The surname Sutherland is derived from the Norse
Sudrland - South Land - the country being south of Caithness or Gallaibh,
the Country of the Strangers. The Earldom is one of the seven old
Earldoms in Scotland. The three stars in the Clan's arms are derived from
the old Mormaers (regents) of Moray, an honour shared by the Mackay, Murray
and Innes. The Cat in the arms of Sutherland is derived from the
old Pictish province Catland, consisting of Caithness and Sutherland.
| (WALTER) |
1061- |
said to have acquired the county by marriage |
| (OLLEC) |
|
a Fleming, who possessed land in Scotland ??? |
| FRESKIN |
1160-1195 |
Freskin de Moravia, progenitor of the Clans Sutherland and Murray,
obtained from David I. a charter feudalising
part of the old duthus of Moray and his castle of Duffus. Said to be the
son of Ollec he may as well have been a Pictish noble and not of flemish
origin |
| WILLIAM |
1195-1211 |
son of Freskin, ancestor of the Clan Murray |
| HUGH |
1211- |
Lord of Duffus, gathered lands in Sutherland |
| WILLIAM |
-1248
|
Lord of Duffus, son of Hugh, became 1st Earl by announcement of
King
Alexander II. about 1235 after
the death of John, Earl of Orkney and Caithness (in 1231). Alexander
II. had given the Earldom of Caithness to the Earl of Angus and previously
separated Sutherland from it. |
|
1248-1307 |
2nd Earl of Sutherland |
|
1307-1330 |
3rd Earl of Sutherland, died unmarried |
|
1330-1333 |
4th Earl of Sutherland, son of 2nd Earl, married to Mary, daughter
of Donald, Earl of Mar and Helen, daughter of Llewellyn (Prince of
Wales, related to the old kings) |
|
1333-1371 |
5th Earl of Sutherland, married to ¹ Princess Margaret,
daughter of Robert Bruce,
² Joanna, daughter of Sir John Menteith.
John, his son of Princess Margaret should have succeeded to the
Throne of Scotland, but died ten years before Robert Stewart,who as King
Robert
II, succeeded to the Throne in 1371 |
| ROBERT |
1371-1427 |
6th Earl of Sutherland, son of 5th earl by his 2nd wife, married
to Margaret, natural daughter of Alexander, Earl of Buchan "the
wolf of Badenoch", a younger son of King Robert
II. Maybe after Robert, 6th Earl Dunrobin Castle
was named, "Dunrobin" meaning "castle of Robin" |
|
1427-1460 |
7th Earl of Sutherland, married to Margaret, daughter of Sir
William Baillie |
| JOHN |
1460-1508 |
8th Earl of Sutherland, married to Margaret, daughter of Alexander
MacDonald, Lord of the Isles. John seemed to be unable to fulfil his
duties. |
| JOHN |
1508-1514 |
9th Earl of Sutherland, died without issue, was like his father,
John, 8th Earl, unable to fulfil his duties. His sister, Elisabeth administrated
the land for him. |
| ELISABETH |
1514-1535 |
Countess of Sutherland, sister of John, married to Hon. Adam Gordon
of Aboyne, 2nd son of the 2nd Earl of Huntly (died 1538). As the
husband and issue of the heiress kept the name Gordon, it came to be questioned
if they were Sutherlands or chiefs, as they would have been had they
taken the name of Sutherland, this the 16th Earl did in 1719 by decree
of Lyon Court, and was thereafter recognised Chief of the clan. |
| GOOD JOHN |
1535-1567 |
11th Earl of Sutherland, son of The Master of Sutherland (son of
Elisabeth, died 1530) and Lady Janet Stewart, married to Lady Helen
Stewart. He and his wife were poisoned by an aunt, wanting to place
her own son on the Earl's seat, but his son survived and became 12th Earl |
| ALEXANDER |
1567-1594 |
12th Earl of Sutherland, born 1552 married to Lady Jane Gordon,
Countess of Bothwell (divorced wife of James Hepburn, Earl Bothwell, 3rd
husband of Mary, Queen of Scots) |
|
1594-1615 |
13th Earl of Sutherland, born 1576 married to Agnes, daughter of
Lord Elphinstone |
|
1615-1679 |
14th Earl of Sutherland, born 1609, married to Lady Jean Drummond,
fought against Montrose, whom he knew from his education in St. Salvator's
College in St. Andrews. |
|
1679-1703 |
15th Earl of Sutherland, born 1633, married to Lady Jean Wemyss,
enforced Inverness Castle against Jacobite attacks under William
III. |
| JOHN |
1703-1733 |
16th Earl of Sutherland, born 1661, married to Helen, daughter of
Lord Cochrane. Aided in the defeat of the 1715 Jacobite rebellion.
