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 educated at Blairmore School,Aberdeenshire (then Marlborough College),and the Royal Agricultural College,Cirencester.
Malcolm 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 married Diana Caroline Coke (1953–1994) in 1975. 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.
Sinclair's mother was Madeleine de Pury,possibly descended from the de Pury family of Neuchâtel,Switzerland,who were members of the Prussian nobility.
In January 1994,Caithness resigned from his post at the Ministry of Transport,following the suicide of his wife,Diana Caroline Coke. [4] In 2004 he married Leila C. Jenkins,whom he had met at Ascot,in Rosslyn Chapel. [5] He filed for divorce a year later. [4]
His children are Lady Iona Alexandra Sinclair (born 1978),and Alexander James Richard Sinclair,Lord Berriedale (born 1981).
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. [6]
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". [7]
The Peerage Act 1963 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that permits women peeresses and all Scottish hereditary peers to sit in the House of Lords and allows newly inherited hereditary peerages to be disclaimed.
John Archibald Sinclair,3rd Viscount Thurso,,known also as John Thurso,is a Scottish businessman,Liberal Democrat politician and hereditary peer who is notable for having served in the House of Lords both before and after a period in the House of Commons.
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.
Lord Reay,of Reay in the County of Caithness,is a title in the Peerage of Scotland. Lord Reay is the hereditary Clan Chief of Clan Mackay,whose lands in Strathnaver and northwest Sutherland were known as the Reay Country. The land was sold to the Earls of Sutherland in the 18th century. Lord Reay also refers to a legendary magician in Caithness folklore.
Viscount Thurso,of Ulbster in the County of Caithness,is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 11 June 1952 for the Scottish Liberal politician and former Secretary of State for Air,Sir Archibald Sinclair,4th Baronet. His son,the second Viscount,served as Lord Lieutenant of Caithness from 1973 to 1995.
In the United Kingdom,life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited,in contrast to hereditary peers. Life peers are appointed by the monarch on the advice of the prime minister. With the exception of the Dukedom of Edinburgh awarded for life to Prince Edward in 2023,all life peerages conferred since 2009 have been created under the Life Peerages Act 1958 with the rank of baron and entitle their holders to sit and vote in the House of Lords,presuming they meet qualifications such as age and citizenship. The legitimate children of a life peer appointed under the Life Peerages Act 1958 are entitled to style themselves with the prefix "The Honourable",although they cannot inherit the peerage itself. Prior to 2009,life peers of baronial rank could also be so created under the Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876 for senior judges.
Merlin Sereld Victor Gilbert Hay,24th Earl of Erroll,is a crossbench member of the House of Lords,chief of the Scottish clan Hay,and hereditary Lord High Constable of Scotland.
Clan Sutherland also known as House of Sutherland is a Highland Scottish clan whose traditional territory is the shire of Sutherland in the far north of Scotland. The chief of the clan was also the powerful Earl of Sutherland,however in the early 16th century this title passed through marriage to a younger son of the chief of Clan Gordon. The current chief is Alistair Sutherland who holds the title Earl of Sutherland.
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.
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 and was also chief of Clan Sinclair.
John Jacob "Johnny" Astor VIII,3rd Baron Astor of Hever,,is an English businessman and politician from the Astor family. He sat in the House of Lords as a Conservative hereditary peer from 1986 to his retirement in 2022. Astor was Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Ministry of Defence from 2010 to 2015. Astor is a Deputy Lieutenant of Kent.
James Sinclair,12th Earl of Caithness (1766–1823) was a Scottish noble,Earl of Caithness and chief of the Clan Sinclair,a Highland Scottish clan.
George Sinclair was a Scottish nobleman,the 5th Earl of Caithness and chief of the Clan Sinclair,a Scottish clan based in northern Scotland.
George Sinclair was a Scottish nobleman,6th Earl of Caithness,and chief of the Clan Sinclair,a Scottish clan of the Scottish Highlands.
George Sinclair,previously of Keiss,died 1698,was a Scottish nobleman,7th Earl of Caithness and chief of the Clan Sinclair,a Scottish clan of the Scottish Highlands.
Henry Sinclair was a Scottish nobleman and the 6th Lord Sinclair. In The Scots Peerage by James Balfour Paul he is designated as the 5th Lord Sinclair in descent starting from William Sinclair,1st Earl of Caithness and 3rd Earl of Orkney,but historian Roland Saint-Clair designates him as the 6th Lord Sinclair in descent from the father of the 1st Earl of Caithness and 3rd Earl of Orkney,Henry II Sinclair,Earl of Orkney,who is the first person recorded as Lord Sinclair in public records. Roland Saint-Clair references this to an Act of the Scottish Parliament in which the 4th Lord Sinclair was made Lord Sinclair based on his descent from his great-grandfather,Henry II Sinclair,Earl of Orkney,the first Lord Sinclair. Bernard Burke,in his a Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire,agrees with Roland Saint-Clair and says that Henry Sinclair's father,William Sinclair,was "in reality" the fifth Lord Sinclair.
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