SUTHERLAND, Alexander ¹

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  General Notes:

"Alexander of whose legitimate status there is much doubt. Sir Robert Gordon asserts definitely that he was illegitimate, and that his mother was a daughter of Ross of Balnagown. But there is some reason for uncertainty as to this in view of the facts stated above. He was born in 1491, and in 1509, when only eighteen, he opposed the service of his brother John as heir to their father, and requested that curators ad lites should be appointed to himself. This was done, and they advised him to renounce his right in and to the earldom in favour of his brother John and sister Elizabeth, and her husband Adam Gordon, reserving his right of succession if their heirs wholly failed. As a compensation he was secured in lands worth forty merks yearly, which sum was duly paid to him."

from Scots Peerage ¹