, three sons : —
1. David, his successor, who makes reference to his
father's second wife as his "mother-in-law," or step-mother.
2. James, who is mentioned by Gordon as that
" brother of the lahd of Dun," who was wounded in a fight in Thurso, in 1612.
3. George, designed, in 1616, as son of " Umquhile
John Sinclau' of Dun." John Sinclair's second wife was Agatha Grote, no doubt the lady who is mentioned by Hay as the daughter of Hugh Grote of "Souldon." She was life- rented in Dun, and her name occurs in connection with it from 1628 to 1642. By her John Sinclair had a
THE SINCLAIKS OF DUN. 115
William, ancestor of the Southdun branch of the The sincUirs of family. ^'"^
David Sinclair of Dun, son and heir of John,^ suc- ceeded his father, and was twice married. He is the same David Sinclair who, in Hay's account of the family, is said to have married " Janet," daughter of John Sinclair of Ulbster ; but it is certain, from a charter granted to him and his first wife in 1606, by the Earl of Caithness, of the tenpenny lands of Dun, that the lady's name was Blizaheth.
His second wife was Margaret, daughter of Donald Sutherland of Forss, who was styled " Lady Dun." She survived her husband and afterwards married Charles Calder of Lynegar.
By his first marriage David Sinclair had three sons ; and by his second marriage, a daughter : —
1. Francis, his successor.
2. William, afterwards of Dim.
3. James.
1. Jean, who married George Sinclair of Forss, in 1695.
Francis Sinclair of Dim was served heu- to his father, David, in 1650, and married Jean, daughter of John Sinclair of Ulbster, by whom he had a daughter —
Katharine.
Wniiam Sinclair of Dun was served heir of provision to his brother, Francis, and in 1663 he got a charter from
' Sasine, 1609.
116 THE SINCLAIRS OF DUN.
The sinciairs of tlie Archdean of Caithness of Scarmclett, Lan-el, Galsh- field, Clayock, and Campster. He was three times married, first in 1643, to EHzabeth, daughter of Alex- ander Sutherland of Forse ; secondly, to Isabel, daughter of John Sinclair of Assery; and thirdly, to Katharine Sinclair, " Lady Dun," daughter of Alexander Sinclair of Telstane. He had two sons and two daughters : —
1. Alexander, his successor.
2. David.
1. Jean, who married, in 1670, William, son of John
Sinclair of Assery.
2. , who married David Sinclair of Broynach (see
Murkle), and had a son and daughter.
By which of his three wives William Sinclair had these children does not appear, but his daughter, Jean, could not have been of the second marriage, as her own husband and her father's second wife were brother and sister.
Alexander Sinclair of Dun received a disposition from his father in 1680. He was twice married. The name of his first wife has not been ascertained. His second wife was Barbara, youngest datighter of Alexander Henderson in Gerston, whom he married in 1751, but he had no issue by her. He died in 1754. He had four sons and two daughters : —
1. William, mentioned in 1731, as younger of Dun.
2. Henry, who resided in Achavrole in 1769, and who
is mentioned as eldest son.
THE SINCLAIRS OF DUN. 117
3. Richard, a merclaaiit in Thurso, who was drowned The smciairs of in crossing the river at Thurso in 1755. He married EHzabeth, sister of John M'Kay of Strathy, and left two infant daughters, Elizabeth and Janet. The former married WiUiam, second son of Sir James Sinclau- of May, better remem- bered as " Willie of Mey." Janet married John Mathers, Surveyor of Customs in Thurso. Both daughters had issue, but their families are extinct. Richard Sinclair has not only given name to " Sin- clair's Pool " in Thiurso river, but has also given occasion to a tale of "second sight," which, although it may have appeared in print, is here recorded. At the time of this accident there was no bi-idge across the river, and it was crossed at a ford, or by a ferry-boat lower down. Mr. Sinclair had crossed to the east side by the ford in the morning, and gone to the country on business. His wife had some female friends with her in the evening, which was dark and rainy ; and having occasion to leave the room where her guests were, she observed, as she believed, her husband pass up-stairs to his room, and she desired the servant to carry up some fire, as he appeared to be very wet. The servant not finding her master in the room, a search was made, with the result that he was not to be found within the house. The appearance seen by Mrs. Sinclair was held to portend coming evil, and accordingly her husband was found drowned in the pool
118 THE SINCLAIRS OF DUN.
The sinciairs of whicli still bcai's liis name, man and horse having been carried off from the ford by a sudden spate in the water. 4. David, the youngest son, who had a provision of 3500 merks.
