William Sinclair, 4th Lord of Sinclair

WILLIAM. LORD SINCLAIR

Death

William, Lord Sinclair, died intestate in May 1570. [NRS: CC8/8/4]

His Testament Dative and Inventory

The Testament Dative of William, Lord Sinclair, was given up by his son Henry, Lord Sinclair. Confirmation was granted to him on 12 March 1576. [National Records of Scotland, Edinburgh Commissary Court, The Testament Dative and Inventory of Williame Sinclare, Lord Sinclare, reference CC8/8/4]

First Marriage

Second Marriage

Genealogy

1. The Scots Peerage VII: 572-3
2. The Saint-Clairs of the Isles: 301-2

Biographical Summary

"William, fourth Lord Sinclair, succeeded to the title on the death of his father, but apparently not to the estates until the death of his mother. In 1515 the Orcadians elected Sir James Sinclair, natural son of Sir William Sinclair of Warsetter, as their leader, withheld the rents due to Lady Sinclair, and forced Lord Sinclair to surrender the Castle of Kirkwall and to flee into Caithness ; but in 1529 he received a letter from the King instructing him to invade Orkney and deprive Sir James of his usurped governorship. With the assistance of John, Earl of Caithness, he collected a force, landed in Orkney, and encountered the Islesmen at Summerdale, where the Earl was killed with five hundred of his men, and he himself taken prisoner.

On his own resignation he had a charter of confirmation to him and his spouse Elizabeth Keith of the lands of Newburgh and fishings of Eythan on 17 April 1524, in 1543 he had sasine in the baronies of Dysart and Ravenscraig, and, on his own resignation, a charter to him and his spouse of the lands of Wiltstoun, Oarberry, and Balbeggy in Fife, on 28 June 1547. 3 He had a remission under the Privy Seal, on 23 October 1542, for assisting George, Lord Home, and David Home of Wedderburn in their rebellion. In 1544 he signed the agreement to support the authority of the Queen-Mother as Regent against the Earl of Arran. He died in 1570. 5 He married, first, Elizabeth Keith, daughter of William, third Earl Marischal, and relict of Colin, Master of Oliphant, and secondly, Mariota Bruce. Issue by first marriage :

• Henry, fifth Lord.
• Margaret.
• Barbara.

Issue by second marriage :

• Magnus, who had a charter of the lands of Kinninmonth in Fife, as son of William, Lord Sinclair, and Mariota Bruce on 14 November 1561, and died at Dysart 16 July 1586. He married Marion, daughter of Sir David Bruce of Clackmannan, and widow of Robert Bruce of Airth. She died in July 1575."
• Edward
• Hugh
• George

SOURCE: The Scots peerage, Vol. VII, page 572

BRUCE, EARLS OF ELGIN AND AILESBURY Balfour Paul, James, ed. (1906). The Scots Peerage, Vol. III. Edinburgh: David Douglas. pp. 467–468. ISBN 0-9711966-2-1.

Sir David Bruce, eldest son of the second marriage, succeeded his father in Clackmannan, to the exclusion of his elder half-brother Robert and his son David. On 11 September 1497 he had a Crown charter of Clackmannan, subject to his father's liferent and that of his mother Mariota Herries. On 3 February 1506-7 he had a Crown charter erecting Clackmannan, with other lands, into a barony, when he is styled ' David Bruis de Clackmannan miles, Alius quondam David Bruce de Clackmannan,' his nephew, David Bruce of Rait, having resigned any interest he might have in it. The estate must have been a very large one, from the enumeration of the lands incorporated in the barony. He had a licence to hold a fair at Clackmannan on the Feast of St. Bartholomew annually, 18 April 1517, which was confirmed 18 September 1542. Sir David was on an assize 1 December 1554, On 21 January 1550-51 he gave a charter to Robert Bruce, his grandson and apparent heir, and Janet Levingstone, his wife, of an annualrent of forty merks, and was alive 12 June 1556, when he gave a precept of sasine for infefting Robert Bruce, brother- german of the deceased Mr. John Bruce, in the lands of Wester Kennet. Sir David married Jean, daughter of Sir Patrick Blacadder of Tulliallan, by whom he had issue five sons and four daughters, viz. : —

1.John, died vita patris before 14 February 1550-51, but carried on the line of the Clackmannan family, which became extinct in the male line on the death, 8 July 1772, of Henry Bruce, fifteenth and last Baron.
2. Edward, of Blairhall born 1505, had a charter of the lands of Easter Kennet, 1537, on the resignation of Robert Brady. This charter was confirmed11 by James v. 24 April 1537. He had also a charter 12 from the Abbot of Culross 7 June 1540, confirmed 15 February 1542-43, of the lands of Bergady and two parts of the Shire mills
3. David, of Green. He was ancestor of the Bruces of Kennet, Lords Balfour of Burleigh. (See vol. i. p. 547.)
4. Robert, of Lynmylne. The Swedish Bruces ennobled in 1668 were probably descended from him.
5. Patrick, of Valleyfield. He had a charter of Valley-field from the Commendator of Culross, 8 June 1540, to himself and Margaret Falconer, his wife, which was confirmed7 15 February 1542-43. In this confirmation charter he is called son of Sir David Bruce of Clackmannan, Knight. He is said to have resigned the lands and barony of Valleyfield to James Preston of Craigmillar, and to have died s. p., leaving the estate of Green to his brother David ; but, on the other hand, David appears as a witness to a charter under the designation 'of ' de Greyne,' 30 January 1536-37. He is also a witness to a precept of sasine 6 November 1536, and in an ancient MS. pedigree, endorsed 1640, Patrick is styled of Valleyfield,' and David is called ' of Greyne.' It would, on the whole, seem that Patrick never possessed Green, but only Valleyfield.
6. Elizabeth, married, first, to Alexander Dundas of Fingask ; they had a charter of Cottis, 8 August 1542. She was married, secondly, to Robert Oolless of Bonneymoon.
7. Marion, married, first, about 1500, to John Menteith of Caverkay ; secondly, to Robert Bruce of Airth ; and thirdly, to Magnus Sinclair of Kynninmonth, second son 7 of William, Lord Sinclair. She died July 1575; will dated at Dysart 18 June 1575, confirmed 11 August 1575.8
8. Agnes, married to John Elphinstone, parson of Invernochty, with issue.
9. Alison, married to Sir James Oolville of Ochiltree, circa 1530. They had a charter of East Wemyss 20 August 1533.