History of Caithness
J. T. Calder
Appendix No 5

1. William Sinclair, Chancellor, grandson of Henry Sinclair, the forst of that name, Earl Orkney, was
    invested with the Earldom if Caithness in 1455.
2. William, second son of the Chancellor   - his father having resigned the earldom in his favour - became
    Earl in 1476.  He fell at Flodden in 1513 and was succeeded by his son John.
3. John was killed at the battle of Summerdale, in Orkney in the year 1529, and was succeeded by his son
    George.
4. George died in 1583, and was succeeded by his grandson, George, son of John, Master of Caithness,
    who died in prison at Girnigoe in 1576
5. George, having survived both his son and his grandson, died in1643, and was succeeded by his great-
    grandson George.
6. This George, being encumbered with debt, and having no male issue, sold his title and estatesto John
    Campbell of Glenorchy.  He died in 1676The title was disputed by George Sinclair of Keiss, a
    descendant of the fifth Earl by his second son, who ultimately obtained the earldom.
7. George of Keiss, now Earl of Caithness, died unmarried in 1698and was succeeded by his second
    cousin, Sir John Sinclair of Murkle¹
8. John, died in 1766 without male heir, and was succeeded by William Sinclair of Rattar, who was lineally
    descended from Sir John Sinclair of Greenland and Rattar, second brother of the fifth Earl.
10.William of Rattar, died in 1782, and was succeeded by his son John, Lord of Berriedale, a major in
     the army.
11.John, died unmarried in 1789, and was succeeded by Sir James Sinclair of Mey, the ninth in lineal
     descent from George Sinclair of Mey, youngest son of the fourth Earl.
12.James, died in 1855, and was succeeded by his son Alexander.
13.Alexander, died in 1855, and was succeeded by his son James, the present Earl, and the fourteenth of
     the Sinclair family who have inherited the earldom of Caithness. His Lordship was elected i=one of the
     Representative Peers of Scotland in 1858.

1. The lands of Murkle appear to have been the first bestowed on James Sinclair, second son of John, Master of Caithness.  His son Sir James was created a baronet of Scotland and Nova Scotia in 1636.  sir James' eldest son John (afterwards Earl of Caithness) left four sons - Alexander (who succeeded him), John, Francis and Archibald.  John studied law, and became a judge of the Court of Session, with the title of Lord Murkle.  The fist James Sinclair married Elizabeth Stewart, daughter of the Earl of Orkney, and their son James, the baronet, married Jean, daughter of Stewart of Mains and Burray also in Orkney.

ARMORIAL BEARINGS OF THE EARLS OF CAITHNESS
Quarterly - 1st azure, a ship at anchor, her oars erected in saltyre within a double tressure counterfloured, or; 2nd and 3rd or, a lion rampant, gules; 4th azure, a ship under sail, or. and over all a cross engrailled, dividing the four quarters, salt.  Crest on a wreath, a cock proper, two griffins armed and beaked, or.  Motto - "Commit Thyself To God."

Intro