1. Elizabeth, designed in 1755 as widow of Patrick
Forbes. In 1737 she had a bond of provision from her father.
2. Katharine, who had a provision of 3000 merks. The family estate had become involved in debt, and
what remained of it appears to have been sold in 1751 to David Sinclair of Southdun.
The story in Calder's "History of Caithness" (p. 259) that the possessor of Dun in 1745 shot himself, because balked by his mother in keeping an engagement to join the Stewart party, is certainly without foundation, but whether William, the eldest son and apparent heir m 1731, was ahve in 1745 is uncertain.
Nisbet, whose work on Heraldry was written early in last century, mentions from the Lyon Register the Arms of a " Thomas * Sinclair, descended from the family of Dun in Caithness," but of him there is no trace. The crest was " a demi-man holding in one hand a sea-cat, and in the other a pair of pencUs, all proper," and the Motto, " Sic rectius progredior." He also mentions the Arms of a " Thomas Sinclair, son of William Sinclau", merchant in Thurso, descended of the family of Caithness : " Motto,
^ lu the Register the name is Lain-cnce, [and Nisbet's " sea-cat" is " a sea- cart," i.e. seacbart].
THE SINCLAIRS OF DUN. 119
"Fear God and Live;" but whether this is the same or The sinciaUs ( a different Thomas Sinclair, does not appear.
The Arms of William Sinclair of Dun were argent, a cross ingrailed sahle within a bordure of the second, charged with eight plates argent : Crest, a man on horse- back proper. Motto, " Promptus ad certamen."
THE SINCLAIRS OF SOUTHDUN.
The sinciairs of The Suiclairs of Southdun are cadets of tlie family of Dun, and are descended from John Sinclair of Dun, in 1560, and his second wife, Agatha Grote, who, according to Father Hay's account of the family of Dun, was a daughter of Hugh Grote of " Souldon." There is no place in the county now known, as Souldon, and it is probable that the word is a misnomer for Southdun, although no mention is found of that name imtil the time of John Sinclair's grandson, David, first styled of South- dun. From 1545 till about 1630 there was a family of Grote of Brabsterdorran, one of whom was named Hugh, the father, probably, of Agatha Grote ; and a connection between the Grotes and the Sinciairs is shown by the circumstance of a John Grote hav- ing been one of John Sinclair of Dun's curators ' in 1562. John Sinclair and Agatha Grote had a son, William.
William Sinclair is occasionally styled of Dun, and also in Dun. He married Marjory, daughter of Saul Bruce of Lyth, and in this particular Hay's account of the family is confirmed, as will be seen by referruig to
THE SINCLAIRS OF SOUTHDUN. 121
the " Notes " on Bruce of Lytli. He had two sons and a The sincia:
, , , Southdun.
daughter : —
1. David.
2. Francis, portioner of Brabsterdorran, styled " law-
ful brother of David Sinclair of Southdun," in 1657. 1. Isobel, who married in 1652 Thomas Grote, son of Malcolm Grote of Warse. Malcolm Grote mar- ried Margaret, daughter of George Sinclair of Forss, and his wife, Jean, only daughter of David Sinclair of Dun, thus showing the continued connection between the Grotes and the several branches of the Sinclairs of Dun.
I. David Sinclair of Southdun is the first Sinclair who is so styled, and he is repeatedly mentioned in writings by Agatha Grote, the second wife of John Sinclair of Dun, as her " Oy," or grandchild. He mar- ried Jean, widow of his cousin, Francis Sinclair of Dun, and daughter of John Sinclair of Ulbster. He had four sons and three daughters : —
1. Patrick, his successor.
2. James of Lyth. In 1707 James Sinclair acquired
from Lord Glenorchy Alterwall and part of Brabsterdorran.
3. David, in Brabsterdorran, who had a son, David
of Whitegar. He fought at Sheriffmuir in 1715 on the Stewart side.
THE SINCLAIRS OF SOUTHDUN.
The sinciairs of 4. Alexander.
