Malcolm Sinclair, 20th Earl of Caithness explained

Honorific-Prefix:The Right Honourable
The Earl of Caithness
Honorific-Suffix:PC
Office:Minister of State for Aviation and Shipping
Primeminister:John Major
Term Start:14 April 1992
Term End:11 January 1994
Predecessor:The Lord Brabazon of Tara
Successor:John Watts
Office1:Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
Primeminister1:Margaret Thatcher
John Major
Term Start1:14 July 1990
Term End1:14 April 1992
Predecessor1:The Lord Brabazon of Tara
Successor1:Alastair Goodlad
Office2:Paymaster General
Primeminister2:Margaret Thatcher
Term Start2:25 July 1989
Term End2:14 July 1990
Predecessor2:Peter Brooke
Successor2:Richard Ryder
Office3:Minister of State for Housing
Primeminister3:Margaret Thatcher
Term Start3:25 July 1988
Term End3:25 July 1989
Predecessor3:William Waldegrave
Successor3:Michael Howard
Office4:Minister of State for Environment
Primeminister4:Margaret Thatcher
Term Start4:10 January 1988
Term End4:25 July 1988
Predecessor4:The Lord Belstead
Successor4:Michael Howard
Office5:Minister of State for Home Affairs
Primeminister5:Margaret Thatcher
Term Start5:10 September 1986
Term End5:10 January 1988
Predecessor5:Giles Shaw
Successor5:The Earl Ferrers
Office6:Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport
Primeminister6:Margaret Thatcher
Term Start6:2 September 1985
Term End6:10 September 1986
Predecessor6:David Mitchell
Successor6:The Lord Brabazon of Tara
Office7:Lord-in-waiting
Government Whip
Primeminister7:Margaret Thatcher
Term Start7:8 May 1984
Term End7:2 September 1985
Predecessor7:The Lord Lyell
Successor7:The Viscount Davidson
Office8:Member of the House of Lords
Status8:Lord Temporal
Term Label8:as a hereditary peer
Term Start8:2 December 1969
Term End8:11 November 1999
Predecessor8:The 19th Earl of Caithness
Successor8:Seat abolished
Term Label9:as an elected hereditary peer
Term Start9:11 November 1999
1Blankname9:Election
1Namedata9:1999
Predecessor9:Seat established
Birth Date:3 November 1948
Party:Conservative
Alma Mater:Marlborough College
Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester

Malcolm Ian Sinclair, 20th Earl of Caithness, (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.

Education

Sinclair was educated at Blairmore School, Aberdeenshire (then Marlborough College), and the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester.

House of Lords and political offices

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.

Personal life

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).

Clan Sinclair

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]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Mosley, Charles (ed.) Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, volume 1 (Wilmington, DE: Burke's Peerage, 2003) page 641.
  2. Web site: Garland. Jessica. A handful of hereditary peers are trying to stifle reform – they are on the wrong side of history. Electoral Reform Society.
  3. https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200809/ldhansrd/text/90205-0003.htm#09020540000096/ House of Lords record, February 2009
  4. Sinclair, Robert (2013) The Sinclairs of Scotland, AuthorHouse, 12 June 2013,
  5. News: Earl of Caithness marries American businesswoman. The Scotsman. 15 November 2004. 22 August 2010. Edinburgh. Louise. Ward.
  6. Web site: International Gatherings – Clan Sinclair Australia. 2021-07-07.
  7. http://www.panalba.com/articles/view/p/chief-to-chief-malcolm-sinclair-the-earl-of-caithness/ Chief to Chief – Malcolm Sinclair, The Earl of Caithness