Page:The Complete Peerage Ed 1 Vol 7.djvu/154

 152 SINCLAIR. YIIT. 16101 8. Patrick (Sinclair), T.ord Sinclair [S.], yst. br. and h. He m. Margaret, da, of Sir John Cockbuhn, of OrmUtouD. He d. 1615. IX. 1G15, 0. .Toux (Sinclair), Loud Sinclair [S."|, 1st s. and to h. ( 6. 2fl Oct. 1610 ; sue. his father at the ape of five years; was 167G. ;1 member of the Committee of Estates, 1641, 1644, and 1645 ; P.C. : Col. of the Fifeshire Reg. of Horse; entered into the " engagement " of 161S for the rescue of Charles I. : attended Charles II. into England ami was taken prisoner at the battle of Worcester, in Sep. 1651, and not released till i860, being also excepted out of Cromwell's "act of eraee " in 1 6*54. He m. in l(i:!l Mary, 1st da. of John (Wkmyss), 1st Earl ok Wemvss [S.], by Jean, da. of Patrick (Gray!, 7th LoRC Guav She </. before 10 May 1662, He had no male issue, but probably considered that his honours would go to the heir at line of the grantee, i.e.. his grandson, the s. ami h. of his only da., but be does not appear to have made any valid resignation thereof, so as to defeat any (possible) claim thereto of the heir male. He d. s.p.m. 1676 in his 66th year. [Remarks. — The title at his death, no resignation thereof having, apparently, been made,(") devolved, in all probability, on the heir of tine fin which case the succeeding Lord Sinclair would, by female descent, be entitled thereto) but it may possibly be held to have devolved on the heir male, who apparently was the Earl of Caithness [S] In either case, since 1762, it became, and still (1S96) continues, dormant among one or other of such class of heirs. The succession to the estates, followed almost, immediately by the grant of the title of Lord Sinclair [S.], with the ancient precedency, was as under.] X. 1G7G, 10 or 1. Henry St. Clair,( 1 ') of Herdmanstoun in or East Lothian, s. and h. of John St. Clair, of the same, by 1677, Catharine, only child of John (Sinclair), Lord Sinclair [S.], nest t 0 abovenamed (which Catharine m. at Glasgow, 14 April lol>, and jyo'j d. v.p. 13 July 1666), was b. 3 June 1660, and having, by the death of his said maternal grandfather, sue. to the estates and probably, as heir of line, to the title of the former Lords, received (" in virtue of a designation made " by his said grandfather) letters patent, whereby he was cr., 1 June 1677, LOUD SINCLAIR [8.], with rem. to the heirs male of his body, with rem. to his br., John St. Clair, and to his paternal uncles, Robert, George, and Matthew St. Clair respectively, with rem. to the heirs male of the said Ilenry.^) Faithful to the Stuart cause, he protested against the act of Cou- (") There was " a designation " by the late Lord, but that, of course, tho' shew- ing his own wish was, of itself, of no validity. ( b ) He was of " a distinct and unennobled stock " entirely different from the Sinclairs of Rosslyn, his wife's family ; however, " the Sinclairs of Herdmanston are very ancient, well allied, and had at one time large estates. Few, indeed, of our nobility can adduce such ancient title deeds, and they, in every view, were a distinguished accession to the Peerage." [" Riddclt," p. 79.] The marriage in 1586 of the suo jure Baroness Sandys de Vyne to Sir Edwin Sandys (a person of her own surname, but who was in no way related to her) is an instance of a somewhat similar kind. ( c ) " It seems clear that this confirmation or new creation could not exclude the right of the previous heirs owing to the want of a resignation by which aloua they could have been barred," but "it might be elleetual in vesting the same peerage in the heirs that are mentioned in virtue of the power of the preroga- tive." The patent does not "found upon any resignation but merely states that there had been a designation of the honours and estates by the deceased Lord, so that "the natural presumption seems to be that there was none for otherwise it should have been mentioned." . . . "The sole preamble or inductive came'' to the patent is that on account of the sufferings of the late Lord in the Royal cause the title may be continued in his descendants of his daughter and "it t»