Southdun.
1. Margaret, who married William Bruce of Stanstill.
2. Elizabeth, who married in 1672 Donald Budge of '
Toftingall.
3. Isobell, who married, in 1653, Lawrence Calder of
Lynegar. i
II. Patrick Sinclair ot Southdun married Janet, daughter of James Murray of Pennyland, and had three sons and four daughters : —
1. James.
2. David.
3. Patrick.
1. Marjory, who married William Calder of Lynegar.
2. Jean.
N
3. Janet, who married John Sinclair of Eattar.
4. Elizabeth married Heniy Budge, probably her
cousin, son of Alexander Budge m Harpsdale, and gi'andson of Donald Budge, sixth of Toftingall. {
Vide Budge. ,
III. James Sinclair of Southdun died in minority, j and was succeeded by his brother, David. ]
-^, IV. David Sinclair of Southdun executed an en- I
tail of the estate in 1747 : and considerable exchanges of
property took place between him and Sinclair of Barrock. j
He was three times married, first in 1714 to Lady Janet, !
THE SINCLAIRS OF SOUTHDUN. 123
daughter of John, eighth Earl of Caithness, who died in The sinciairs of 1720; secondly, to Marjory, daughter of Sir Robert S""*^'^'^"- Dunbar of Northfield, in 1748 ; and thirdly, to Margaret, daughter of James Murray of Clau'den. By his first marriage he had a son and three daughters : — 1. Patrick, who died about 1724.
1. Jean, who died young.
2. Jean, second of the name, who married Su- WilUam
Dunbar of Hempriggs, and died without issue,
3. Janet, who married Dr. Stuart Threipland of
Fingask, and had a son, David Sinclak, a young gentlemen of much promise, who died in 1778, and a daughter, Janet. By his second marriage he had two daughters : —
1. Marjory, who married John, son of Sir Patrick
Dunbar of Northfield, her cousin-german, and had no issue. She mai'ried thereafter James Sinclair of Harpsdale, and had a son, George, who died young, and four daughters, Henrietta of Southdun, who was married to Colonel Wemyss, and Janet, who married Colonel Williamson of Banniskirk, and Emiha and Margaret, who died unmarried.
2. Miss Katharine of Southdun, who died un-
married. By his third marriage David Sinclair had a daugh- ter:—
Margaret, who died at Lyons m 1774, umnarried.
124 THE SINCLAIRS OF SOUTHDUN.
The Sinclairs of V. MrS. HENRIETTA SINCLAIR OF SOUTHDUN, married
Colonel Wemyss, and had an only child, William.
VI. William Sinclair Wemyss of Southdun mar- ried Henrietta, daughter of Sir Benjamin Dunbar of Hempriggs, Lord Duffus. He died in 1831, and left two sons and two daughters : —
1. David Sinclair.
2. Benjamin, who died in 1878, leaving an only child,
a daughter.
1. Janet or Jessie, who married James Sinclau- of
Forss, and has issue.
2. Henrietta, who married E,obert Innes of Thrumster,
and left an only child, Henrietta, now Mrs. Bentley-Innes of Thrumster.
VII. David Sinclair Wemyss of Southdun mar- ried Elizabeth, daughter of George Sackville Sutherland of Abei'arder, Inverness-shire, and died 10th December 1877, aged 64. He had four sons and three daughters : —
1. William, R.N., who died young and unmarried.
2. George Sackville.
3. Robei't Dunbar Sinclair.
4. Evan.
1. Henrietta Ehzabeth, who married James Smith of
Oh-ig.
2. Mary.
3. Janet.
THE SINCLAIRS OF BRABSTERDORRAN.
In the seventeenth century tliis property seems to Tiie smciairs of have been held in four different portions ; one by John Henderson, another by Henry Dundas, and two by families of Mansons. In 1798 the whole was united in the family of the Sinclairs of Southdun.
