Malcolm Ian Sinclair,20th Earl of Caithness, PC (born 3 November 1948),is a Scottish Conservative politician and member of the House of Lords as one of the remaining hereditary peers. He is also 20th Lord Berriedale,15th Baronet,of Canisbay,Co. Caithness,and chief of Clan Sinclair. He is the Chief Executive of the Clan Sinclair Trust.
Sinclair was born in 1948,the only son of Roderick Sinclair,19th Earl of Caithness and his second wife Madeline Gabrielle Ormerod (née de Pury). Sinclair's mother was possibly descended from the de Pury family of Neuchâtel,Switzerland,who were members of the Prussian nobility.
He was educated at Blairmore School,Aberdeenshire,at Marlborough College and at the Royal Agricultural College (now Royal Agricultural University),Cirencester.
Sinclair succeeded to the earldom of Caithness and its subsidiary titles upon the death of his father in 1965.
Lord Caithness served as a House of Lords government-whip under Margaret Thatcher from 1984 to 1985. He then moved to the Department of Transport as a Parliamentary Under Secretary of State,serving until 1986,the year when he became Minister of State at the Home Office. In 1988,he was once appointed Minister of State at the Department of Environment. In 1989,he became Paymaster General and a Minister of State in the Treasury. [1]
In 1990,Caithness was appointed Minister of State at the Foreign Office,and then,in 1992,back to the Department of Transport. He was made a privy counsellor in 1990.
With the passage of the House of Lords Act 1999,Caithness,along with most other hereditary peers,lost his automatic right to sit in the House of Lords. He was,however,elected as one of the 90 representative peers designed under the provisions of the act to remain in the House of Lords. According to the Electoral Reform Society,he has since blocked further reform of the Lords,tabling 'wrecking' amendments to a draft Bill to abolish by-elections for hereditary peers,proposed by Lord Grocott in 2018. [2]
Caithness is an opponent of fractional-reserve banking. [3]
Caithness was a trustee of Queen Elizabeth Castle of Mey Trust,from its inception in 1996 until 2016. In 1999,he helped found a heritage charity,the Clan Sinclair Trust,the aim of which is the preservation and conservation of Castle Sinclair Girnigoe,near Wick in Caithness. He serves as chief executive and has been responsible for getting the castle listed by the World Monuments Fund in its Watch List of the 100 Most Endangered Sites in the World in 2002,the fundraising and overseeing the remedial works which has allowed the castle to be accessible and open to the public.
Caithness was married firstly on 9 January 1975 to Diana Caroline Coke. They had two children: [4]
In January 1994,Caithness resigned from his post at the Ministry of Transport,following the suicide of his wife. [5] In November 2004 he married secondly Leila Cassel Jenkins,whom he had met at Ascot,in Rosslyn Chapel. [6] He filed for divorce a year later. [5] They had no children.
There are Clan Sinclair associations in the UK,Australia,Canada,Italy,and the USA.
Malcolm Sinclair has organized the first Clan Sinclair International Gathering in Caithness in 2000,and then again in 2002,2005,2008,2010,2012 (in Norway),and 2015. [7]
In 2009,Sinclair,referring to the role of Clan Chiefs,said "I do not believe there is an obligation towards the clan in any formal sense. For many years I took no interest in the Clan because I was too busy earning a living and bringing up the family...If a chief can give the time,particularly to the Diaspora,then there are huge rewards for everyone and I would hope that most chiefs can do that". [8]
William Sinclair (1410–1480),1st Earl of Caithness (1455–1476),last Earl (Jarl) of Orkney,2nd Lord Sinclair and 11th Baron of Roslin was a Norwegian and Scottish nobleman and the builder of Rosslyn Chapel,in Midlothian.
Earl of Caithness is a title that has been created several times in the Peerage of Scotland,and it has a very complex history. Its first grant,in the modern sense as to have been counted in strict lists of peerages,is now generally held to have taken place in favor of Maol Íosa V,Earl of Strathearn,in 1334,although in the true circumstances of 14th century,this presumably was just a recognition of his hereditary right to the ancient earldom/mormaership of Caithness. The next year,however,all of his titles were declared forfeit for treason.
Lord Sinclair is a title in the Peerage of Scotland. According to James Balfour Paul's The Scots Peerage,volume VII published in 1910,the first person to be styled Lord Sinclair was William Sinclair,3rd Earl of Orkney and 1st Earl of Caithness. However,according to Roland Saint-Clair writing in the late 19th century,William Sinclair's father,Henry II Sinclair,Earl of Orkney,who died in 1420,is the first person recorded as Lord Sinclair by public records.
Viscount Mountgarret is a title in the Peerage of Ireland.
Viscount Tenby,of Bulford in the County of Pembroke,is a hereditary title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom,created in 1957 for former Home Secretary,the Hon. Gwilym Lloyd George,second son of Prime Minister David Lloyd George,1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor.
Simon Frederick Marquis,3rd Earl of Woolton,styled Viscount Walberton between 1964 and 1969,is a British hereditary peer and businessman.
Edward Horace Fiennes-Clinton,18th Earl of Lincoln was an aristocratic Australian engineer,who succeeded to his family's earldom of Lincoln by primogeniture upon the death in 1988 of his 10th cousin,the last Duke of Newcastle.
Clan Sinclair is a Highland Scottish clan which holds the lands of Caithness,the Orkney Islands,and the Lothians. The chiefs of the clan were the Barons of Roslin and later the Earls of Orkney and Earls of Caithness.
John Stewart Gathorne-Hardy,2nd Earl of Cranbrook,was a British hereditary peer,Conservative politician,and military officer.
Charles Alan Andrew Cathcart,the 7th Earl Cathcart,styled Lord Greenock until 1999,is a Scottish peer and Conservative member of the House of Lords and Chief of the Name and Arms of Clan Cathcart.
Herbert Robin Cayzer,3rd Baron Rotherwick,is a British landowner and estate manager. He sat as a hereditary peer in the House of Lords for the Conservative Party,from 1996 until his retirement in 2022.
Robert Walter Shirley,12th Earl Ferrers,was a British Conservative politician and hereditary peer.
Diana Denyse Hay,23rd Countess of Erroll was a British noblewoman.
James Sinclair,14th Earl of Caithness,,styled Lord Berriedale from 1823 to 1855,was a Scottish Liberal politician,scientist and inventor.
Brigadier James Roderick Sinclair,19th Earl of Caithness,CVO,CBE,DSO was a British Army officer during World War II,hereditary peer and chief of Clan Sinclair.
Charles Mark Townshend Colville,5th Viscount Colville of Culross,is a Scottish television producer,director and hereditary peer.
George Philips Alexander Sinclair,15th Earl of Caithness,was a Scottish hereditary peer.
Ian Derek Francis Ogilvie-Grant,13th Earl of Seafield is a British peer and landowner.
William Frederick Le Poer Trench,5th Earl of Clancarty,4th Marquess of Heusden was an Irish peer of the House of Lords,a Dutch nobleman,and a deputy lieutenant and justice of the peace of County Galway. He was known for the controversy that ensued after a petition for divorce was argued in 1890,which was based on an affidavit accusing his wife at the time,Belle Bilton,of adultery.
Gathorne Gathorne-Hardy,3rd Earl of Cranbrook,styled as Lord Medway between 1906 and 1911,was a British hereditary peer.
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