Elizabeth Leveson-Gower
(Countess of Sutherland)

1765 - 1839

Countess, artist and reformer. Daughter of the 18th Earl of Sutherland, she inherited the Earldom following the celebrated 'Sutherland Peerage Case'. The case established the validity of the unusual practice of this Earldom being able to pass through the female, as well as male, line. She married the Englishman George Leveson-Gower (1758 - 1833) in 1785. He later became the 1st Duke of Sutherland, and is infamous for initiating the worst of the 'Highland Clearances'. Elizabeth, too, brought about significant reforms at Dunrobin Castle (by Golspie) and on the Sutherland Estates.

She died in London and is buried at Dornoch.

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