John Garrow Sinclair (1543 - 1576)

Born 8 Nov 1543 in Caithness, Scotland

Ancestors

Husband of Bessie (Gunn) Sinclair — married [date unknown] in Scotland

Descendants

Died 15 Mar 1576 at age 32 in Castle Sinclair Girnigoe Wick, Caithness, Scotland

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Clint Stewart [send private message]

Biography

John Sinclair is a member of Clan Sinclair.

John Sinclair, son of George Sinclair 4th Earl of Caithness and Elizabeth Graham was born before 2 October 1545, when he was granted a charter of the Earldom of Caithness in fee.^[1]

Between 10 December 1565 and 16 January 1566/67 John married Lady Jean Hepburn, daughter of Patrick, Earl of Bothwell; as her second husband, by whom he had three sons and a daughter:^{[2] [3]}

1. George Sinclair afterwards 5th Earl of Caithness (c.1566- February 1643), married 29 July 1585 Lady Jean Gordon, daughter of George Gordon, 5th Earl of Huntly and Lady Anne Hamilton, by whom he had five children.
2. James Sinclair, first of Murkle, married Elizabeth Stewart, by whom he had four children.
3. John Sinclair, first of Greenland and Rattar, (died after 21 December 1627), married Janet Sutherland, by whom he had one son.
4. Mariota Sinclair

Between 1569 and 1575 he was imprisoned in Girnigo Castle by his father following a quarrel.^[4][3]

Douglas gives the Master a legitimate son David, but this is an error. In August 1587 David Sinclair obtained a charter of Alterwall from Henry Keir of Greenland; and in a Crown charter which followed thereon he is designated "filio naturali quond. Joannis Magistri Cathanensis." In 1588 he obtained Letters of Legitimation. He had two sons, John, killed at Thurso in 1612, and Colonel George, who perished in the same year in the luckless expedition to Norway, of which full details are to be found in Calder's ^[5]

The Master had also a natural [illegitimate] son, Henry, who got a conveyance from his brother, Earl George, of part of the lands of Borrowstown and Lybster, with "the miln and fishings," and in a reversion by him in favour of the Earl dated 23d September 1606, he is designed as his "brother naturall." By his wife, Janet Sutherland, he had a son John, and he is probably the ancestor of a family of Sinclairs of Lybster, who occur as Wadsetters of these lands down to 1670.^[6]

There is great doubt that the story of the Master of Sinclair dying in a Girnigoe Dungeon. It was written by Gordon who had an axe to grind with the Sinclairs as his Chief was Sutherland and at that time Sinclair and Sutherland were not getting along. There is much spurious history attributed to the North because of Gordon. There is ample evidence to show the Master of Sinclair (oldest son) lived his last years in Knockinnon Castle, staying out of the way of his father. He was a gentle soul and his father was not. The Master is buried in the Sinclair Aisle in the Wick Churchyard.^[7]

John, Master of Caithness, died at Girnigo Castle in 1577-1578.^[3]

His remains are interred in the Sinclair aisle in the churchyard of Wick, which his father had built some years before. The inscription on the stone over his grave is still legible. It says:

"Here lies intombed ane noble and worthie man, John, Master of Caithness, who departed this life, the 15th day of March, 1576"^[8]

John Sinclair's inventory appears to have been comfirmed in Edinburgh Commissary Court on 27 July 1599.^[9]

Research Notes

Possible daughter Marie (Sinclair) Home (1582-1608) Although he died 1576, he had a daughter Marie. The footnote in Scots Peerage states that she was 'named 20 Feb 1582', which indicates she was 'named in Reg. of Deeds, xx 2 f. 392' on that date, not necessarily born on that date.^[3]

Since the daughter linked to Marie Sinclair was born 1587, it would also indicate that her birthdate, nor death, was 1582.

