This website contains historical and genealogical details about the Sinclairs and, in particular, the Rosslyn branch in Scotland, its Irish descendants from the seventeenth century, and those who have survived into the twentieth-first century.
Every effort has been made to avoid repeating Sinclair mythology and, where possible, information is based on historically verified documentation and updated with more recent academic research. However, histories of families in Ireland are notoriously difficult to research because of the loss of so many official records in Dublin in 1922, and church records only began in the 1700s. Fortunately, the history of the Rosslyn Sinclairs prior to 1700 has been well documented by the family's celebrated genealogist, Father Hay.
Information is presented geographically because the family's unique history has been formed by our ancestors making periodic decisions to change their lives and circumstances: the Viking settlement of Normandy, the Norman invasion of England, establishing themselves in Scotland, planting in Ireland, and moving to England. Emigration to countries like Canada and Australia were also the start of a significant new period of change.
Genealogical information has been limited to descendant tables for the principal male lines. This is not to detract from the contribution made by female descendants, but their invisibility in official records makes it impossible to trace lineages further back than a few generations. However, a more detailed genealogy of both the male and female members of the Newry Sinclair family is only accessible to family members.