This Earl, with John, Earl of Sutherland, met Queen Mary at Inverness on the occasion of her arrival there in the month of July 1555, to settle the disorders then prevailing in those parts. Although Earl George was requested to bring his countrymen along with him to the Court, he either neglected or declined to do so, and was therefore committed to prison at Inverness, Aberdeen, and Edinburgh successively, nor was he restored to liberty till he paid a considerable sum of money. History of the Scottish Clans].
Earl George took an active part in the intrigues in connection with the marriages of Mary, Queen of Scots. In 1560 he attended the secret convention of the Catholic party which entrusted Lesley, official of Aberdeen (afterwards Bishop of Ross), with a commission to repair to the French Court and present to their sovereign their offers of service and expressions of devoted attachment. [History of the Scottish Clans]. The next year (1561) William and Angus Sutherland of Berriedale, countenanced it is believed by the Earl of Sutherland, committed some gross outrages in Caithness, and killed several inhabitants of the county named Clyne, against whom they had a grudge. For these acts the Earl of Caithness banished them and confiscated their castle of Berriedale. This incited them to resume their depredations, and through the influence of the Earl of Sutherland a pardon was obtained for them from Queen Mary. Earl George was greatly exasperated at the interference of the Earl of Sutherland, and to this incident we trace the foundation of that hatred which the two rival Houses of Caithness and Sutherland bore each other for so long a period. [History of Caithness].
He attended the convention of the Scottish nobility held at Stirling 15th May 1565, to deliberate on the marriage of Queen Mary. On receiving the announcement of her intention to wed Darnley, all approved thereof. [Tytler].
The Earl was appointed Justiciary of the North of Scotland, with jurisdiction to include the whole of Sutherland and Caithness, on the 17th April 1566. The commission included a power to banish and kill, and to pardon any crime except treason. [History of Caithness].
It was ratified by the Scottish Parliament the 19th April 1567. The Justiciaryship had been vested in his predecessors, and was but the renewal of a heritable right. The Earl's crest was a Gallic cock, which accounts for the expression "Cock of the North" as applicable to him. He is stated to have joined the conspiracy of 1567 to destroy Darnley. He was chancellor of the jury that acquitted Bothwell, and in pronouncing judgment the Earl, on behalf of the jury, protested "that no crime should be imputed to them on that account, as no accuser had appeared, nor was proof brought of the indictment. " After this nominal trial the Earls of Caithness and Sutherland, along with the other lords present, subscribed the bond acquitting Bothwell of the crime with which he had been charged, and recommending him as a fit husband for the Queen. Both Earls were members of the Privy Council, and friendly to Bothwell. Immediately after the murder of Darnley, they further signed the letter written by the Privy Council in 1567 to the Queen-mother of France, in which is given a delusive account of this shocking tragedy. [History of Caithness].
On the night of the murder of Rizzio, Caithness was with the party which attempted the rescue of the Queen, but being outnumbered, retired from the contest for that night. Two days afterwards the Queen and Darnley, then reconciled, contrived to escape to Dunbar Castle, and were there joined by several of their friends, amongst whom was the Earl of Caithness and his followers. [History of Caithness].
An incident now occurred which illustrates the wickedness of the times. The Earl, Countess, and Master [heir apparent] of Sutherland, while staying at a hunting-lodge near Helmsdale, had poison administered to them by Isabel Sinclair, wife of Gilbert Gordon of Gartay, and sister of William Sinclair of Dunbeath. The Earl and Countess died from the effect of the poison, but the Master attended a little later and was warned by the Earl to avoid supper. The Earl of Caithness has been accused of procuring the crime, but, as on the death of the Master [heir apparent] of Sutherland, Gilbert Gordon of Gartay would have been next in succession to the Earldom, it is clear that his wife had sufficient motive without any incentive from Caithness. Isabel was sent to Edinburgh for trial, where, being duly condemned, she died on the execution morn. By a singular retribution the poisoned draught was administered in mistake to her own son John Gordon with fatal results. These events happened in July 1567. [From History of Caithness and History of the Scottish Clans].
Y-Mackay of Farr, an ally of the Earl of Caithness, now invaded Sutherland, being assisted in his enterprise by the Laird of Duffus. The Earl of Caithness prevailed upon Robert Stuart, Bishop of the county, to address a letter to the governor of Skibo Castle, in which the young Earl of Sutherland then resided, to deliver up the castle to him, a request with which the governor complied. Caithness carried the young Earl off to Girnigoe, and, although he was only fifteen, got him married to his daughter Lady Barbara Sinclair, aged thirty-two, between whom and Y-Mackay of Farr there existed an undue intimacy, which was subsequently made the ground of a divorce. The Earl at Caithness then occupied Dunrobin Castle with his ward, and is stated to have burnt all the Sutherland archives, and to have formed the design of marrying his second son William Sinclair of Mey to Lady Margaret Gordon, the eldest sister of the Earl of Sutherland, whom he would then cut off, and his own son would thus become Earl. This design was frustrated by the escape of the young Earl in 1569.
