Person:John Sinclair (60)

John Sinclair, Master of Caithness

• Henderson, John. Caithness family history. (Edinburgh: D. Douglas, 1884), Pages 6, 7.

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 Bothwell; 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.

4. Agnes

No son David

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 fishings,” and in a reversion by him in favour of the Earl dated 23rd 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 Kirkwall, he “went to bed at night in health, but before the morning he was benumbed in all his senses, and remained so until his death,” – an event evidently considered by the historian as a judgment on the Earl’s proceedings.

1.   Henderson, John. Caithness family history. (Edinburgh: D. Douglas, 1884)
   Pages 6, 7.

   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 Bothwell; 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.
   4. Agnes
   
   No son David
   
   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 fishings,” and in a reversion by him in favour of the Earl dated 23rd 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 Kirkwall, he “went to bed at night in health, but before the morning he was benumbed in all his senses, and remained so until his death,” – an event evidently considered by the historian as a judgment on the Earl’s proceedings.

2.   John Sinclair, Master of Caithness, in Lundy, Darryl. The Peerage: A genealogical survey of the peerage of Britain as well as the royal families of Europe.