Genealogie of the Sainteclaires of Rosslyn

xii INTRODUCTORY NOTICE.
Under this patent, the heirs-male of the Honourable Cathe-
rine Saintclair were, in the first place, called as Barons Sin-
clair, but upon their failure, the title was settled on her
husband's three younger brothers, in succession, and their issue
male. Her immediate male descendants terminated in General
Saintclair,* who, as before mentioned, entailed all the estates
upon the issue male of his sisters. The peerage, in terms of
the remainders before quoted, devolved on the inheritor of the
estate of Herdmanston, and a claim having been brought under
the consideration of the House of Lords by Charles Saintclair,
Esquire, the great-grandson of Mathew Saintclair, the youngest
brother of John Saintclair of Hermandston, it was, upon the
25th April 1782, resolved and adjudged, that the petitioner
' hath made out his claim to the title, honour, and dignity of
' Lord Sinclair.'
The question as to the seniority of the two brothers, Oliver
and William, has long been a matter of dispute ;f but if credit
be attached to the statements of Father Hay, the former was
the elder brother. Considerable importance (from his access to
the Rosslyn papers) necessarily must be given to his unqualified
assertion on this subject, the more especially as he does not
even state it to be a doubtful point. The strongest inferential
argument against this supposition is, the improbability of a
father settling his title upon the youngest son to the exclusion
* He died 8th January 1766, aged 68.
f See ease of Sir James Sinclair of Mey, Bart, claiming the Earldom of
Caithness.