Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Sinclair, William (d.1330)
SINCLAIR or SAINT CLAIR, Sir WILLIAM (d. 1330), of Roslin, friend of Robert Bruce, was the son of Sir Henry Sinclair of Roslin [see under Sinclair, Sir William, (fl. 1266–1303)] by Alicia de Fenton. According to Father Hay, he received from Robert the Bruce the grant of Pentland Moor in free forestry and the office of great master-hunter of Scotland on account of the prowess of his two dogs, ‘Help’ and ‘Hold,’ in capturing a fleet white deer which repeatedly baulked the efforts of Bruce's hounds (Genealogy of the Sinclairs, p. 16). He was one of the knights chosen to accompany Sir James Douglas (1286?–1330) [q. v.] to the Holy Land with the heart of Bruce; and, in view of the service which he was expected to render him, received from Bruce a pension of 40l. (Exchequer Rolls, i. 209). He was slain, along with Douglas, on the plains of Andalusia by the Saracens on 25 Aug. 1330 (Wyntoun, Chronicle). By his wife Isabel—sometimes surnamed Sperra—daughter of Malise, earl of Strathearn, he had three sons and a daughter: Sir Henry Sinclair, earl or prince of Orkney [q. v.], William, David, and Margaret, who married first, Thomas, second earl of Angus, and secondly, Sir William Sinclair of Herdmanston.
[Wyntoun's Chronicle; Exchequer Rolls of Scotland, vol. i.; Hay's Genealogy of the Sinclairs of Roslin.]