Chiefs
The chief of Clan Sutherland was the Earl of Sutherland. The family who are first known to have been in possession of this title was a family who were known by the surname "de Moravia", although junior branches of this family did take the surname "Sutherland". The Earldom passed by right of marriage to a younger son of the chief of Clan Gordon early in the 16th century (although not without opposition from the heiress's half-brother, Alexander Sutherland of Beridale, a natural son of her father, the Earl John de Moravia. Alexander Sutherland married a daughter of Iye Roy-Mackay of Strathnaver and had descendants).
This line of Gordons who were Earls of Sutherland changed their surname from Gordon to Sutherland in the 18th century during the Jacobite Uprisings. However, later on during the 18th century, the Earldom which was promoted to the rank of "Duke" passed to various people from different family lines within the Clan Sutherland.
| “ | The Earl of Sutherland was the chief of the clan, but on the accession to the earldom in 1766, of Countess Elizabeth, the infant daughter of the eighteenth earl, and afterward Duchess of Sutherland, as the chiefship could not descend to a female, William Sutherland of Killipheder, who died in 1832, and enjoyed a small annuity from her grace, was accounted the eldest male descendant of the old earls. John Campbell Sutherland, Esq, of Fors, was afterwards considered the real chief. | ” |
| “ | These almost obliterated remains are associated with the domestic as well as the traditionary history of the Strath Uillidh Sutherlands, a nobly-descended and gigantic race. Their first ancestor was Alexander, son of John, 8th Earl of Sutherland, by his second Countess, a daughter of Ross of Balnagown. His sister Elizabeth, by his father's first marriage, on the death of her brother John, 9th Earl, who died unmarried, succeeded to the titles and estates, to the prejudice of her half-brother Alexander, on the plea-in-law that his father and mother being cousins-germain, their marriage, by the canon law, was illegal, and that he was therefore, illegitimate. Elizabeth married Adam, Viscount of Aboyne, second son of the Earl of Huntly. With him and his wife, Alexander, by force of arms, disputed the right to the titles and estate of Sutherland. He was killed in a battle fought at Alltachuilain, below Kintradwell, in the parish of Loth. Kilphedder was the place of his residence, and his descendants, occupied the lands for generations on payment of a merely nominal rent to the Earls of Sutherland. With the melancholy and affecting death of one of his descendants, the ruins at Kilphedder are more immediately connected. This individual, a William Sutherland of Kilphedder, was a man of gigantic strength and stature. He repaired and extended the residence of his ancestors. | ” |
| “ | The line of the Gordon Earls of Sutherland, who afterwards held high offices and honours in the State, came to an end with the death of William, nineteenth Earl, at Bath in 1766. The title and estates were then claimed by Sir Robert Gordon of Gordonstown and George Sutherland of Fors, and the case, in which the celebrated Lord Hailes took part, remains among the most famous in our legal annals. It was finally decided, however, by the House of Lords in 1771 in favour of the late Earl’s only surviving daughter, Elizabeth. This lady married, in 1785, George Granville Leveson-Gower, Viscount Trentham, afterwards second Marquess of Stafford, who was, in 1833, created Duke of Sutherland. From that time to this the distinguished holders of the Sutherland titles have been of the Leveson-Gower family, and only distantly related, through the two heiresses named Elizabeth, of the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries respectively, to the original heads of the clan of the name of Murray or Sutherland. Meanwhile the actual chiefship of the clan by male descent was believed to be vested in William Sutherland of Killipheder, who enjoyed a small annuity from the Duchess-Countess, and died at a great age in 1832, and after him in John Campbell Sutherland of Fors, in the county of Caithness. The last-named died about 1917, leaving five daughters but no son. In the course of the intervening centuries the race of the famous Freskin the Fleming has made a mighty record in the history of Scotland. | ” |
The current Chief of Clan Sutherland is Elizabeth Sutherland, 24th Countess of Sutherland.
Read more about this topic: Clan Sutherland
Famous quotes containing the word chiefs:
““Hear me,” he said to the white commander. “I am tired. My heart is sick and sad. Our chiefs are dead; the little children are freezing. My people have no blankets, no food. From where the sun stands, I will fight no more forever.””
—For the State of Montana, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“If you tie a horse to a stake, do you expect he will grow fat? If you pen an Indian up on a small spot of earth, and compel him to stay there, he will not be contented, nor will he grow and prosper. I have asked some of the great white chiefs where they get their authority to say to the Indian that he shall stay in one place, while he sees white men going where they please. They can not tell me.”
—Chief Joseph (c. 1840–1904)
“Fashion understands itself; good-breeding and personal superiority of whatever country readily fraternize with those of every other. The chiefs of savage tribes have distinguished themselves in London and Paris, by the purity of their tournure.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)