The Earls of Caithness

[Niven Sinclair <niven@niven.co.uk>]

It was George IV (1643-1676) who was in debt to Glenorchy NOT
 George VI (1881-1889)
by which time Glenorchy had quit Caithness (1719).

George VI must also have been in debt because on his death the Estate of
Mey (now
owned by the Queen Mother but handled by the Mey Trust which is run by
Malcolm
Sinclair, the current Earl of Caithness and John Sinclair, the 3rd
Viscount Thurso) was
'estranged' from the dignity of Earl.

Pete Cummings must have (understandably) confused George II (1529-1582)
with George
IV (1643-1676) just as I had (inadvertently) confused George VI with
George IV just as
our friend Johnnye had done.

Lesson?  Don't pretend to be right all the time but the dates of
George IV's dispositions
to Campbell of Glenorchy (10th June,1661 and 18th October, 1672) should
settle which
of the Georges was in debt to Campbell of Glenorchy.

You ask which battle resulted in George IV's debts?

When I was going to school, my father told us: "If you are ever
asked what happened in
such and such year just say 'there was trouble in Ireland'"
and you are bound to be given
one point.

Well, there was always trouble in Scotland but the trouble which got many
Scots in debt
during the period of George IV was the Solemn League and Covenant of 1643
between
England and Scotland to defend and establish Presbyterianism.  After
the Stuart restoration
George IV became a decided royalist and "manifested great zeal in
suppressing conventicles"
i.e. unauthorised assemblies for worship by Catholics and Episcopalians
which, in itself,
was a contradiction because the Stuarts had been the mainstay of the
Catholic faith in
Scotland.

The Stuarts (more accurately the Stewarts) were a disaster for Scotland
and were largely
responsible for the downfall of the Sinclairs who clung to the Catholic
faith long after the
strong wind of Protestantism was sweeping through Northern Europe. 
When we did change,
we embraced the new religion with all the fervour of the 'born again
Christian'.  My own knees
still ache at the hours they spent kneeling on a stone-flagged floor in
my grandfather's house
in Caithness.  Not a spoonful of porridge was eaten until grace had
been said.

One had to suffer to be saved.  The absurdity of it all defies
belief.  Will we never learn?

If this seems to be a digression from George IV, it is not.  It is
the Sinclair adherence to lost
causes which has resulted in our downfall.  It is almost as if we
had a death wish.  If we
couldn't find an enemy we fought amongst ourselves - and still do.
  
Niven Sinclair  


Niven Sinclair