Malcolm Wallace of Elderslie, Laird of Elderslie

Malcolm Wallace, Laird of Elderslie

• Birth: Circa 1335 - Elderslie, Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland
• Parents: Adam Wallace, Margaret Lindsay
• Wife: daughter of William Baillie & Isabella de Seton

Children

1. daughter Wallace, heiress of Elderslie, b abt 1360 Married James (John) Wallace

Name of wife seen as Elizabeth, Christian, Helen, Ellen

Links

• http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=jweber&id...

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Clan Wallace

Clan Wallace Society

Photo of the Wallace Monument near Stirling, Scotland.

History

There are two theories for the origin of the Wallace name, both of which indicate an ancient British origin. First, the name of Waleis was common in England and around 1300 meant simply "Welsh-man" (originating from the Old French word "waleis" meaning a "welshman"). The family was believed to be from Wales and held land in Shropshire and who may have come north with King David I. The second theory is that they were Britons who settled in the ancient kingdom of Strathclyde, having been driven north in the tenth century. The name is certainly found in records by the twelfth century in Ayrshire and Renfrewshire. The first record of the name was in 1160 when Richard Walensis witnessed a charter by Alan, son of Walter the High Steward. 

Richard's lands in Ayrshire were named after him and the name survived as the town and parish of Riccarton (Richard's town). His grandson, Adam had two sons, Adam, 4th Laird of Riccarton and Malcolm who received the lands of Eldershire and Auchinbothie in Elderslie, Renfrewshire. Malcolm was the father of Scotland's greatest patriot and hero, Sir William Wallace who led the revolt against English rule before his demise and the advent of the victory achieved at Bannockburn by Robert the Bruce in 1314.

In his early years, Wallace and his mother had to take refuge near Dunipace from the English because they refused to pay homage to Edward I. While still very young, Wallace became the leader of a company of patriots and his harassing tactics against the English earned him the support of many nobles. His military genius made him hated and feared by Edward I, but he was eventually captured by treachery at Robroyson near Glasgow and delivered to Edward I by Sir John Mentieth. Wallace was unjustly tried for treason and brutally executed in London in 1305. Having never sworn fealty to Edward I, he cannot have been guilty of treason against him, however his example kindled a spirit of independence in Scotland which remains to this day. At Stirling on top of the Abbey Craig stands the nation's memorial to Wallace, built in 1896; in 1814 a huge statue was erected to his memory near Dryburgh Abbey in the Scottish Borders. Upon the death of his brother, Lt. Col. Malcolm Robert Wallace, on 9th December 1990, Ian Francis Wallace of that Ilk became the 35th Chief of the Clan, Name and Family of Wallace.

Adam de Waleys appears on the Ragman Roll of nobles paying allegiance to Edward l of England in 1296, but Malcolm of Elderslie was one of very few Scottish nobles who bravely refused to submit to Edward. He and his eldest son, Andrew, were both executed. His wife fled with her younger child, William, to the protection of relatives near Dundee. William gathered a number of young men around him, including a cousin from the Riccarton branch of the family. When he heard that Sir John Fenwick, his father's executioner, was marching towards Dundee with a packed train of plunder from Scottish churches and monasteries, he determined to have his revenge. He met Fenwick at the path leading over Lowden Hill in Lanarkshire, and killed him. His success brought him many new followers, but to gain the support of the nobility he allied himself with Sir Andrew Murray, who was raising a revolt in the northeast. They were joined by the Graharns, the Campbells and the Earl of Lennox. There then began one of. the earliest guerrilla campaigns in military history. The English, unable to capture Wallace, indiscriminately executed a number of the Scots nobility, including his uncle, who had been lured into their hands to discuss possible peace terms. A full-scale revolt commenced in Scotland, but when a strong English army marched to suppress it, resistance melted. Wallace was forced to flee to the north, where he gathered a small force. By 1297, he had gathered enough popular support to lay siege to Dundee. The English sent another great army under the Earl of Surrey and Hugo de Cresslngham. Wallace met the English at Stirling Bridge. (See the Battles of Stirling and Falkirk)

Source: http://www.memphisscots.com/Clans/Wallace.html