Sources

1. ↑ Registrum magni sigilli regum Scotorum; 1882; J. B. Paul, Ed; Vol 2; page 743
2. ↑ The complete peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, extant, extinct, or dormant; G E Cokayne; 1912; Vol. 2; p 479
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3} The Scots Peerage; Vol 2; p 340 ff
4. ↑ Charles Mosley, editor, Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes (Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003), volume 1, page 644.
5. ↑ "History of Caithness," and elsewhere. In Chambers's "Domestic Annals" (vol. i. pp. 445-6).
6. ↑ John Sinclair Master of Caithness in Five Gateways Genealogy at http://sites.google.com/site/fivegateways/alphabetical-index-s/sinclair/sinc0005
7. ↑ George Sinclair, Fifth Earl of Caithness: Wicked Earl George; http://sinclair.quarterman.org/who/george5caithness.html; accessed 17 June 2020
8. ↑ Sketch of the civil and traditional history of Caithness, from the tenth century; James Tait Calder; 1861; p 105
9. ↑ Index of Wills & Testaments; Sinclare, Johnne; 27/7/1599; Master of Caithness; Testament Dative and Inventory; Edinburgh Commissary Court; CC8/8/33; from https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/

• John Sinclair, Master of Caithness wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Sinclair,_Master_of_Caithness

• Clan Sinclair https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clan_Sinclair

• Castle Sinclair Girnigoe https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_Sinclair_Girnigoe

• The history of the Sinclair family in Europe and America, for eleven hundred years [database on-line]. Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005. (m. 1 Jean Bothwell m. 2 Bessie Gunn) Page 42 book, page 46 viewer https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/14335/images/dvm_GenMono000500-00025-0

• The Saint-Clairs of the Isles; being a history of the sea-kings of Orkney and their Scottish successors of the sirname of Sinclair. By Saint-Clair, Roland William, 1862. Publication date 1898. Topics Sinclair family, genealogy Publisher Auckland, N. Z., H. Brett. Collection allen_county; americana Digitizing sponsor Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center. p.194 https://archive.org/details/saintclairsofisl00sain/page/194/mode/2up

• The complete peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, extant, extinct, or dormant by Cokayne, George E. (George Edward), 1825-1911 online database https://archive.org/details/completepeerageo04coka

• Burke's Peerage online database https://burkespeerage.com/record_to_view.php

• The Scottish Nation - Caithness (John left to die of raging thirst) https://electricscotland.com/history/nation/caithness.htm

• Dictionary of National Biography, Volumes 1-22 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Page 292 book or page 309 viewer. John dies in prison due to ill treatment. https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/1981/

• History Of Caithness J T Calder https://www.caithness.org/history/historyofcaithness/contentschapters.htm

• UK and Ireland, Find a Grave® Index, 1300s-Current has extensive bio. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/178255460/john-garrow-sinclair

See Also:

• Charles Mosley, editor, Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes (Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003), volume 1, page 644

• Peter W. Hammond, editor, The Complete Peerage or a History of the House of Lords and All its Members From the Earliest Times, Volume XIV: Addenda & Corrigenda (Stroud, Gloucestershire, U.K.: Sutton Publishing, 1998), page 133.

• Burkes Peerage & Baronetage (Burke's Peerage & Baronetage 106th Edition, Burke's Landed Gentry 19th Edition) Multiple,
• A. S. Cowper & I. Ross, Caithness Monumental Inscriptions pre 1855 (Scotland, The Scottish Genealogy Society, 1992)

• Roland William Saint-Clair, The Saint-Clairs of the Isles being a history of the the Sea-Kings of Orkney and their Scottish Successors of the sirname of Sinclair (Auckland, New Zealand, H. Brett, General Printer and Publisher, Shortland and Fort Streets, 1898)

• http://www.fionamsinclair.co.uk/genealogy/caithness/Murkle.htm

Acknowledgments

• Profile Sinclair-198 was created via the import of Dickinson Family Tree.ged on 31 Mar 2011
• Profile Sinkler-Sinclair-St.%20Clair-5 was created on 9 Oct 2011
• Thank you to Daivd Barnhardt for creating WikiTree profile Sinclair-1173 through the import of 3-4-2013.GED on Mar 4, 2013.
• Profile Sinclair-1356 was created on 14 Jul 2013
• Profile Sinclair-1664 was created by Sir William (Arbuthnot) Arbuthnot of Kittybrewster Bt on 21 Jan 2014
• Profile Sinclair-3089 was created by Robert Sinclair on 15 Mar 2016