Northern Ireland

When Henry Douglas Sinclair arrived in England in 1900, he left behind a large extended family. He did not know that of all his many relatives then living in Ireland, none would continue the Sinclair name. Of course, there are many other descendants of William and Ellen living in Ireland, England and elsewhere in the world, but holding different surnames. These I have attempted to document as part of the wider family record. See Related families.

William Sinclair’s family

William married Ellen Walker and they had five daughters as well as one son, Abraham Walker Sinclair.

Ann Eliza Sinclair married Robert James. Robert’s cousins were William James and Henry James in America. Their grandfather had established himself in New York State and made a considerable amount of money as a merchant.

Ellen Sinclair married Dr William Taylor from Downpatrick. One of their children became a doctor, and another a pharmacist. His descendants live in England and Australia.

Sarah Sinclair married Dr Thomas John Walker Browne from Dungannon. One of their sons, Thomas Walker Browne, married Clair Christine Sinclair, a granddaughter of Abraham Walker Sinclair.

Susan Sinclair and Mary Jane Sinclair both died unmarried after 1902.

Abraham Walker Sinclair’s family

Abraham Walker Sinclair married Mary Margaret Davis and they had five sons as well as Henry Douglas Sinclair. George Walker died aged 3 years, Jack Charles at six months, and James Davis, also aged 3 years.

A fourth son, Walker Davis Sinclair lived for 46 years, but was mentally disabled, and never married or had children. He died in 1924.

The remaining son was William Sinclair. He married Kathleen Elizabeth Sefton and they had five daughters and  two sons. One was Abraham Walker Sinclair, who died unmarried in 1959. The other was John who, with his twin Joan, died young. All the surviving daughters married British military personnel: Molly married Captain Archibald Sydenham Rouse, RASC and had three children; Clair married Captain Thomas Walker Browne, RAMC above; Doris married Major Hugh McArthur Richards, RFA and had one daughter; and Betty first married Captain Herbert Charles Coplestone Thurgood, RTC and had two sons, and second, Captain Arthur Andrew Hilton Ewin, RTC.

In addition, Abraham Walker Sinclair had two daughters. Mary Mabel died at one year, but Mary Jemima (May) Sinclair married Dr Samuel Thompson Irwin, a well-known doctor in Newry, who was later to have a lecture room in a Belfast hospital named after him. They had three sons: Dr John Walker Sinclair Irwin married Betty Fulton and had five children; Tom Irwin married Dr Pamela Curtis and they had two children; Dr Charles Gibson Irwin first married Alice Phoebe Scott and had three children, and then Olive Henry. Their two daughters were Mary Margaret Irwin, who married Tom Dunn and had four children, and Norah Emily Suffern Irwin, who married Jim Pearson and had two children.

SINCLAIR FAMILY DESCENDANTS

The Sinclair name only (male Y chromosome)

Abraham Walker Sinclair.

Mary Margaret Sinclair, Abraham Walker’s wife, later known as ‘Granny Sinclair’.

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