Elizabeth, Countess of Sutherland

Custodian of Dunrobin Castle Born: March 30, 1921;

Died: December 10, 2019

ELIZABETH SUTHERLAND, the 24th Countess of Sutherland, who has died aged 98, modernised her family estate and did so much to improve the working conditions at glorious Dunrobin Castle, near Golspie, and its huge estate. She was also a driving force behind important business ventures across the county.

Following the death of the fifth Duke in 1963, the earldom and dukedom were separated and the dukedom passed through the male line whilst the countess inherited the earldom and became the premier earl of Scotland and the owner of a 120,000-acres estate.

In the late 18th century the Sutherland family were involved in the infamous Highland Clearances. Crofters were removed from their land to become herring fishermen or emigrate: the land was needed for sheep. Over the years the controversial project has left an unhappy legacy in Scottish history, and scholars still dispute the economic and social background to the affair.

Lady Sutherland did much to dispel the history and campaigned vehemently for better housing and improved work prospects in the area. Her dedication to these social matters won her much admiration.

Lord Stathnaver, who inherits the title, remembers his mother with warm affection. “She was a loving mother and granny,” he told The Herald. “She did much to improve the interior of Dunrobin and the surrounding houses on the estate. All had been rather neglected during the war and the gardens also needed much attention.

“My mother set in hand far-reaching plans to replant trees on the estate, which continue to this day. She was an enthusiastic gardener and carefully nurtured the gardens at Dunrobin and the House of Tongue, where she and my father moved. She really remade both gardens.”

Elizabeth Millicent Sutherland was the only child of Major Lord Alastair St Clair Sutherland, the younger son of the fourth Duke of Sutherland, and his wife, Millicent. Both her parents died in her youth; her father, whom she never met, died of septicaemia in Rhodesia in 1921, and her mother died in 1931.

Lady Sutherland was raised by four guardians in London but often visited Dunrobin. She attended Queen’s College in London and then studied languages abroad, becoming an excellent linguist, especially in Italian. During the Second World War she worked as a land girl at Dunrobin and then as a laboratory technician at Raigmore Hospital, Inverness, and St Thomas’ Hospital, London,

It was in the years after the war that she met her future husband, Charles Janson, who had served in the Welsh Guards. It was an instant love match and they were married at St Margaret’s, Westminster, in 1946 and spent part of the time in Paris where Janson was a correspondent with The Economist.

In February 1963 Elizabeth succeeded her uncle Geordie, the fifth Duke of Sutherland, as the 24th Countess. The title is one of the most ancient in Scotland, dating from the 12th century.

The family has been generous in its gifts to Scotland. Many of the pictures hanging in the National Galleries of Scotland in Edinburgh – including priceless works by Titian, Raphael and Rembrandt – are all on loan to the nation. Hanging in Dunrobin there are wonderful portraits by Lawrence, Reynolds and Gainsborough.

Dunrobin had been run as a public school in the 1960s but Lady

Sutherland decided to open the castle to the public in 1972. It has prospered over the years and is now an important part of the tourist economy of East Sutherland, attracting visitors from all over the world.

It gave Lady Sutherland a very special pleasure to be the clan’s chief. In 1977 she reconvened the Clan Sutherland Society which had been dormant for many years. Her drive and commitment led to its expansion with Highland Gatherings and Games being attended by her or members of her family in Australia and North America.

She also gave encouraging support to the clan in Scotland, hosting gatherings at Dunrobin that Mark Sutherlandfisher, president of the society in Scotland, remembers were very happy events: “Lady Sutherland had a great ability to remember faces and snippets of information about people. She greeted three and four generations of the same families as old friends, amazing the younger generations with stories about their grandparents. Every summer she entertained both locals and visitors to tea and opened her gardens to raise money for charities. Lady Sutherland was held in great affection by the clan.”

Lady Sutherland was the local convener of the Red Cross, and she owned The Northern Times and the brickworks at Brora.

Her love of the hills and moors of Sutherland remained a major part of her life and friends recall Lady Sutherland enjoyed walking the remote and beautiful hills around Ben Armine Lodge, north of Lairg.

Her husband predeceased her. She is survived by two sons and a daughter. Another son predeceased her.

Poem of the Day Lesley Duncan is away.