Henry II Sinclair

Henry II Sinclair, Earl of Orkney (c. 1375 – c. 1420) was the Jarl (Earl) of Orkney, 10th Baron of Roslin and Pantler of Scotland. According to Roland Saint-Clair writing in the late 19th century, Henry Sinclair was also the first of his family to hold the title of Lord Sinclair.

Early life

He was son of Henry I Sinclair, Earl of Orkney, by his wife Jean, daughter of John Halyburton of Dirleton. He married Egida Douglas, daughter of Sir William Douglas of Nithsdale and Egidia Stewart, and the maternal granddaughter of King Robert II of Scotland. Sir William Douglas was murdered by a group of assassins who had been employed by Lord Clifford and as a result Sinclair inherited through his wife the whole of the Lordship of Nithsdale. He had succeeded his father, de facto, as Jarl by 1404; there is no record that he was ever officially installed as Jarl, and no certain record that he ever visited his jarldom.

He was one of those who accompanied the young King James, then the uncrowned James I of Scotland on his journey to France aboard the Maryenknyght. That ship was captured by English pirates off Flamborough Head in 1406. He followed the prince into captivity, but was soon released. Subsequently, he was often in England on business connected with the king's imprisonment. William Sinclair, last Jarl of Orkney, and first Earl of Caithness Beatrix Sinclair, who married James Douglas, 7th Earl of Douglas.