Re: Niven

[Niven Sinclair <niven@niven.co.uk>]

At 13:30 23/03/00 +0200, you wrote:
> Is  the book
> "St Clairs of the Isles" relevant only to
> the the St Clairs or is it also relevant to Sinclairs as well?
> In your fascinating statement a few weeks ago that there are
> 15 branches of Sinclair that eventuate from the Orkneys, how
> many of these are covered in the above Book?
>  
> Mark Anderson
> Cape Town


Sinclairs/St Clairs/St Clares/Sinklar/Sinkler/St Clare/St Claro/St
Clayr/St Cler
and any of the other 70 variants have all been found as one researches
for
information.

It is all the same family.

We have also to keep in mind that many Sinclairs eventually adopted
the
name of their holdings to differentiate them from the other Sinclairs
around.
My own grandfather was always known as David Lappan and, of course,
the present Earl of Caithness, is known as Malcolm Caithness rather
than
Malcolm Sinclair.

In this way, the Sinclairs of Stapleton in Somerset eventually became
known
as Stapletons and, because of the tendency of Sinclairs to produce
daughters
rather than male heirs, much of their property (particularly in England)
went
over to the Gages, the Lowells, the Coles etc. who all benefited largely
from
marrying Sinclair heiresses.

When I eventually 'retire' , I intend to write about the Sinclairs of
England
because, with our pre-occupation with all things Scottish, we tend to
forget
about the European dimension of the Sinclairs.  From the "St
Clairs of the
Isles"  we read:

        

        

"All
that was highest in marriage, lands, or office

        

        

they had in England for nearly a Century after the

        

        

 Conquest, and the glow of their fame, and their

        

        

 physical and intellectual powers kept them high for

        

        

 centuries afterwards in a way rare to any one

        

        

 particular lineage".

We have also to keep in mind the paragenetic Sinclairs i.e. those who,
by reason for the absurd custom of women taking their husbands' names
on marriage, give birth to children of a different name although the
matrilineal genes are invariably the stronger and certainly the more
authentic.

During my own 30 years in Africa I stayed mainly in the Southern Province
of (what is now) Tanzania where the tribes followed the matrilineal custom
e.g. the Chief's son was not the next Chief.  That honour fell to the Chief's
sister's son.

After all  "it is a wise man who knows his own father".

Regards

Niven