Henry I Sinclair, Earl of Orkney

Henry Sinclair
Earl of Orkney Baron of Roslin
(Top) Earl of Orkney and Baron of Roslin Coats of Arms. (Bottom) Statue of Henry Sinclair in the compound of the Noss Head Lighthouse by sculptor Shawn Williamson.[1]
Predecessor	Earldom of Orkney: Vacant Baron of Roslin: William St Clair
Successor	Henry II Sinclair, Earl of Orkney
Known for	The legend of him discovering North America 100 years before Christopher Columbus.
Born	c. 1345
Died	c. 1400
Nationality	Scottish
Offices	Lord High Admiral of Scotland
Noble family	Clan Sinclair

Henry I Sinclair, Earl of Orkney, Lord of Roslin (c. 1345 – c. 1400) was a Scottish noblesse. Sinclair held the title Earl of Orkney (which refers to Norðreyjar rather than just the islands of Orkney) and was Lord High Admiral of Scotland under the King of Scotland. He was sometimes identified by another spelling of his surname, St. Clair. He was the grandfather of William Sinclair, 1st Earl of Caithness, the builder of Rosslyn Chapel. He is best known today because of a modern legend that he took part in explorations of Greenland and North America almost 100 years before Christopher Columbus. William Thomson, in his book The New History of Orkney,^[2] wrote: "It has been Earl Henry's singular fate to enjoy an ever-expanding posthumous reputation which has very little to do with anything he achieved in his lifetime."^[3]