Catherine or Katherine Tollemache, Countess of Sutherland (died 1705) was an English aristocrat.

Life

She was a daughter of Lionel Tollemache (sometimes spelled "Talmash") and Elizabeth Murray. Her great-grandmother, Catherine Tollemache ''

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

'' Cromwell (died 1621), is known for her recipe books. Her mother, and her stepfather,

John Maitland, 1st Duke of Lauderdale John Maitland, 1st Duke of Lauderdale, Order of the Garter, KG, Privy Council of Scotland, PC (24 May 1616 – 24 August 1682) was a Scottish statesman and peer. Background Maitland was a member of an ancient family of both Berwickshire an ...

, came to Edinburgh in July 1677, with Catherine and her sister Elizabeth. Her mother hoped Catherine would marry a son of the

Earl of Atholl The Mormaer or Earl of Atholl was the title of the holder of a medieval comital lordship straddling the highland province of Atholl (''Ath Fodhla''), now in northern Perthshire. Atholl is a special Mormaerdom, because a King of Atholl is repor ...

. However this plan came to nothing, and after making a marriage contract in December 1677, Catherine Tollemache married James Stuart or Stewart,

Lord Doune Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the peerage in the United Kingdom, or are e ...

. He was the eldest son of

Alexander Stuart, 5th Earl of Moray Alexander () is a male name of Greek origin. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here are A ...

and Emilia Balfour. Lauderdale was Margaret Home's brother-in-law by his first marriage to

Anne Home Anne Home, Countess of Lauderdale (1612–1671) was a Scottish aristocrat. Early life Anne Home was a daughter of Mary (Dudley) Sutton, Countess of Home and Alexander Home, 1st Earl of Home. She was born and christened in 1612. Anne of Den ...

. Elizabeth Tollemache married

Archibald Campbell, 1st Duke of Argyll Archibald Campbell, 1st Duke of Argyll, 10th Earl of Argyll (25 July 1658 – September 1703) was a Scottish peer. Biography The eldest son of Archibald Campbell, 9th Earl of Argyll and Mary Stuart, daughter of James Stuart, 4th Earl of Moray ...

. In Scotland, Catherine lived at

Moray House The Moray House School of Education and Sport ('Moray House') is a school within the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Science at the University of Edinburgh. It is based in historic buildings on the Holyrood, Edinburgh, Holyrood Campus, ...

in Edinburgh's

Canongate The Canongate is a street and associated district in central Edinburgh, the capital city of Scotland. The street forms the main eastern length of the Royal Mile while the district is the main eastern section of Edinburgh's Old Town. David ...

, and at

Castle Stuart Castle Stuart is a restored tower house on the banks of the Moray Firth, about northeast of Inverness. The land the castle was built on was granted to the 1st Earl of Moray by his half-sister, Mary, Queen of Scots, following her return to S ...

near

Ardersier Ardersier () is a small former fishing village in the Scottish Highlands on the Moray Firth near Fort George, between Inverness and Nairn. Its name may be an anglicisation of the Gaelic "Àird nan Saor", or "Headland of the joiners", one loca ...

. In the 1690s, she wrote letters to James Cristie the steward of the

Earl of Moray The title Earl of Moray, or Mormaer of Moray (pronounced "Murry"), was originally held by the rulers of the Province of Moray, which existed from the 10th century with varying degrees of independence from the Kingdom of Alba to the south. Until ...

at Earlsmill near

Darnaway Castle Darnaway Castle, also known as Tarnaway Castle, is located in Darnaway Forest, southwest of Forres in Moray, Scotland. This was Comyn land, given to Thomas Randolph along with the Earldom of Moray by King Robert I. The castle has remained t ...

, which she signed with her initials "CD" and "CDoune", as Catherine, Lady Doune. A carpenter in Elgin, William Sinclair, built a barn for her. Timber was sent to her from the Darnaway forests. These were times of poor harvest and famine and are known as the Seven ill years. Cristie kept her letters to account for grain and meal sent to Castle Stuart. In 1702, she commissioned silver gilt tableware from an Edinburgh goldsmith, Robert Bruce, including a dozen forks and knives, a comparatively early mention of forks (other than forks for dessert) in Britain. The bill was paid in 1706 by her second husband,

John Gordon, 16th Earl of Sutherland 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.

. Their home was

Dunrobin Castle Dunrobin Castle is a stately home in Sutherland, in the Highland area of Scotland, that serves as the family seat of the Earl of Sutherland, Chief of Clan Sutherland. It is located north of Golspie and approximately south of Brora, overlo ...

. She died in 1705. The Earl of Sutherland subsequently married Frances Hodgson (died 1732), a daughter of Thomas Hodgson of Bramwith Hall and former wife of Sir Thomas Travell.

Portrait

An inventory of

Ham House Ham House is a 17th-century house set in formal gardens on the bank of the River Thames in Ham, London, Ham, south of Richmond, London, Richmond in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. The original house was completed in 1610 by Thomas ...

, the home of her mother, mentions a portrait of Katherine, Lady Doune, as the work of Lodewijk van der Helst. A portrait labelled "Lady Doune", possibly by

John Weesop John Weesop or Jan Weesop (name variations: 'Wessopp', 'Wisop', 'Wesep' and 'Wesop') (''fl'' 1640–1653) was a portrait painter presumed to be of Flemish descent who is now only known for his works produced in the 1640s in England. His English ...

, survives at Ham, but the picture depicts her mother Elizabeth Murray.

Children

She was the mother of:

James Balfour Paul Sir James Balfour Paul (16 November 1846 – 15 September 1931) was the Lord Lyon King of Arms, the officer responsible for heraldry in Scotland, from 1890 until the end of 1926. Life James Balfour Paul was educated at Royal High School, Edinbur ...

''Scots Peerage'', 6, p. 323
/ref> * Elizabeth Stuart (died 1708), who married Alexander Grant of Grant. * Emilia Stuart (died 1711), who married (1) Alexander Fraser of

Strichen Strichen is a village in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It sits on the A981, connecting it to New Deer to the southwest and Fraserburgh to the north-northeast, and the B9093, connecting it to New Pitsligo about due west. The village got its nam ...

, and (2)

John Lindsay, 19th Earl of Crawford John Lindsay, 19th Earl of Crawford and 3rd Earl of Lindsay (died December 1713) was a Scottish peer and politician. Life He was born before 1672, the eldest son of William Lindsay, 18th Earl of Crawford, and succeeded to the earldoms in 1698 ...

References

{{Reflist 1705 deaths

Sutherland Sutherland () is a Counties of Scotland, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area in the Scottish Highlands, Highlands of Scotland. The name dates from the Scandinavian Scotland, Viking era when t ...

Catherine Katherine (), also spelled Catherine and Catherina, other variations, is a feminine given name. The name and its variants are popular in countries where large Christian populations exist, because of its associations with one of the earliest Ch ...

Daughters of baronets Daughters of Scottish earls