George Sinclair, 4th Earl of Caithness

George Sinclair (died 1582) was a Scottish nobleman, the 4th Earl of Caithness and chief of the Clan Sinclair, a Scottish clan of the Scottish Highlands.

Early life

He was the son of John Sinclair, 3rd Earl of Caithness and Elizabeth, daughter of William Sutherland, 5th of Duffus.

Earl of Caithness

George Sinclair, 4th Earl of Caithness resigned his earldom into the hands of Mary, Queen of Scots who in turn granted a charter to the earl's son and heir, John Sinclair, on 2 October 1545, under the reservation of life-rent and terce. He appears as a member of the Privy Council of Scotland and records of the Council show that for many years prior to 1553, there had been feuding between the Earl of Caithness and the Clan Mackay. The Council had ordered the Earl of Caithness on 18 September 1553 to meet with the Earl of Huntly who was Her Majesty's Lieutenant-General in the North, and the Bishop of Ross, at Inverness "under pain of rebellion". On 18 December 1556 George, Earl of Caithness received a remission under the Great Seal of Scotland for oppression of the lieges. He also received two charters for the office of Justicar from Portinculter to the Pentland Firth, which his predecessors had held, on 22 December 1561.

In 1570, the Battle of Torran-Roy took place between the forces of George Sinclair, 4th Earl of Caithness and Alexander Gordon, 12th Earl of Sutherland. Caithness was initially defeated by Sutherland's vassals the Murrays of Aberscross, but he returned to besiege the Murrays at Dornoch after which several of them were beheaded. The Earl of Caithness later imprisoned his son, the Master of Caithnes, for making peace with the Murrays. The Master of Caithness died at Castle Sinclair Girnigoe in 1576.

At his own request, his heart was extracted and encased in a leaden casket that was sent to Caithness and deposited at the church in Wick. On Barrogill Castle (Castle of Mey) there is an ancient carving of the arms of George Sincalir, 4th Earl of Caithness.