Elizabeth Leveson-Gower, Duchess of Sutherland

Her Grace The Duchess of Sutherland
19th Countess of Sutherland
Elizabeth, Duchess-Countess of Sutherland by George Romney
Born	Lady Elizabeth Sutherland (1765-05-24)24 May 1765 near Edinburgh, Edinburghshire, Scotland
Died	29 January 1839(1839-01-29) (aged 73) Hamilton Place, Hyde Park, London, England
Buried	Dornoch Cathedral
Spouse(s)	George Leveson-Gower, 1st Duke of Sutherland ​ ​ (m. 1785; died 1833)​
Issue	George Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, 2nd Duke of Sutherland Charlotte Fitzalan-Howard, Duchess of Norfolk Elizabeth Grosvenor, Marchioness of Westminster Francis Egerton, 1st Earl of Ellesmere
Parents	William Sutherland, 18th Earl of Sutherland (father) Mary Maxwell (mother)

Elizabeth Sutherland (Leveson-Gower) Duchess of Sutherland (née Sutherland; 24 May 1765 – 29 January 1839), also suo jure 19th Countess of Sutherland, was a Scottish noblewoman who married into the Leveson-Gower family, best remembered for her involvement in the Highland Clearances.

In 1803, her husband inherited the income from the highly profitable Bridgewater Canal. This greatly increased his wealth, being described by Charles Greville as "the leviathan of wealth", with the belief that he was "the richest man who ever died" (his exact wealth at the time of his death was unknown, though undeniably very large). It is this wealth that allowed Lady Sutherland to embark on the substantial changes to the Sutherland estate that were part of the Highland Clearances.^[1]