thumb|200px|Quartered arms of John Gordon, 16th Earl of Sutherland, KT, PC
John Gordon, 16th Earl of Sutherland (1661–1733) was a Scottish nobleman and army officer.
He was the only son of George Gordon, 15th Earl of Sutherland (1633–1703), and his wife, Jean Wemmyss.
Upon his father's death in 1703 he succeeded as earl of Sutherland. He supported the revolution of 1688 and was a commissioner for the union of England and Scotland. He was a Scottish representative peer in four parliaments, president of the Board of Trade and manufactures, and lord-lieutenant of the eight northern counties of Scotland. In 1703 he was appointed a privy councillor by Queen Anne. and thirdly to Frances Hodgson. He had two children with Helen:
- William Gordon, Lord Strathnaver (19 December 168313 July 1720) who married Catherine Morrison
- Jean Gordon (c. 1692, Scotland11 February 1747, Virginia)), who married James Maitland, the son of John Maitland, 5th Earl of Lauderdale.
Persuasive claims have been put forth in the Allan P. Gray account, that the "Honbl. Capt." referenced in the Dugald Gilchrist Papers is Lt. Col. James Sutherland of Uppat, of the 38th Foot, and superintendent of the estate of the Countess of Sutherland at Dunrobin, making James Sutherland an illegitimate son to Gordon (mother unknown). Illegitimate children are fairly common and though unproven this would account for the mysterious and suspicious familiarity between James Sutherland and the acquisition of the Uppat estate, the military appointments, and the closeness to the Gordon family at large.