George Sinclair

George Sinclair (died 1643) was a Scottish nobleman, the 5th Earl of Caithness and chief of the Clan Sinclair, a Scottish clan based in northern Scotland.

Early life

George Sinclair, 5th Earl of Caithness was the eldest son of John Sinclair, Master of Caithness and his wife Jean, daughter of Patrick Hepburn, 3rd Earl of Bothwell. His father, the Master of Caithness, had obtained a charter from Mary, Queen of Scots by which the Earldom of Caithness became a male fee, to him and his male heirs. According to Henderson, George Sinclair, 5th Earl of Caithness therefore succeeded his grandfather, George Sinclair, 4th Earl of Caithness in 1583. However, according to The Scots Peerage he succeeded his grandfather in 1582 and having then been a minor he was under the wardship of the Earl of Gowrie.

Earl of Caithness Clan feuds George Sinclair, 5th Earl of Caithness's father, John Sinclair, Master of Caithness, had been killed in captivity inside Castle Sinclair Girnigoe by his own father, George Sinclair, 4th Earl of Caithness. George, 5th Earl of Caithness later killed the two men who had held his father in imprisonment in the castle, Ingram and David Sinclair, and in the traditional history of Caithness he is known as "Wicked George", but Roland Saint-Clair stated that this might be more fairly said of the 4th Earl. According to The Scots Peerage, George Sinclair, 5th Earl of Caithness received a remission under the Great Seal of Scotland along with twenty-two others on 19 May 1585 for the slaughter of David Hume of Crenschawis and two brothers who were of the name Sinclair. However, historian Angus Mackay does not state that Hugh Mackay attended this meeting and that the purpose of the meeting was to break up the confederacy between Hugh Mackay and the Earl of Caithness. According to historian Robert Mackay, it was decided at the meeting that the Clan Gunn should be "made away", because they were judged to be the principal authors of these "troubles and commotions", but that both Hugh Mackay and George Sinclair, Earl of Caithness were unwilling to attack their old allies the Clan Gunn and therefore departed from the meeting at Elgin. In consequence, in 1586, George Gordon, Marquess of Huntly came north to Sutherland, the lands of his cousin, Alexander Gordon, 12th Earl of Sutherland. However, according to early 20th-century historian Angus Mackay, Donald Balloch Mackay, half brother of Huistean Du Mackay, 13th of Strathnaver, saved the situation for the Earl of Caithness, and even the Gordon account states that Donald Balloch Mackay played the part of a good commander, having supported the Earl of Caithness and having been on the opposing side of the feud to his half-brother, Huistean who supported the Earl of Sutherland.

In 1601, there was a stand-off at Bengrime between the armies of the Earl of Caithness and the Earl of Sutherland. The Earl of Caithness sent messengers to the Earl of Sutherland offering peaceful proposals but these were refused and he was advised to stay where he was until the next day when he would be assured of battle. The Caithness men then fled and the Earl of Sutherland's army advanced with the Mackays on the right, the Munros and MacLeods on the left and the Sutherlands in the centre. The Earl of Sutherland's vanguard was led by Patrick Gordon and Donald Mackay. On reaching the Earl of Caithness's camp they found that their enemy had fled.

Charters

George Sinclair, 5th Earl of Caithness received charters from the Crown on 17 December 1591, 18 June 1606, 3 November 1612 and 9 June 1615.

Orkney expedition

In 1614, Robert Stewart, son of Patrick Stewart, 2nd Earl of Orkney had taken illegal control of Birsa Palace, Kirkwall Castle, the Palace of the Yards and other strongholds on the Orkney Isles. The Earl of Caithness was then in Edinburgh and offered to proceed to Orkney and vindicate the authority of the law, providing that he was given sufficient troops for the purpose. The Government agreed and in August 1614 he set sail from Leith with sixty soldiers and two pieces of cannon from Edinburgh Castle. On arriving at Caithness, the vessel brought up in Sinclairs Bay and having procured some additional troops from his own property, the earl, along with his natural brother Henry Sinclair, sailed directly for Orkney, disembarking his troops in Kirkwall. He then opened the campaign by besieging the different posts held by the insurgents. The last of these was Kirkwall Castle, which Robert Stewart, with only sixteen men, defended for three weeks. The prisoners were all brought to Edinburgh and executed, with the exception of Patrick Halcro whose betrayal had caused the castle to capitulate. In January 1615, the Earl of Caithness went to London and received an award accordingly. John Sinclair, a natural (illegitimate) son who attained the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in the German wars. Elizabeth Sinclair, married in 1621 to George Lindsay, 14th Earl of Crawford.