Francis Sinclaib, son of William in Dun, and grandson of John Sinclair of Dun and Agatha Grote, held a portion of Brabsterdorran in 1683. He married Elizabeth Sinclair (of what family she was is now unknown), and had two sons : —
1. Patrick.
2. George, who married Elizabeth, daughter of Alex-
ander Gibson, Dean of Bower, and had an only child, Jean, who married her cousin, David Sinclair, in Wliitegar, son of David Sinclair of Whitegar, the grandson of David Sinclau- of Southdun. They had a son, Alexander, who was portioner of Brabsterdorran, as in right of his mother. He sold his interest, in 1780, to Miss Katharine Sinclau- of Southdun. Jean Sinclair's
12b THE SINCLAIBS OF BRABSTERDOREAN.
The sinciairs of grandfather, Francis, had a wadset for 2000 merks
on Brabsterdorran, to which she as his heir had right, and about 1738 and subsequent years there was litigation in regard to the claims of Francis Sinclair's heir to the lands, it being con- tended that James Sinclair of Ly th had purchased the reversion of the wadset for Francis, and that the latter having died in the interim, and his grandchild being young, James had kept the reversion to himself, and had thus acquired the heritable right to Brabsterdorran.
Patrick Sinclair, a portioner of Brabsterdorran, married, in 1703, Barbara, second daughter of William Gumming, Minister of Halkirk, and lais wife, Katharine, daughter of John Murray of Pennyland. Patrick is said to have had two sons : —
1. William, nicknamed "La Mode." He had been a
midshipman in the navy, and was thereafter in the Customs at Thurso. He married Rachel, daughter of Mr. Gumming of Craigmiln, in Morayshire, and among other children had Katharine, who married Alexander Gumming, tacksman of Battar.
2. James, who was tide-waiter in the Customs at
Thurso.
In 1670 Henry Dimdas, then one of the portioners of Brabsterdorran, granted a wadset to Jolm Sinclaii-
THE SINCLAIRS OF BRABSTERDORRAN. 127
in Brabsterdorran and Margaret, his wife, and William, The sinciairs of their eldest son. In 1693 Margaret Sinclair, then relict ^"^^ of John, assigned the wadset to her son, Alexander. Wliether these Sinciairs were connected with the Brab- sterdorran, or Dun and Southdun families, has not been ascei-tained.
THE SINCLAIKS OF FOESS.
The sinciairs of Pbevious to 1557 the lands of Forss and Baillie belonged to the Bishopric, but in that year they were feued out to John, Earl of Sutherland, and Eleanor, his wife ; and in January 1560 they were granted in feu by the Earl and his Lady to David Sinclau' of Dun, in life- rent, and to his three sons, William, Alexander, and Henry, and to the heirs- male of their bodies lawfully begotten, in succession, in fee. Who David Sinclair of Dun was is uncertain, fiirther than that he was in all probability of the Caithness family. It is understood that in the charter of 1560 he is styled by the Earl and Countess "nostrum eonsanguineum germanum," but no such near connection as cousins-gei'man can be traced ; and it is stated, on the authority of a gentleman who has given much attention to the subject', that only in modern times does such a phrase mean more than " of the same blood." For particulars regarding the origin of the family of Dun reference is made to the " Notes" on the Sinciairs of Dun and Southdun.
The considerations in respect of which the above- mentioned charter was granted are set forth therein at
THE SINCLAIRS OF TORSS. 129
some length, such as services rendered, improvements to The sinciairs of
be effected on the lands, etc. They are much the same
as those contained in the charter granted in 1557 by the
Bishop and Chapter to the Earl of Sutherland, and are
generally in the style not unusual at the time. The
services alluded to as having been rendered by Sinclair
of Dun to the Earl cannot have reference, as supposed by
the late Mr. Sinclair of Forss,^ to his having rescued the
Earl, when a minor, from the Earl of Caithness ; for it
was not Earl John, but his son. Earl Alexander, who,
after his father's death, feU into the Earl of Caithness's
hands.
I. David Sinclair of Dun, and first Sinclair of FoRSS, seems to have died in March 1560. In May 1561 his son, William, fiar of Forss, was admitted vassal in Forss by the Earl of Sutherland ; and at the same date he gave a liferent right in Forss to one Mary Stirling, transactions not likely to have taken place had his father, who had Forss in liferent, been then stiU alive. This David Sinclair had certainly four sons : — '
1. WiUiam, fiar of Forss.
2. Alexander, of whom there is no mention, except
in the charter of 1560.
