Clan Ainslie (Ainslie Tartan)

Crest: Issuing out of a cap of maintenance a naked arm embowed grasping a scymitar, all Proper Motto: Gude In Need Historic Seat: Dolphinstone Castle (ruined), Jedburgh Clan Chief: None, armigerous clan 2. Clan Ainslie History Most likely, Annesley in Nottinghamshire, England, is where the name Ainslie originates. Another Ansley, known...
Crest: Issuing out of a cap of maintenance a naked arm embowed grasping a scymitar, all Proper
Motto: Gude In Need
Historic Seat: Dolphinstone Castle (ruined), Jedburgh
Clan Chief: None, armigerous clan

2. Clan Ainslie History

Most likely, Annesley in Nottinghamshire, England, is where the name Ainslie originates. Another Ansley, known as Hanslei in the Domesday Book of 1086, existed in Warwickshire.

Its name is a combination of the Old English words "ansetl," which means hermitage, and "leah," which means thin wood, glade, or clearing.

The Domesday Book refers to Annesley in Nottinghamshire as "Aneslei," which is derived from the Olde English "an," one, and "leah," as before, and means "the solitary glade." Therefore, Nottinghamshire is the most likely place for its origin.

Prior to the Norman Conquest, the surname Ainslie was common in England as well as Scotland's border regions. Ainslie, Ainsley, Aynsley, and Ainslee are the current spellings of the last name.

Thomas de Aneslei (1221, Glasgow), Johan de Anesleye (1296, Roxburghshire), and John de Annesley (1292, York) were the earliest known individuals with the surname Ainlie (or a derivative of it).

Large estates were held by the Saxon lords of Annesley in Nottinghamshire, but they fled to Scotland, where Malcolm III gave them a warm welcome, as William the Conqueror's army closed in.

Clan Ainslie History, Ainslie Tartan History

The growing family soon settled in the areas of Dolphinstone. Around 1208, Walter, Bishop of Glasgow, witnessed a charter with William de Ainslie, a Glasgow Cathedral canon.

Thomas de Ainslie was one of the arbitrators chosen in 1221 to resolve a disagreement between the bishopric of Glasgow and the monks of Kelso.

A Borders knight named Sir Aymer de Aynesley was sent to negotiate with the English in attempt to settle the marches in 1249.

Two members of the family—John de Anesleye of Roxburghshire and Johan de Anesley of Cruwfurt in Laarkshire—are included in the Ragman Roll, which lists people who submitted to Edward I of England in 1296.

Between 1248 to 1254, Robert de Ainslie, Baron of Dolphinstone, accompanied Patrick, Earl of Dungar and March, on a crusade to the Holy Land. It appears likely that the crusader's son John was the Laird of Dolphinstone, who swore fealty to Edward I.

The Ainslies lost their estates as a result of opposing Robert the Bruce in his fight for the Scottish Crown.

But when William de Ainslie, who had wed Helen Kerr (of the line from which the current Duke of Roxburgh derives), became a favorite of Robert II, their situation changed. In 1377, the Dolphinstone lands were returned to William de Ainslie.

The Anisllies built their wealth by forging relationships with other illustrious Borders families through marriage. With the Kerrs, Homes, Pringles, and Douglases, they had several marriages.

Marjory, the son of John Ainslie, wed the ferocious combatant known as the Terror of the Borders, Mark Kerr of Cessford. At the Battle of Pinkie in 1547, he perished.

Clan Ainslie History, Ainslie Tartan History

On January 13, 1766, Robert Ainslie was born. He was a Scottish writer and lawyer who served as Robert Burns's correspondent.

They met in Edinburgh in the spring of 1787, and together they walked through the Borders, with Ainslie being welcomed at Burns' home.eventually on, he paid Burns at Ellisland a visit and was given a manuscript copy of Tam o' Shanter, which he eventually sent to Sir Walter Scott.

