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Sutherland Crest
WITHOUT FEAR
Clan Crest © Art Pewter Silver Ltd,
East Kilbride, Scotland		 Sutherland Tartan

The Earldom of Sutherland is claimed to be the oldest in Britain, having been granted to William, Lord of Sutherland in around 1228 and the line remained unbroken until 1514.

The Sutherland clan derives its name from the territory known as Sudrland by the Norsemen who had conquered much of the Scottish mainland north of Inverness. It has, however, also been suggested that the Sutherlands are descended from the pre-Christian tribe of the Catti. The modern counties of Caithness and Sutherland were formally known as the province of the cat or land of the people of the cat and a wild cat is on the Sutherland crest The chief line is generally accepted to be of Flemish origin, descendants of Freskin, who is also an ancestor of the Murrays of Atholl.

William, 2nd Earl, fought alongside Robert the Bruce at Bannockburn, and the 4th Earl also William, married one of Bruce’s daughters. Over the following centuries the Earls of Sutherland maintained feuds with many neighbouring clans, in particular Clan McKay. Relations with the Sinclairs of Caithness were also strained, and the 11th Earl of Sutherland and his wife died of poisoning, at the instigation of the Earl of Caithness. The male line was broken when John, 9th Earl died in 1514 and was succeeded by his sister, Elizabeth, Countess of Sutherland. She married Adam Gordon who took the courtesy title of the Earl of Sutherland. During the 1715 and 1745 Risings, the Sutherlands supported the Hanoverian cause. William, 18th Earl who died in 1766, was the last of the Gordon Earls of Sutherland.

The first Duke of Sutherland was renowned for being a keen reformer and his ill-conceived “improvements” on his estate caused much misery and led to excessive clearance evictions. By these actions he was responsible for virtually destroying the old ways of life in Sutherland and was never forgiven by many people for these clearances.

The principal seat of the chiefs of clan Sutherland is the fairy tale castle of Dunrobin, which has been transformed from a traditional Scottish castle into a vast palace in the French chateau style. Now open to the public, it remains in the possession of the Sutherland family.