3. Henry, conceived to be the same Henry Sinclair
who, as narrated by Gordon, was slain in 1586
1 See his letter, dated November 1860, regarding the family of Dud, inserted in Calder's " History."
Forss,
130 THE STNCLAIRS OF FORSS.
Tiie sinciairs of bj the Claii Gunn, under the command of his
nephew, Hutcheon M'Kay of Farr.
4. George, who is designed as " brother of William Sinclair of Forss," and who was a witness along with him to the contract of marriage, signed at Girnigo Castle on 22d November 1563, between Munro of Fowlis and Katharine Ross of Balna- gown, afterwards notorious for her trial for witchcraft and poisoning.
If the supposition be correct that Henrj Sinclair, who was killed in 1586, was the son of David Sinclair of Dun, then David Sinclair had also a daughter —
Christian Sinclair, who is described by Gordon as a cousin of the Earl of Caithness. She was mar- ried about 1557 or 1558 to Y M'Kay of Farr, by whom she had two sons, Hutcheon and Wil- Ham. Hutcheon M'Kay married, first, Elizabeth, daughter of George, fourth Earl of Caithness, and, secondly, Lady Jane Gordon, daughter of Alexander, Earl of Sutherland.
II. William Sinclair " of Fobss" is so styled in 1561-62-63 and subsequent years, and in 1567 he was a witness, along with John Sinclair of Dun, to a notarial instrument in favour of Alexander, Earl of Sutherland. He married Janet Urquhart, who may have been a daughter of the ancient family of Urquhart of Cromarty, knights, who held that estate until it was acquired by the Mackenzies. He had two sons : —
THE SINCLAIES OF FORSS.
Forss.
1. David, who married Janet Murray, daughter of The smciairs of
Murray of Puh^ossie, or, as he is styled in s sasine in 1598, of Spanziedale, both in Suther- land. He died in apparency, and without issue.
2. Alexander, successor to his father.
III. Alexander Sinclair of Forss married, in 1608, Margaret, daughter of George Sinclair of Mey. She is mentioned as " Gude Wyfi" of Forss." They had two sons and a daughter : —
1. David.
2. George.
1. Katharine, who mariied George Innes of Oust.
IV. David Sinclair of Forss died without issue, and was succeeded by his brother, George.
V. George Sinclair of Forss married, first, Jean, daughter of David Sinclau- of Dun, and, secondly, Mary, daughter of Sir James Smclah of Murkle. By his first marriage he had a daughter —
Margaret, who married Malcolm Grote of Warse.
By his second marriage he had a son — John, his successor.
VI. John Sinclair of Forss was three times mar- ried ; fijst, to Janet, daughter of Wilham Sutherland of Geise, of the family of Sutherland of Forse ; secondly,
132 THE SINCLAIRS OF FORSS.
The sinciairs of to Barbara, daughter of John Sinclair of Rattar ; and, thirdly, to Elizabeth, daughter of Richard Murray of Penny land. By his first marriage he had a son —
George, his successor.
By his second marriage he had three sons and a daughter : —
1. John, afterwards of Forss.
2. James, of Holbornliead and Forss.
3. William, physician in Thurso, who married, in
1742, Barbara, daughter of Robert Sinclair of Geise, and died in 1767. He had four sons and four daughters, all of whom died young except, first, Dr. William, afterwards of Freswick ; second, Janet, who married James Mackie, an officer of Excise, and had two sons, William and George, and several daughters. George attained the rank of Major-General in the Army, and had a large family of sons and daughters, and in 1826 resided in Caen, in Normandy. One of his sisters married John M'Kay, merchant in Thurso, and had issue. Third, Jane, the other surviving daughter of Dr. William Sinclau", married Allan Robertson of Tarrel, Captain in the 42d Regiment. He was afterwards in Wares, and had several sons and daughters.
1. Ehzabeth.
By his third marriage John Sinclair had three daughters : —
THE SINCLAIRS OF FORSS. 133
1. Mary, who married James Campbell of Lochend, The sinciairs of
Sheriff-clerk of Caithness. She died in 1771.
2. Jean, who married Hugo Campbell, joint-Sheriff-
clerk with his brother, John.
3. Margaret, who died unmarried in 1771.
VII. George Sinclair of Forss seems to have led a reckless Hfe, and in 1728 he is strongly recommended by his brother and successor, John, to renew his addresses to a young lady with money, " and never to give over till you have obtained your wishes," and thus to pay his debts, " which you '11 never pay but by marrying a person with money." This advice the laird did not take, and he died unmarried.
