ELIZABETH SUTHERLAND-GOWER, MARCHIONESS OF STAFFORD, COUNTESS OF SUTHERLAND, AND BARONESS OF THIS noble and illustrious Lady is descended from the most ancient house in Scotland, and represents a family whose nobility has passed through many of the most distinguished personages in the history of the country. The first of her ancestors of whom we find mention, was Thane of Sutherland, and his name is rendered interesting to us by his having fallen a victim to the revenge of Macbeth. The Earldom of Sutherland was bestowed by King Malcolm upon the son of this nobleman, who was in his turn succeeded by his son, who built the ancient seat of the family, Denrobin Castle. William, the fourth Earl of Sutherland, married the eldest daughter of King Robert the First, whose son David is recorded to have erected the earldom into a royalty, in the year 1345. On the decease of the ninth Earl, the titles and estates of the family descended, as in the instance of the present Countess, to a female possessor, married to the second son of the Earl of Huntley, who assumed the title in right of his wife. The present inheritor of the honours which have descended through this long line of noble ancestry, is the only daughter of William, the seventeenth Earl, who married the eldest daughter, and co-heiress, of William Maxwell, Esq., of Preston. Her Ladyship was born May 24th, 1765, and her father died on the 16th of June, in the year following. Her right of succession, as a female, was immediately strongly disputed by Sir Robert Gordon, baronet, of Gordanstown, and by George Sutherland, Esq., of Force. A long and difficult discussion was entered into on this important point, but her Ladyship's guardians succeeded in proving her clear and distinct claim as heiress to the Earldom; and, on the 21st of March, 1771, her right was settled by a decision in the House of Lords. When only four years old, she thus became possessor of the most honourable title, and of the richest domain, of any of the Scottish nobility. In the year 1785, the Countess of Sutherland married the first and present Marquis of Stafford, distinguished, not more for his wealth and exalted rank, than for his splendid patronage of the fine arts. Her Ladyship has issue, Earl Gower, who was born August 8th, 1786, Francis, born January, 1800; and the ladies Charlotte and Elizabeth, born, the former on June 8th, 1788, and the latter in November, 1797. The high nobility of the Countess of Sutherland received, on his Majesty's visit to Scotland, in 1822, the royal distinction. Her son, Lord Leveson Gower, being appointed to carry the sceptre before the King, as representative of the Earls of Sutherland, to whom that honour was determined to belong: 2 |