The principal family associated with the name of St Clair (later Sinclair) first appeared in England in the eleventh century. Their ancestors arrived with or after the Viking Hrolfr (usually known as Rollo) had settled in what was to become Normandy after the Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte in 911.
A century and a half later, at least one St Clair accompanied Duke William when he invaded England in 1066. Two were to obtain lands but, according to tradition, the third son joined the Scottish court of King Malcolm and his Queen, Margaret Aetheling. Father Hay, the eighteenth-century historian of the Roslin Sinclairs, repeated this account by van Bassan, an earlier genealogist, but it is more likely that it was a later St Clair descendant who obtained Roslin. After gaining vast estates and honours, they became Earls of Orkney through marriage, until the Scottish crown wrested control of the islands from Norway in 1471.
The Roslin branch of the family survived until 1778. Earlier, however, William, the great great grandfather of the 'Last of the Roslins', joined King James I’s Ely O’Carroll plantation and settled in Ireland in 1620 with his second wife and family. This branch, and other Irish Sinclairs, are the subject of ongoing research.
Newry Sinclair family subscribers to the cost of creating this website have secure access to genealogical charts and other information discovered about their ancestors:
Eveline Ritchie, Scotland
Harry James, Ireland
Sheila Sutton, England
Adrian Rouse, England
Sally de Blonay, Switzerland
Chris White, Canada
Graham Sinclair, England
Polly Atkinson, England
Teenie and Tony Geach, Canada
Will Irwin, Canada
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