VIII. John Sinclair of Forss, half-brother of George, was minister of Watten in 1733, and died in 1753. He married Esther, daughter of Alexander Sinclau- of Olrig, and had a son, Alexander.
IX. Alexander Sinclair of Forss died unmarried, and was succeeded by his uncle, James Sinclair of Hol- bornhead. He seems to have been somewhat eccentric in liis habits.
X. James Sinclair of Forss and Holbornhead married, in 1737, Jean, daughter of Robert Sinclair of Geise, Advocate, son of James Sinclair of Lybster, and
134 THE SINCLAIRS OP FORSS.
The sinciairs of great-grandson of John of Assery, natural son of James Sinclair of Murkle. James Sinclair of Holbornhead mar- ried, apparently after 1775, a daughter of John Sinclair of Scotscalder, but had no issue by this his second wife.
The social habits of the county in the early part of last century (1737) are illustrated in an account of Hol- bornhead's marriage, given by a gentleman who was present : "We had a rantin bridal and a brave jolly company of ladies and gentlemen ; your sisters and the ladies of the famihe; Freswick, Brabster, Scotscalder, Assery, Thura, Lybster, Mass John Sinclair [E,ev. John Sinclair, minister of Watten], the Frenchman [it does not appear who he was], Mr. Harry Innes, John of Bower, Toftkemp, etc. We danced four days out, and drank heartily, and thereafter went home with the young wife, where we renewed our mirth to a height."
James Sinclair had three sons and two daughters : —
1. Robert, a Captain in the Army ; afterwards of
Freswick.
2. William, an Army Surgeon, who died at St. Dom-
ingo, in 1794, unmarried.
3. James, afterwards of Forss.
1. Catharine, IVIrs. Campbell.
2. Elizabeth, who married Mr. John Bain, who was
Tacksman of Dale in 1782.
XI. James Sinclair of Forss, thii-d son of James Sinclaii- of Holbornhead, succeeded his father. He served
THE SINCLAIRS OF FORSS. 135
as Lieutenant in the Army ; married Jolianna, daughter The sinciairs of of George M'Kay of Bighouse, and had four sons : —
1. James.
2. George Lewis, W.S., of Dalveoch, died 1878, with-
out issue, aged 75.
3. William, Captain in the Army, died unmarried.
4. Hugh, died unmarried in Australia. And five daughters : —
1. Jean, died unmarried.
2. JEneasina, married Mr. Stevenson, and had issue.
3. Louisa, married Captain Hector Macneill, and has
issue.
4. Ehzabeth.
5. Janet.
He was succeeded by his eldest son, James.
XII. James Sinclair of Forss, twelfth Laird, married his cousin, Jessie, daughter of William Sinclair Wemyss of Southdun, and had issue, thix'teen sons and four daughters, of whom eight sons and three daughters sur- vived him. He died at Forss, 1st March 1876, aged 73.
His children were —
1. James, Lieutenant- Colonel, R.A., died unmarried
in 1873. t
2. Henry, died in India, unmai-ried.
3. George William, died in Australia in 1876, and
left two sons and several daughters.
4. Robert.
136 THE SINCLAIRS OF FORSS.
Tlie Sinolairs of 5. CharleS.
Forss.
6. Ramsay, left no issue. i
7. Edward.
8. Garden Octavius, died 1883, and left a son.
9. William, died 1878, left no issue.
10. Albert, died young.
11. John, died 1876, unmarried.
12. Frederick, died 1879, unmarried.
13. Wellesley, died young.
1. Joanna.
2. Janet, died young.
3. Henrietta.
4. Louisa, died 1883.
The following account of the Sinclairs of Forss is taken from a MS. of the late William Sinclair of Freswick, written apparently about 1770.
