He was the eldest son of Kenneth Sutherland, 3rd Lord Duffus and his wife Charlotta Christina, daughter of Eric Sioblade, governor of Gothenburg.
[1][2][3] Eric Sutherland was baptized on 10 August 1710 and was the titular 4th Lord Duffus.
The House of Lords decided against this claim and declared that he had no right to the title.
However, letters from him and his wife show that he assumed the title and that this was accepted by his neighbors.
During the Jacobite rising of 1745 he remained loyal to the Crown and gave intelligence of the rebels to the Earl of Sutherland.