John Gordon, 16th Earl of Sutherland (1661–1733) was a Scottish nobleman and army officer.
He was the only son of
George Gordon, 15th Earl of Sutherland (1633–1703), and his wife, Jean Wemmyss.
Upon his father's death in 1703 he succeeded as earl of Sutherland. He supported the
Glorious Revolution, revolution of 1688 and was a commissioner for the
union of England and Scotland
The Acts of Union refer to two acts of Parliament, one by the Parliament of Scotland in March 1707, followed shortly thereafter by an equivalent act of the Parliament of England. They put into effect the international Treaty of Union agree ...
. He was a
Scottish representative peer
This is a list of representative peers elected from the Peerage of Scotland to sit in the House of Lords after the Acts of Union 1707 abolished the unicameral Parliament of Scotland, where all Scottish Peers had been entit ...
in four parliaments,
president of the Board of Trade
The president of the Board of Trade is head of the Board of Trade. A committee of the His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, Privy Council of the United Kingdom, it was first established as a temporary committee of inquiry in the 17th centur ...
and manufactures, and lord-lieutenant of the eight northern counties of
Scotland
Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
.
In 1703 he was appointed a privy councillor by Queen Anne.
He aided in putting down the
Jacobite rising of 1715
The Jacobite rising of 1715 ( ;
or 'the Fifteen') was the attempt by James Francis Edward Stuart, James Edward Stuart (the Old Pretender) to regain the thrones of Kingdom of England, England, Kingdom of Ireland, Ireland and Kingdom of Scotland ...
.
When the rebellion had been quashed, Gordon was invested by
George I with the
Order of the Thistle
The Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle is an order of chivalry associated with Scotland. The current version of the order was founded in 1687 by King James VII of Scotland, who asserted that he was reviving an earlier order. The ...
and was granted an annual pension of £1200 in recognition of his services. In 1719 he led his regiment in the
Battle of Glen Shiel
The Battle of Glen Shiel took place on 10 June 1719 in the Scottish Highlands, during the Jacobite rising of 1719. A Jacobitism, Jacobite army composed of Highland levies and Spanish Marine Infantry, Spanish marines was defeated by British gover ...
, which brought to an end the third Jacobite rising.
He resumed the name of Sutherland, instead of Gordon.
In 1719 by decree of
Lyon Court, he was thereafter recognised Chief of the
Clan Sutherland.
Family
He married three times, first to
Helen, daughter of William Cochrane, Lord Cochrane and Catherine Kennedy; secondly to
Katherine Tollemache, daughter of
Sir Lionel Tollemache, 3rd Baronet and widow of James Stuart,
Lord Doune; and thirdly to Frances Hodgson. He had two children with Helen:
*
William Gordon, Lord Strathnaver (19 December 168313 July 1720) who married Catherine Morrison
*Jean Gordon (c. 1692, Scotland11 February 1747, Virginia)), who married James Lauderdale, the son of
John Maitland, 5th Earl of Lauderdale.
Persuasive claims have been put forth in the Allan P. Gray account, that the "Honbl. Capt." referenced in the Dugald Gilchrist Papers is Lt. Col. James Sutherland of Uppat, of the 38th Foot, and superintendent of the estate of the Countess of Sutherland at Dunrobin, making James Sutherland an illegitimate son to Gordon (mother unknown).
Illegitimate children are fairly common and though unproven this would account for the mysterious and suspicious familiarity between James Sutherland and the acquisition of the Uppat estate, the military appointments, and the closeness to the Gordon family at large.
References
External links
*
1661 births
1733 deaths
Nobility from Highland (council area)
16
John
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Second E ...
Members of the Privy Council of Great Britain
Scottish representative peers
{{Scotland-earl-stub