About this time began the controversies between Laurence, Lord Oliphant, and Lord Caithness. The former makes complaint 12th October 1569, of an attack on him and his men by George, Earl of Caithness, in which divers were mutilated and John Sutherland slain. The latter was the son of Alexander Sutherland of Clyne, son of Kathrine, daughter of John Sinclair, Bishop of Caithness. On 22nd of November following, Caithness has to appoint deputies to investigate the matter, and on 8th March 1874, the Acts of the Justice Court held at Thurso, 30th August and 31st October 1569, are required to be produced.
Conflicts now took place between the Murrays and the Sutherlands of Duffus, the latter receiving the support of Earl George, who sent John, Master [heir apparent] of Caithness, with a large force to attack the Murrays in Dornoch. He fired the Cathedral, attacked the castle, and reduced the town, receiving the submission of the Murrays on terms, for the fulfilment of which hostages were taken (1570). The Earl, however, refused to ratify the terms of capitulation, and beheaded the hostages. This highly incensed both the Master [heir apparent] of Caithness and Mackay, and from that time the Earl and the Master were at variance with each other, the latter retiring to Strathnaver, where he resided with Mackay. [From History of Caithness and History of the Scottish Clans].
Rumours presently reached the Earl that Mackay and the Master were conspiring against him. He therefore resolved to inveigle them to Girnigoe, and get possession of their persons, to accomplish which purpose he professed the most earnest desire for a reconciliation with his son, and sent repeated invitations for them both to visit him in his stronghold. They eventually resolved to hazard the visit, and set out unattended. On passing the drawbridge Mackay observed an unusual number of armed men, Suspecting treachery, he immediately turned, spurred his horse across the bridge, which was still down, and escaped. The Master, however, was less fortunate. Him they seized, though not without a desperate struggle as he was a man of vast bodily strength; and he was fettered heavily and immured for some years in a dark and noisome dungeon to die of thirst and starvation under great torture in 1576.
Y-Mackay after escaping to Strathnaver, died within four months of grief and remorse for the many bad actions of his life. During the minority of his son Hutcheon, John Mor-Mackay, the cousin, and John Beg-Mackay, the bastard son of Y-Mackay, took charge of the estate; but the Earl of Caithness considering John Mor a favourite of the Earl of Sutherland, speedily relieved him of his charge, caused him to be apprehended and carried into Caithness, where he was detained in prison till his death.
During this time John Robson, the chief of the clan Gunn in Caithness and Strathnaver, became a dependent on the Earl of Sutherland, acting as his factor in collecting the rents and duties of the Bishop's lands in Caithness belonging to the Earl. This connection was exceedingly disagreeable to Earl George, who, to gratify his spleen against John Robson, instigated Hutcheon Mackay to lay waste the lands of the clan Gunn, in the Brea-Moir, in Caithness, without the knowledge of John Beg-Mackay, his brother. As the clan Gunn had always been friendly to the family of Mackay, John Beg was greatly exasperated at the conduct of the Earl in enticing the young chief to commit such an outrage; but he had it not in his power to make any reparation to the injured clan. John Robson, the chief, however, assisted by Alexander, Earl of Sutherland, invaded Strathnaver, and made ample retaliation, returning with a large booty and killing many of Hutcheon Mackay's retainers. The Earl of Caithness having resolved to avenge himself on John Beg-Mackay for the displeasure shown by him at the conduct of Hutcheon, and also on the clan Gunn, prevailed upon Neil MacIain MacWilliam, chief of the Sliochd-Iain-Abaraich and James MacRory, chief of the Sliochd-Iain-Mhoir, to attack them. Accordingly, in the month of September, 1579, these two chiefs, with their followers, made a night attack, in which they slew John Beg-Mackay and William MacIain MacRob, the brother of John Robson, and some of their people. [From History of the Scottish Clans].
On the 17th June 1578, the Earl of Caithness, with others, protests against an ambassador being sent to England to treat of a further league, and in 1581 he was one of the principal leaders of the confederacy against Morton. [From History of Caithness].
He frequently appears as a member of the Privy Council.
George II, 42nd Earl of Caithness, died at Edinburgh on the 9th September, 1582, and was buried in Roslin Chapel, where there is a monument to his memory, with the following Latin inscription: "Here lies a noble and potent Lord, George, the deceased Earl of Caithness, Lord Sinclair, hereditary administrator of justice of the Diocese of Caithness, who died in Edinburgh, 9th September, anno Domini, 1582". His heart, which was extracted and encased in a leaden casket, was, by his dying request, sent to Caithness and deposited in the church at Wick. He had been Earl for fifty-four years, during which period he had amassed much wealth, and greatly enlarged his hereditary property. The whole of his money he bequeathed to his youngest son, George Sinclair of Mey. [From History of Caithness].
By his Countess, the Lady Elizabeth, daughter of William, Earl of Montrose, he had issue -
The Earl was succeeded by his grandson George, eldest son of the Master [heir apparent] of Caithness, who had died during the life-time of his father.
On Barrogill Castle there is an ancient carving of the arms of this Earl, displaying Caithness and Montrose, a vignette of which adorns the title-page of Caithness Family History, by John Henderson, Writer to the Signet.