Many pretend just now to call the legitimacy of this family (of Forss) in question : Who do it now but such whose family's ly under an imputation of spuriousness not easily to be wipt out, with the most of which I 'd hold no argument, as being bastards of yesterday. Such circumstances as they think seem to favor their assertion are easily acounted, from the method of their fii'st outset, a manner that they despise, but which in the opinion of those who will judge with candour and propriety, adds a lustre to them not here to be paraleled, as it is evident that even in that unpolished time, when nothing but the
THK SINCLAIRS OF FORSS. 137
tyes of blood were regarded by others, ovir progenitor The sinciah-s of bravely stood forth, in support of his friend's family, neither valuing the connexion he had with Lord C. (Caithness), or the effects of the fury of his followers. At a time when from Lord S.'s (Sutherland's) minority he had little hopes of assistance, and reward far distant, he could have no other motive than that of a generous friendship for Lord S. and an indignation at G. E. of C (George, Earl of Caithness) deviKsh intentions against Lord S.'s family. But to proceed to our intended narra- tive, 'tis not to be wondered at if we consider family accidents, that they had no patrimony. William (the second Earl of Caithness) died fighting for his country ; his son John might have done something for David, but as they both feU together in Orkney, where his interest or love for his brother led him (we are not to enter on the merits of the expedition) ; the tye of cousin-german was not strong enough, thought young William and George; he accordingly offered his service to Lord S., who accepted of them.
1. David Sinclair, second son of William, Earl of Caithness, married a daughter of Su- Urquhart of Cromarty. He fell with his brother, Earl John, in an insurrection in Orkney, and left a son —
2. William, who inheriting the active spirit of his father, on Earl C. denying him his friendship, appealed
138 THE SIXCLAIRS OF FORSS.
The sinciairs of to Earl Sutherland, who gave him a tack on his estate in Caithness, and made him his overseer or chamberlain. After Lord S.'s death, Lord C. intended attacking his lady at Dunrobin. William got account of this, and posted thither with intelligence. The lady only asked him not to follow his chief; he promised he would not, and after- wards raised and headed the men on her estates in Caith- ness, gave battle to Lord C, and routed him. After the expiration of her son's minority, he had a charter, dated Scrabster Castle 1560, signed by Lord S., Countess of Errol, his lady, and Kobert, Bishop of Caithness, for sundrie lands therein particularly mentioned ; and he is therein designed after the preamble of the charter, " viro honorabOi Gulielmo St. Clair propter fidelitatem," etc. 'Tis to be imagined that such people as Lord S. and R. S. (Robert Stuart), the king's brother, would know what he had a right to. He married a daughter of Murray of Pulrossie, a then flourishing family in Sutherlandshu'e, and by her left issue —
3. David, who had lands in Thurso East, and died there without succession. Forss was possest after by his brother —
4. Alexander, who married Margaret, daughter of Sir Sinclair of Mey. He was one of the lairds from Caithness brought up a surety for Lord Caithness after his burning Sandside's corn-yard ; he insisted for a back- bond from the Earl, which he would not give, and which
THE SmCLAIRS OF FORSS. 13»
led the others into a belief of there being no necessity for The sinciairs < it ; he told them when he was turned out as insane, " I 'm the fml the day ; mony o' ye w'd wish y'ed been so or this day yomon ; " this happened literally, for the others paid the forfeiture of their obligations which Lord C. did not relieve them of. Among many who suffered was Bruce of Stanstill. He, A. S., had two sons, David, who died in A.S.'s lifetime, and —
5. George, who carried on the hne of hia family. He married a daughter of Sinclair of Dun, by whom he had a daughter, married to Grote of Warse, of whom Malcolm Grote, Esq., is descended. In his time the Mercat of Dun was transferred from Cross-Kirk to Dun ; he next married a daughter of James Sinclair of Murkle, by whom he had issue, one son, John ; he was a very weak man, and she very vain and designing ; she gave off all the thirlages, and 'tis said got a head-dress for allow- ance to build a mUn at Brims : she married Sutherland of Giese, and did everything against her son ; and to hide her and her husband's iniquity forced the son to marry a daughter of Giese's, by whom he had a son, George, who succeeded; and George was succeeded by John, eldest son of Jolin by a second marriage with Barbara, daughter of Sinclair of Rattar. By John's third marriage to Ehzabeth Murray, daughter of Pennyland, there remains no issue- male. This John married a daughter of Sinclair of Olrig, and left one son, Alexander, now of Forss.
140 THE SINCLAIRS OF FORSS.
The sinciairs of JoHN SINCLAIR OF FoRSS above mentioned as married to Barbara, daughter of Sinclair of Rattar, left two other sons, James and William.
