John Gordon, 16th Earl of Sutherland KT PC (1661–1733) was a Scottish nobleman and army officer.
He was a Scottish representative peer in four parliaments, president of the Board of Trade and manufactures, and lord-lieutenant of the eight northern counties of Scotland.
[3] When the rebellion had been quashed, Gordon was invested by George I with the Order of the Thistle and was granted an annual pension of £1200 in recognition of his services.
He married three times, first to Helen, daughter of William Cochrane, Lord Cochrane and Catherine Kennedy; secondly to Katherine Tollemache, daughter of Sir Lionel Tollemache, 3rd Baronet and widow of James Stuart, Lord Doune;[4] and thirdly to Frances Hodgson.
[6] Illegitimate children are fairly common and though unproven this would account for the mysterious and suspicious familiarity between James Sutherland and the acquisition of the Uppat estate, the military appointments, and the closeness to the Gordon family at large.