One of his brothers, Sir Whitelaw Ainslie, was the medical director of India's Southern Division and the author of a thorough study of indigenous Indian medicine. He authored several plays and contributed frequently to the Edinburgh Magazine.

From 1776 to 1792, Sir Robert Ainslie served as the British ambassador in Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire. In 1804 he was made a baronet and served as a parliamentarian as well.

Three volumes of drawings and sketches of Egypt are now what most people remember him for.

Clan Ainslie History, Ainslie Tartan History

Although they have attained great military position even more recently, the Ainslie arms unmistakably hint to their early crusading deeds.

The 93rd Highland Regiment, known today as the "Thin Red Line," was under the leadership of General Charles de Ainslie at the Battle of Balaclave in 1854.

The family also included eminent lawyers, and David Ainslie of Costerton, who passed away in 1900, gave money accumulated from his legal business to fund the construction of the Astley Ainslie Hospital in Edinburgh.

On the wall of the South Leith parish church is a memorial to the Ainslie family.

Ainslie Tartan, Ainslie Clan

3. Clan Ainslie Tartans

If you'd like to arrange for a special weaving of the Ainslie Tartan, which cannot be done because it is a stock weave, please get in touch with us.

The district tartans are the most important because they are the source of the name.


Ainslie Tartan

 

Roxburgh District

 

Roxburgh Ancient

 

Roxburgh Muted

4. Clan Ainslie Crest & Coats of Arms

4.1 Clan Ainslie Crest

Worn by all of the name and ancestry
Crest Description:
Issuing out of a cap of maintenance a naked arm embowed grasping a scymitar, all Proper

4.2 Clan Ainslie Coats of Arms

A word about coats of arms: According to Scottish heraldic law, an individual may be granted a coat of arms (with the exception of civic or corporate arms).

'Family coats of arms' don't exist. Except as noted above, the weapons shown below are personal weapons. The only person who is permitted to use these weapons is that person.

ARMS

Or, a cross flory Gules

ON COMPARTMENT

Pro patria saepe pro rege semper (For country often, for King always)

SUPPORTERS

 Two knights in chain armor are positioned on a patch of thistles with a shield resting on a tree stump. The dexter knight is leaning on the shield with the beaver of his helmet up.

With a flowing pennon Azure, the crest is displayed in a canton Argent on an or shield with a cross flory Gules on one side and a spear and a skull cap on the other.

Ainslie-Clan, Ainslie-Tartan

Ainslie of Great Torrington, baronets

Ainslie-Clan, Ainslie-Tartan

Ainslie of Great Torrington, baronets

5. Clan Ainslie People & Places

5.1 Clan Ainslie People

Colonel Sir Philip Ainslie (1728-1802), KT., of Pilton

Colonel Sir Philip Ainslie

George Ainslie (d. 1773) and his wife Jane/Jean, a descendant of Sir Philip Anstruther, KT, had a second son, Philip Ainslie, who was born in Edinburgh in 1728.

George Ainslie died in 1773. Before enlisting in the army in 1754, Philip received his education at Westminster School.

While on duty in Portugal, he held the positions of Lt. Col. of cavalry, aide-de-camp to Prince Charles of Mecklenburg, and colonel of the 7th Dragoons. King George III knighted Ainslie on February 25, 1778.

Eight years later, in 1786, he took early retirement. He passed away in Edinburgh, where he had spent his final years, in 1802 at the age of 74. The Hon.

Elizabeth (d. 1787), a daughter of John, the 11th Lord Gray, and Philip Ainslie were wed on March 15th, 1772 in Edinburgh.

General George Robert Ainslie and Margaret Jane Ainslie were two of the many children Philip and Elizabeth had. Margaret Jane Ainslie later married Francis Stuart, the 10th Earl of Moray, in 1801 and had three children with him.

Reverend George Ainslie (1804-1875)

Reverend George Ainslie

Anglican priest George Ainslie lived in the nineteenth century. He passed away on May 14th, 1875, when he was 71 years old.