The Arms of Sir Simon Sinclair-Lockhart
Noel Cox
originally published in (Autumn 2000) 74 New Zealand Armorist 2-3
Sir Simon John Edward Sinclair-Lockhart, 15th baronet of Murkle, county Caithness, and Stevenson, county Haddington, in the baronetage of Nova Scotia, was born 22 July 1941. He succeeded in 1985 to the title.
On the death of Sir Simon's father, Sir Muir Sinclair-Lockhart, Bt, the family seat, Cambusnethan Priory, Lanarkshire, was sold. The estate however was retained. Sir Simon now lives at 13 Franklin Terrace, Havelock North, Hawke's Bay.
Sir John Sinclair, the first baronet, younger son of Matthew Sinclair, ninth Laird of Longformacus, county Berwick, amassed a considerable fortune as a merchant in Edinburgh, and acquired Stevenson, in the county of Haddington, in 1624. He was made a baronet of Nova Scotia on 18th June 1636, with remainder to his heirs male, and died in 1649.
Nova Scotia baronetcies were created at the instigation of Sir William Alexander of Menstrie, who conceived the idea of colonising Nova Scotia. Appointed hereditary Lieutenant-Governor in 1621, in 1625 he persuaded King James I to establish the Order of Baronets of Scotland and Nova Scotia, to recoup Sir William's losses, and to finance further colonising schemes.
The original English baronetcies had of course been instituted to pay for the settlement of Ulster. Until the colony was ceded to the French in 1632 each Nova Scotian baronet received a grant of 16,000 acres in the new colony, which there were to colonise and develop.
No Scottish baronetcies as such were created, all creations north of the border prior to the Act of Union being of Nova Scotia. The senior Nova Scotian baronet on the Official Roll of the Baronets is Sir Guy Innes-Ker, tenth Duke of Roxburghe, created 28th May 1625.
The fifth Sinclair baronet adopted the additional surname of Lockhart, after his mother Martha, widow of Cromwell Lockhart, of Lee, county Lanark, and daughter of Sir John Lockhart, of Castlehill, a Lord of Session. She was the sole heiress to a large estate.
The arms of Sir Simon Sinclair-Lockhart are quarterly, first and fourth, Argent a man's heart Proper, within a fetter lock Sable on a chief Azure, three boars' heads erased Argent, all within a bordure Ermine, charged with three crosses pateé Gules. These are a good example of canting arms, the Lockhart name readily deducible from the combination of a (fetter-lock and a heart.
The second and third quarters are Argent on a saltire engrailed Gules, five bezants. These are the arms of Sinclair, or St Clair. The bezants, or gold coins, are a reminder of the origins of the family in business.
The crest is a boar's head erased Argent.
The motto is Corda serrata fero. There are no supporters.
Granted by the Lord Lyon King of Arms, 1899.