Sir John Henderson, 5th Baronet

His proposers were Andrew Dalzell, Cosmo Gordon, and John Mortland.

Early in his career Henderson was associated with Henry Dundas and supported William Pitt the Younger, but Dundas threw his support to William Wemyss in 1787 and Henderson never forgave him for it.

In 1796 Henderson was one of the backers of the Scots Chronicle, a newspaper opposed to the war policy of the Pitt administration.

[12] His wife died in childbirth of their first and only child, Anne Isabella Henderson (1782-1844), who married Admiral Phillip Durham in 1818.

[14] Henderson was sued by his younger brother Robert Bruce Henderson (c. 1763–1833) over the ownership of Earlshall Castle; after losing the suit, Sir John refused to make up a title for his brother, forcing him to obtain one by decree of a court.

Henderson commissioned a bust of himself in 1777 by Christopher Hewetson[16] and a portrait by Gavin Hamilton the next year.

Sir John Henderson of Fordell, by John Brown. 1782. Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh.
Sir John Henderson of Fordell, by Gavin Hamilton 1778. Museo de la Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando.
Angelika Kauffmann, Portrait of Anne Loudoun, Lady Henderson of Fordell, 1771