He resumed the name of Sutherland in 1719 by decree of Lyon Court, and
was thereafter recognised Chief of the clan. |
| WILLIAM |
1733-1750 |
17th Earl of Sutherland, born 1708, son of Lord Strathnaver (who
died 1720, son of 16th Earl) and Catherine, daughter of William Morison.
The Earl escaped during the Jacobite occupation of Dunrobin. |
| WILLIAM |
1750-1766 |
18th Earl of Sutherland, born 1735, married to
Mary, daughter of William Maxwell |
| ELISABETH |
1766-1839 |
Elisabeth Gordon, Ban mhorair Chataibh, The Great Lady of
Sutherland, daughter of William, the last Earl of Sutherland.Countess
of Sutherland, born 1765, became countess when just 11 months old.
1785 she was married to George Granville Leveson-Gower, Viscount
Trentham, 2nd Marquess of Stafford (1803), 1st Duke of Sutherland (1758-1833),
son of 1st Marquess Stafford and Lady Louisa Egerton, daughter of 1st Duke
of Bridgwater and Lady Rachel Russell. The Duke modernised Sutherland and
expelled the country people (Highland Clearances), making them move
into cities and work in factories. For this he was hated from a lot of
people who refused to give up their way of life but were oppressed
to do so by his deputies. But he also built 34 bridges and
450 miles of road and leased his lands to shepherds who grazed 200.000
sheep on them. The early Gowers were Yorkshiremen who moved to Stafford
in the 17th century, marrying into the Levesons, coal-owning descendants
of French wool-staplers. In three generations they had risen from a baronetcy
to a marquessate |
| GEORGE |
1839-1861 |
George Granville Leveson-Gower, 2nd Duke of Sutherland, born in
1786, brother of Lord Francis Egerton (né Leveson-Gower), great-great-grandfather
of 6th Duke of Sutherland]. The Duke was married to Lady Harriet Howard,
daughter of the Earl of Carlisle Mistress of the Robes to Queen Victoria.
She invited Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe to Sutherland. His eldest
daughter, Lady Elizabeth Georgina (born in
1824), was married to George John
Douglas Campbell, 8th Duke of Argyll. |
| GEORGE |
1861-1892 |
3rd Duke of Sutherland, born 1828, married to Anne Countess of Cromartie
in the heritage of Clan MacKenzie. The
Earldom of Cromartie, which had been forfeited after 1745, was revived
in 1861 in favour of her as only daughter of John Hay Mackenzie of Cromartie,
whose ancestors had inherited the estates, including Castle Leod in Strathpeffer,
from Lord MacLeod. Anne, the first Countess was Mistress of the Robes to
Queen Victoria and later married the Duke of Sutherland. The Cromartie
honors, descending through their second son Lord Tarbat, were confirmed
to his daughter Sibell in 1895. After holding them for more than sixty
years, she was succeeded in 1962 by her son Roderick
Grant Francis Mackenzie as 4th Earl of Cromartie.
Ronald built a Highland-railway, leading along the gate of the Castle
(on the other side of the road from Golspie) |
| CROMARTY |
1892-1913 |
4th Duke of Sutherland, born 1851 as second son of George, 3rd Duke, married to Lady Millicent
St. Clair-Erskine, daughter of the 4th Earl of Rosslyn. Lady Millicent
is "the countess of Chell" in Arnold Bennett's novel "the Card". Cromarty succeeded as his elder
brother George died before him. |
| GEORGE |
1913-1963 |
5th Duke of Sutherland, Morair Chat, born 1888 married to
¹ Lady Eileen Butler, elder daughter of the 7th Earl of Lanesborough,
² Clare O'Brien |
| ELISABETH |
1963 |
24th Countess of Sutherland, born 1921, daughter of Lord Alistair
Sutherland-Leveson-Gower (died 1921) and Elisabeth, daughter of Warren
Demarest of New York. Countess Elisabeth is Chief of the Clan Sutherland
and married to Charles Janson |
|
|
6th Duke of Sutherland, 5th Earl of Ellesmere, great-great-grandson
of Lord Francis Egerton, 1st Earl of Ellesmere, the Duke was born in 1915
and is married to Lady Diana Percy |
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