The title Lord Duffus was created by Charles II in the Peerage of Scotland on 8 December 1650 for Alexander Sutherland. He was a descendant of the 4th Earl of Sutherland, who fell in battle in 1333. The title is now extinct, although there may be male-line Sutherlands descended from earlier lairds of Duffus. In 1734, the 3rd Lord was attainted and the lordship was forfeited. His son Eric tried but failed to get a reverse of the attainder. His son James Sutherland of Duffus got the attainder reversed, and was restored to the lordship as 4th Lord Duffus on 25 May 1826. The last two Lords Duffus were also baronets, of Hempriggs in the County of Caithness. The lordship became extinct on the death of the 6th Lord Duffus on 28 August 1875.
Origins of the Duffus sept
The Sutherland family of Duffus descended from Nicholas Sutherland, only brother of William de Moravia, 5th Earl of Sutherland, and younger son of Kenneth de Moravia, 4th Earl of Sutherland. The village of Duffus is outside of the county of Sutherland. Some of the Sutherland of Duffus family may have assumed the surname Duffus, which was the family title instead of the surname Sutherland.
Ancestors of the Lords Duffus
These are the early ancestors of the Lords Duffus.
William Sutherland of Quarrywood, later 4th of Duffus
William Sutherland, 5th of Duffus.
William Sutherland, 6th of Duffus.
William Sutherland, 7th of Duffus.
Alexander Sutherland, 8th of Duffus.
William Sutherland, 9th of Duffus.
William Sutherland, 10th of Duffus.
Lords Duffus (1650)
Alexander Sutherland, 1st Lord Duffus
James Sutherland, 2nd Lord Duffus who had issue four sons and one daughter.
Kenneth Sutherland, 3rd Lord Duffus for his part in the 1715 uprising. He fled to Sweden, where he married a Swedish lady, Christina Sjöblad, by whom he had:
Eric Sutherland, 4th Lord Duffus , married his first cousin Elizabeth, third daughter of Sir James Dunbar of Hempriggs, 1st Baronet by his wife Elizabeth Dunbar, daughter and heiress of Sir William Dunbar of Hempriggs, 1st Baronet of Northfield. They were parents of the 5th Lord Duffus, another son, and three daughters including an eldest daughter Elizabeth, wife firstly of Captain Alexander Sinclair, son of Sir William Sinclair of Keiss; secondly Charles Sinclair of Olrig and thirdly, in 1772, the Reverend James Rudd, rector in Yorkshire.
James Sutherland, 5th Lord Duffus , who died unmarried. He eloped in December 1771 with the seventeen-year-old Lady Mary Hay, the daughter of the Earl of Erroll, Hereditary Lord High Constable of Scotland, and the wife of Major-General John Scott; she was divorced by her husband, Sutherland's colonel at the time. He abandoned her, never married, and recognized 10 illegitimate children in his will. However, he is said to have at least 60 illegitimate children. The barony was claimed by the nearest heir male :
Benjamin Dunbar, 6th Lord Duffus, 3rd Baronet of Hempriggs, grandson of Sir James Sutherland-Dunbar of the 5th Lord Duffus This man, together with his son, unsuccessfully petitioned the House of Lords in 1838 to be granted the title and the seat in the House of Lords, but the petition was not acted upon. He was succeeded de facto by his son:
George Sutherland Dunbar, 7th Lord Duffus used the title of 7th Lord Duffus, but was also known as Sir George Dunbar of Hempriggs, 4th Baronet.
