Clan Wallace is for obvious reasons, one of the greatest, if not the greatest, Clan History from Scotland, because of Scotland's Hero, William Wallace, Guardian of Scotland, defender of the freedom of Scotland. This Clan has no Septs (or family members) just Wallace, this is the current Chief's decison.
Gaelic Name: Uallas
Branches: Wallace of Cairnhill, Wallace of Cessnock, Wallace of Craigie, Wallace of Ellerslie (that's me), Wallace of Kelly, Wallace of Riccarton.
Arms: Gules, a lion rampant Argent within a bordure counter-compony of the Last and Azure.
Motto: Pro Libertate (For Liberty)
Badge: : Issuant from a crest coronet of four (three visible) strawberry leaves Or, a dexter arm vambraced, the hand brandishing a sword all Proper. Lands: Ayrshire and Renfrewshire
Origin of Name: From Volcae, a tribe in North Gaul
In old Latin documents the term Walensis is used to designate the Welsh, but in Scotland is more commonly used as a native name meaning a Strathclyde Briton and not, as is often thought, a Welshman coming in the train of the Norman French. It is from this Walensis that the name Wallace is derived.
In the second half of the 12th century a man named Richard, defined as a Wallace, obtained lands in Ayrshire, which belongs to the former Kingdom of Strathclyde. His property was called Richardston, now Riccarton; and his great-grandson, Sir Malcolm Wallace, received the lands of Elderslie in Renfrewshire. Such was the background of Malcolm's son William, who was to evoke a national spirit which united so many disparate peoples and to earn his place as Scotland's greatest patriot.
The Clan Wallace did not descend from Sir William Wallace but from the Riccarton Branch.
