Peter Cormac Sutherland

Who was Peter Cormac Sutherland?

Dr. Peter Cormac Sutherland Born in Newlands of Forse, near Latheron, Caithness, Scotland. The son of Robert and Elizabeth Sutherland, he was one of three surviving children of a family of eight, due to Smallpox and a drowning accident in Nova Scotia. He became a Geologist, Physician and an Author.

In 1850 he embarked on a campaign to discover the fate of the HMS Erebus and Terror after a disastrous Polar expedition. It was on that expedition that he sailed under the command of Mr William Penny R.N. onboard HMS Lady Franklin and Sophia and from which his book "Journal of a voyage in Baffin's Bay and Barrow Straits" originated. The campaign was largely a success as they discovered the fate of several crew members of the polar expedition buried at the winter base station.

Dr. Sutherland later moved with his wife and two children to Pietermaritzburg, where he later became Surveyor-General of Natal, South Africa, succeeding William Stanger. It was while Dr Sutherland held this position that his friend, the father of Cecil Rhodes requested that Cecil reside with him temporarily.

Dr Sutherland was killed in a road accident on 30 Nov 1900 in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa.