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British Red Cross
Please give
to the Asian earthquake appeal
More...
The devastation in the wake of Hurricane Katrina is worse than
we at first thought, and our thoughts are with the unfortunate
victims. American Red Cross volunteers have been sent in
to the worst areas of Katrina's destruction, supplying the
hundreds of thousands of victims left homeless with the means of
survival. Our contributions to Hurricane 2005 Relief allow the
Red Cross to provide shelter, food, counselling and other
assistance.
Asian Tsunami Disaster
We made a difference. £ 300 million raised in the UK from
private donors, which the Government has pledged to match. See
Sky News : British Tsunami Appeal Ends
With £ 300 m
19th
February 2006
 
The Scotsman,
in partnership with
TheNational Trust for Scotland, has launched a vote for the
Seven Wonders of Scotland.
There is a shortlist of 30 from which voters are invited to
compile their short list of Seven Wonders. The list includes,
not surprisingly, Rosslyn Chapel, The prehistoric treasures of
Orkney and single malt whisky. You can e-mail in wonders not
listed, so not champion Castle Sinclair Girnigoe? E-mail
7wonders@scotsman.com and put Castle
Sinclair Girnigoe in the Subject line of the e-mail and write "I
vote for Castle Sinclair Girnigoe to be added to the vote for
the Seven Wonders of Scotland -
www.castle-sg.org ."The
list can be found at
http://heritage.scotsman.com/wonders.cfm?action=list
and to vote you will
need to register with The Scotsman on line, which is free. To
vote or register go to
http://heritage.scotsman.com/wonders.cfm?action=vote
22nd
December 2005
The Royal Scots are to return for a
short notice deployment to Iraq just before they are merged
with the Kings Own Scottish Borderers. There are also rumbles
south of the border as the unpopular mergers continue.
"The
colonel of the Light Infantry is facing a vote of no confidence
by the regimental association. It is furious at not being
consulted about the alleged "surrender" of the unit's famous
name in merger negotiations."
18th
December 2005
Submissions due by the end of the year for the
Russell Davies & Stuart Laird Prize, which commemorates my
father's
contribution to Anaesthesia for the burnt patient.
17th
December 2005
It is heartening to know that on the eve of the year when our old Scottish
Regiments are to disappear into the pages of history,
that The Black Watch (The Royal Highland Regiment) continues to be celebrated in
Canada.
Lieutenant Colonel Ian McCulloch's new 2 volume history of the Highland
Regiment's first 250 years is being published in May 2006.
More...
21st October 2005
200th Anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar, 21st October 1805
2005 marks the bicentenary of the
The Battle
of Trafalgar, the facts of which are well known to most. Less well appreciated is the strong Scots
element in Nelson’s fleet. Over 30% of
his 18,000 men were Scots, More...
16th October
Laird Biographies Addition
Added extract
from register of Proclamation of Banns for Paisley Middle
Kirk, Parish of Renfrew, 12th August 1842, John Laird and Jane
Burke, great great grandparents.
1st October
Norway Additions
Oslo page added with photographs from the Viking Ship
Museum, Akershus Castle, Vigeland Park and Holmenkollen Ski Jump
and links.
 More
information on the
Scots in Bergen, including their contribution to the
Nykirken, and photo of
Niven Sinclair with what may be Laurits Hage, the Sherriff of
Dovre's tessak, or Sinclairsabel or Sinclair Sabre from Kringen
in 1612 on the Battle of Kringen
page.
9th September 2005
The Battle of Flodden, 9th September 1513
The Flower of Scotland fell at Flodden Field,
near Branxton, in Northumberland. The Scots lost 10,000 men,
including their King.
23rd August 2005
700th Anniversary of the Execution of Sir
William Wallace: 1305-2005
Memorial to Sir William Wallace near the place of his
execution, 23rd August 1305,
now the site of St Bartholomew's Hospital, West Smithfield, London.
More...
7th August 2005
Culloden News
For centuries, many historians have
believed that the Government Force at
Culloden
outfought the undisciplined Jacobite forces of Bonnie Prince
Charlie. But new excavations at the site of the battle have
revealed that the Jacobites came far closer to victory than most
contemporary accounts suggest. Dr Tony Pollard, of the
Two Men in a Trench programme, and a team from Glasgow
University archaeological research division, have discovered
that the Highlanders came close to breaking the government line
and rewriting history. The almost suicidal attack of the Young
Pretender's 7,000-strong army, armed with dirks and broadswords,
forced Cumberland and his troops loyal to George II to turn his
heavy mortars,
previously held in reserve, on to their serried ranks to prevent
a rout of his troops, according to the new
evidence.
5th August 2005
The Alford Bull and
Argentina
In
Alford, Aberdeenshire stands the statue of an Aberdeen Angus
Bull, commemorating the establishment of the breed there.
more...
3rd August 2005
First photographs from
Clan Sinclair 2005 International Gathering in Orkney and
Caithness. Here are two photos of the Clan Sinclair Pipe Band
from
Lisa Burns, South Carolina.
The photos include the
Plaque
commemorating the link
between the Cathedral and
The
Fjære
Kirke, Bringsværd,
Southern Norway.
We also noted during our visit that
Lairds are to be found in Orkney as well as Caithness.See
also
www.cursiter.com.
8th July 2005
Our thoughts
and prayers are with the victims of yesterday's atrocities in
London and their families. Our best tribute to them
is that we are continuing our lives as normal. The Emergency
Services and many volunteers who have done a fantastic job in
the worst of circumstances have our deepest appreciation. We are
not giving in to hatred. The bombers did not discriminate,
neither do we.
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7th July
2005
Sign the Petition to make St Andrew's Day a Public Holiday.
St Andrew is Scotland's Patron Saint, and his Cross is an
important Scottish symbol. Let us give him his proper
place in the life of our Nation.
23rd June 2005
Today
is the Anniversary of first day of The Battle of Bannockburn,
1314
"I
have broken my good battle-axe." are the words
attributed to King Robert the Bruce as he returned
from his fatal encounter with
de Bohun on the eve of the main battle by H E
Marshall in "Scotland's Story" More
2th June 2005
Today is the Anniversary of the capture at
St Valéry-en-Caux
of The 51st Highland Division, left in France after the
Evacuation of Dunkirk (completed 4th June) and who fought on for
a further 8 days on their own until, out of ammunition and
supplies, with no support or hope of rescue, were ordered to lay
down their arms.
Julian Roger is
trying to trace any surviving members of the 7th and 8th Argyll
and Sutherland Highlanders who, separated from the rest of the
Division, escaped from Le Havre in the boat 'Margot II' 1940.
His Great Grandfather had the boat built for him and it still
exists as part on the 'Dunkirk Little Ships Association' to
reunite the people who travelled on her.
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Valparaíso,
Chile
The British legacy in
Valparaíso, Chile and its presence today.
11th June 2005
Opened new
International Section with a page on the traces of the
Vikings in
Istanbul's Aghia Sofia Cathedral
6th June
2005
Added page for
connections between
Southern Norway and Orkney and Caithness
at Bringsværd and Grimstad in the Aust-Agder.
30th May
2005
Added Photographs of Roslin
Glen, by
Rosslyn Chapel. Rosslyn Chapel is one of the most beautiful
and engimatic buildings made by man, and is matched by the
beauty and mystery of the Glen and the Esk which flows below it.
28th May
2005
Invested as
Chevalier of the Scottish Knights Templar at
Balgonie Castle, Fife. Presented with A Shield of the
Rosslyn Crypt Angel to mark the occasion, made by Chevalier Ron
Sinclair, KOTpl, FSA Scot.
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22nd May
2005
90th Anniversary of The Royal Scots Gretna Rail Disaster,
1915. 214 members of the 7th Battalion, The Royal Scots
were killed en route to Gallipoli when their train crashed into
carriages of a local train, and then the northbound express
collided with the wreckage at
Quintinshill.
25th April
2005
Anzac Koyu,
Dardanelles, Turkey
ANZAC Day and the 90th Anniversary of the Gallipoli Landings.
To mark the Anniversary I have launched a special
Gallipoli page with photographs that
I took in 1989. The page is dedicated to the memory of the late
Captain Emre Omur who made the visit possible for me. The
pictures of Anzac Cove are particularly important as recent road
improvement has removed the distinctive features that made the
landing there so difficult, and the movement inland.
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20th April
I have introduced a Bergen
page to the
Norwegian Section given the long and strong connections this
world heritage city has to Scotland, and a new
link to Jan Waage's Norwegian History
and Genealogy site.
20th April
I am delighted to have been asked by Steve St Clair and Stan
St Clair in the USA to join their DNA research project and a UK
website has been set up to carry forward the work this side of
the Atlantic -
www.sinclairresearch.co.uk. This is all very
new to me and I have just sent off for my testing kit, and will
post up my
own experience on the website, so other newcomers can get a feel
for how
this runs. All UK based cousins are cordially invited to join
in. For further information, please visit the website.
Please note the website will be unavailable for a period
from 20th June - 7th July while the server is being relocated.
28th March
To
mark Regimental Day, the anniversary of the Issue of the Royal
Warrant under Charles I's authority at Whitehall, to raise The
Royal Scots, and to keep up the profile of the
Save the Scottish Regiments campaign, I have added
a
special page in the
Scots History Section.
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18th March
To mark the anniversary of the Raising of The King's Own
Scottish Borderers, 18th March 1689, and to keep up the profile
of the campaign, I have added a
special page in the
Scots History Section
of our website to pay tribute to their legal challenge to the
Secretary of State's proposals. This is from an article I wrote
for the March Newsletter of
Crossraguel Preceptory (Ayrshire) of
Militi
Templi Scotia, Scottish Knights Templar
20th February
Photograph of my father with Great Uncle Bill at Kentlyn in
1950 from Bev in Australia.
24th January
Thanks to John in Australia, a new photograph of Great
Grandfather and Great Grandmother, seated and their daughter
Jean and brother ?. Click on the photograph for the link to the
full version.
17th January
2005
Added pictures of Laird Memorials in
Canisbay Kirkyard
and Wick Kirkyard, photos taken by me in 1999.
31st
December 2004
New Hogmanay page, bringing
together the origins and traditions of Hogmanay.
Attending the Installation of
Crossraguel Preceptory (Ayrshire) of
Militi
Templi Scotia, Scottish Knights Templar, November
2004
18 May 2004
www.laird.org.uk became
available, and we now have full hosting rather than forwarding
as before with
www.iain-laird.co.uk which was hosted on a BT Openworld
server. This should make giving references to pages in
this site much easier.
26
October 2003
Thanks
to David W Smith
for pointing me in the direction of his wife's family tree where
we can see that my paternal grandmother,
Mary Crockart's
great grandmother (mother of Diana
Levack of Wick, Caithness) was Mary Sinclair Mackay.
June 2002
On a visit to Caithness, we met Ella Calder (born Laird) who
confirmed that the Lairds, of whom she is one of the last to
have been born and to continue to live in Caithness, were of
Norse origin, confirming my own family's story. She knows of a
number of Lairds, who like our Great Grandfather, found
themselves in Glasgow in the mid 19th Century.
March 2002
Giving a talk on Clan Sinclair to the Caledonian
Society of Norway, March 2002
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Campaign for the Real Reel of the 51st
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Last updated:
19/12/2006
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