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Above is the family crest of the St. Clairs of Roslin from c.1500, as depicted in a carving or moulding in the ceiling of the Great Room at Rosslyn Castle when building work was being completed by Sir William Sinclair of Pentland in 1622. It was described by Hay as 'Argent a Cross ingrailed sable; for supporters, a Mermaid on the Dexter, and a Griffin on the Sinister; a Helmet befitting his quality; above which is a Dove Argent, beaked and membered, Gules. Motto, Credo. The Mermaid has a comb in the right hand, and in the left a branch of some sea weed'. Caption 2. Caption 3. |
DRAFT
Father Hay established with certainty that the first St. Clair of Roslin was William de Sinclair, who received it in 1244. Henry Saintclair, his son, was according to Hay one of the Barons of Scotland. Within a hundred years, his descendant, Sir Henry Saintclair, had become the Earl of Orkney through marriage. The earldom was lost in 1471 when the Scottish king James III forced William Earl of Caithness, Lord of Sinclair, to hand it over, compensating him with the Ravenscraig castle in Fife. The Sinclairs retained vast estates, but all this was to change in 1476 when Sir William gave Oliver, his oldest son by his second marriage, his Lothian lands, and those in the north to Oliver's brother, William.
From that time, two distinct branches existed, the earls of Caithness and the St. Clairs of Roslin. A third branch from Sir William's son by his first marriage was the Lords St. Clair (of Dysart) which was united with Herdmanston in 1659 when its male line failed. William, the 'Last of the Roslins' died in 1778 without any legitimate male heirs. The title and ownership of Rosslyn Castle and what remained of the original estate passed to the Lords Sinclair and then to the current Erskine family through marriage.
Of course, many new branches of the Sinclair family were established by younger sons who remained in Scotland, or left the country to begin a new life, including 'natural' sons who carried the name but were denied any legitimacy because they were born outside of marriage. Also, many farmers working on the estates owned by the Sinclairs took their landowner's name for their children, as was common in feudal Scotland. In consequence, it is impossible to know who of the many Sinclairs around the world are descendants of the first William de St. Clair of Roslin. There is a family DNA programme which will help in time, but without verifiable documentation, the results will always remain uncertain.