Sir John Henderson, 5th of Fordell (1605–1650), was a Scottish soldier and mercenary, distinguished as a Cavalier in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. Born 3 November 1605 in Fordell, Fife. He was a distinguished soldier, who had been enslaved by Barbary pirates when commanding on the East African coast. Henderson then, supposedly, fell in love with the Princess of Zanzibar who he contrived to escape to Egypt with. Later, Henderson was a mercenary, serving with the military for Denmark, Sweden, and elsewhere, and fought on the side of the Royalists in the Civil War when Henderson was invested as a Knight by King Charles I.