Page:The Complete Peerage Ed 1 Vol 2.djvu/108

CAIRNS— CAITHNESS. 107 MacNkilg of Purkmount, eo. Antrim, by Charlotte Lavinia, da. <if Lieut.-Geii. Sir Thomas Dallas, G.C.B. He d. at his house called " Lindisfanie " (which he had built some 14 years before) in Bournemouth, Hants, g April 1S85 iu his 66th year and was bur. at Bournemouth cemetery ( :l )- His widow living, 1880. Earldom and g, Arthur William (Caibsis), Earl Cairns [1878] Barony. Viscount Garmdyle [187S] and Baron Cairns Ob QabmOYLK [1807] 2d. but 1st butt. s. and h. b. 21 Dee. 1861 in London, ed. at Tl IRAH Wellington and at Trin. Coll. Cambridge. Priv. Sec. to the President ii. iooo. of the Boiu . d rf Trade) 1885(ll) _ CAIRO. Sec "WoLSELEY OF CaIRo(') AND OF WoLSELEY, CO. Stafford" {Wolseloj) Barony; cr. 1882. CAITHNESS(*). Caithness, with Sutoeuland, was one of the Seven Provinces of transmarine Scotland in the 9th ceutury ("), tho' it does not appear to have ever been numbered among "the Seven Earldoms " (Mormaerdorns) of that Kingdom. Temporary possession of it was, till the 1 tth ceutury, ofteu obtained by the Norsemen from Orkney, which islands they began to colonize late in the 9th century, at the close of which epoch the title of Jarl, or Earl, of Orkney, was bestowed on one Sigurd, the first of that name. " The Earldom of Caithness was possessed for many generations by the Norwegian Earls of Orkney. They held the islands of Orkney under the King of Norway according to Korici'jian custom by which the title of Jarl, or Earl, was a personal title. They held the Earldom of Caithness under the King of Scotland and its tenure was iu accordance with the laws of Scotland. We find from the Orkncyinya Sayd that during this period the Orkney Islands were frequently divided iuto two portions and [that] each half [was] held by different members of the Norwegian family who each bore the t itle of Earl. We likewise find that the Earldom ok Caithness was at such times also frequently divided and [that] each half [was] held by different Earls of Orkney, tho' whether both bore the title of Earl of Caithness does not appear."( J ) ( a ) " Several [of his] judgments have become classical especially in regard to Com- pany Law and dealings on the Stock Exchange... many judgments are models of lucid reasoning. ..as a lawyer he was surpassed by few Chancellors and by none in the capacity to make clear, and reduce to order, complex matters." See article iu "the Times" newspaper 3 April 1 SSi>. ( b ) He (when Viscount Garmoyle) was the defendant in an action for breach of promise of marriage, in which by far the highest sum for damages ever hitherto paid in such actions, viz. £10,000, was agreed to, on 20 Nov. 1884. The case was called "Finney v. Cairns," and was brought by Hiss Emily May Finney, better known as "Miss Fortescue," under which last name she had appeared as an Actress from 1880 to 1883 at the Savoy theatre, Westminster. The nearest approach to such a sum was when £3500 was given in 1835 in the action of " Wood v. Hurd ;" and when £3000 was given iu 1821, in that of " Foote v. Hayne." See note to " Harrington " Earldom of, cr. 1712, under the 1th Earl. ( c ) See ante, vol. i, p. 79, note " a " for list of peerages named after a victory gained by the grantee. ( d ) See an article on this Earldom by Mr. Skene in the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland," vol. xii, p. 571, reprinted iu Skene's "Celtic Scotland" (1SS0) vol. hi, pp. 41S-1S3. Following, as far as possible, that most able article, each " Jarl of Orkney," who sue Thorfinn, is here credited with being also Earl of Caithness [S.], tho' to prove, by conclusive evidence, that mich, universally, was the case is apparently unattainable. ( e ) See some account of these seven Provinces of the Pictish Kingdom in tho remarks under " Angus," vol. i, p. 86.