James of Holbornhead married Jean, second daughter of Robert Sinclair of Giese, Advocate, and has issue : — Lieutenant Robert Sinclair, 63d Regiment of Foot. William Smclair, Surgeon 34th Regiment of Foot. James Sinclair.
WUliam Sinclair, M.D., married Barbara, third daughter of the above Robert Sinclair of Giese, Advo- cate. He died 27th July 1767, leaving issue one son — William St. Clair, Senior of King's College, Edin- burgh, and late of King's and Marischal's College of Aberdeen.
Note. — On this Pedigree it is to be observed : — Firstly. That, while there is a general concurrence in the fact that the ancestor of the family was a David Sinclair, there is no evidence that William, second Earl of Caithness, had a son of tliis name.
Secondly. The charter of Forss in 1560 was granted by John, Earl of Sutherland, and his wife, Eleanor, to David Sinclair of Dun, his son, WilKam, and other sons in succession. This David Sinclair died in 1560, and Earl John lived till 1567, when he left his eldest son a minor, no doubt; but the charter of 1560 could not have been for services rendered to him. Earl John him- self was also a minor in 1529 when his father died, and
THE SINCLAIRS OF FORSS. 141
possibly the charter of 1560 might have been granted to The sinciairs of David Sinclair for services rendered to him. But, on the °'^^'*' other hand, according to the pedigree, David Sinclair, the alleged son of Earl WiUiam, was killed in Orkney in 1529. In 1561 Earl John granted to William Sinclair a precept admitting him a vassal in Forss.
Thirdly. William Sinclair's wife was certainly Janet Urquhart, and not Janet Muri'ay, as appears from a sasine in their favour. David Sinclau', son of William, married Janet Murray of Pubossie.
THE SINCLAIRS OF ACHINGALE AND NEWTON.
The Sinclairs of I. "WlLLIAM SINCLAIR, FIRST SINCLAIR OF ACHINGALE
Newtek "'"^ AND Newton, was the son of Alexander Sinclair of Sixpenny or Sixpennyland. Of what family Alexander Sinclair was is somewhat uncertain. He has been sup- posed to have been of the Sinclairs of Dun, but it is more probable that he was of the Sinclairs of Assery and Lybster, and that he was a son of William Sinclair of Hoy, whose eldest son was named Alexander, and of whom there is, otherwise, no particular account. Alex- ander Sinclair married, in 1697, Beatrice, only daughter of George Sinclair, second son of James Sinclair, first of Lybster, and she and her husband, on the supposition that the latter was the son of William of Hoy, stood in the relation of cousins. By this marriage Alexander Sin- clair had several sons and daughters, among whom were : —
William, mentioned in 1 733, as second son.
Francis.
Sidney.
Margaret, eldest daughter, who married in 1722 Alexander Calder of AchingaJe.
THE SINCLAIRS OF ACHINGALE AND NEWTON. 143
II. William Sinclair of Achingale, married in Tte sinciairs of 1738 Elizabeth, daughter of Su- James Siaclair of Dun- NeMrt!fn. " * beath. Sir James had acquired the right of reversion of the wadsets of Achingale, held by the Calders ; and about 1738 or 1740, he had redeemed the lands, which he thereafter sold to Wilham Sinclaii', by whom a Crown charter was expede in 1752. William Sinclau- had a son and two daughters : —
1. Alexander.
1. Janet.
2. Margaret.
III. Alexander Sinclair of Achingale, who was a merchant in Jamaica, succeeded his father, and was infeft in 1768. He died without issue.
IV. Janet Sinclair of Achingale succeeded her brother, and died immarried in 1783, and was succeeded by her sister, Margaret.
Y. Margaret Sinclair of Achingale married, in 1798, Alexander Sinclau-, a son of Alexander Sinclair, tenant in Houstry, Halkirk, who had been for some time in Jamaica. In 1804 they sold the lands to William Sinclair of Freswick for £7000. There was no issue of the mar- riage, and, so far as known, the family of Sinclair of Achinffale is extmct.
lOld-
THE SINCLAIKS OF HOY AND OLDFIELD.
The sinciairs of Jqhn, Moster of Bemedale, wanted, in 1630,