John Sinclair, Master of Caithness

John Sinclair, Master of Caithness (died 1576) was a Scottish nobleman.

Early life

John Sinclair, Master of Caithness was the eldest son of George Sinclair, 4th Earl of Caithness and his wife Lady Elizabeth Graham, daughter of William Graham, 2nd Earl of Montrose.

Master of Caithness

John Sinclair, Master of Caithness received a charter for the earldom of Caithness and to his male heirs dated 2 October 1545.

In July 1569 the Master of Caithness besieged Lord Oliphant and his servants for 8 days in Old Wick or "Auldwick" castle near Wick.

His father, George, Earl of Caithness had feuded with the Earl of Sutherland and the Murrays of Aberscross which had resulted in the Battle of Torran-Roy in 1570 where Caithness was initially defeated, but returned to besiege the Murrays at Dornoch where several of them were subsequently beheaded. John Sinclair, Master of Caithness was later imprisoned by his father for making peace with the Murrays.

The Master of Caithness died at Castle Sinclair Girnigoe in 1576,

Family

In 1543, John Sinclair, 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. In around 1566, he married Jean Hepburn, daughter of Patrick Hepburn, 3rd Earl of Bothwell and had the following children: According to Roland Saint-Clair, David Sinclair, was a natural (illegitimate) son of the Master of Caithness, who acquired Stirkoke in 1587 and who was legitimated in 1588. He left a son, John, who was slain at Thurso in 1612. He also left a natural son, Colonel George Sinclair, ambushed in Norway.