Clan Wallace
For liberty, the patriot's family.
- Origin
- Glasgow & Strathclyde, Scotland
- Motto
- Pro Libertate
- Famous bearer
- Sir William Wallace
- Register
- Scottish clan
The seat of Clan Wallace
Seat vacantChief
No one leads the Clan Wallace community yet. When the movement opens, you can stand for its leadership, or help elect whoever does.
Current mission
No shared goal set yet. Once Clan Wallace has leadership, it sets the public focus: a restoration, a gathering, a real-world project that helps its own.
The Wallace clan is being rebuilt. Join the waiting list for the movement today, and you help decide who leads it and what it does.
Help rebuild the Wallace clan →Motto
Pro Libertate
“For liberty”
What does the Wallace name mean?
From Old French 'Waleis', 'Welshman' or, in Scottish context, a Briton of Strathclyde. The first recorded use is Richard Walensis in 1160.
The history of Clan Wallace
The Wallaces originate from Strathclyde, near Glasgow, with members traceable across Ayrshire and Renfrewshire. Like other Lowland families, they adopted a surname in the new Norman fashion. The first recorded use is by Richard Walensis on a land charter in 1160.
The family's most famous son is, of course, Sir William Wallace, 'the Hero of Scotland', born at Elderslie around 1270. In 1297 he led the Scottish patriotic forces against Edward I of England, won the Battle of Stirling Bridge, and drove the English garrisons out of Scotland.
Defeated at Falkirk in 1298, Wallace kept up a guerrilla war until his capture by treachery in 1305 and brutal execution in London. His name has stood for Scottish liberty ever since.
Champions of the Wallace name
The bearers whose lives are inseparable from this surname. Each has their own page, biography, achievements, geography, connection to the family.
- Alfred Russel Wallace
The self-taught Welsh-born naturalist of Border-Wallace descent who independently discovered evolution by natural selection from a hammock in the Indonesian archipelago and posted his theory to Darwin in 1858.
- Jock Wallace
The soldier-goalkeeper who became Rangers' great motivator, winning two domestic Trebles and breaking Celtic's grip, and carried the patriot name of Wallace with ferocious heart.
Historic Places, Rebuilt
Explore the streets and seats the Wallace name knew, rebuilt with AI as they stood in history.
Castles the Wallace held
Strongholds this name held for a decade or more, look one up, or rebuild it to explore.
- Dundonald Castle
Held by the Wallaces from the 1530s until debt forced its sale in 1632.
- Featherstone Castle
Held from about 1789 by James Wallace; Lord Wallace bequeathed the estate to his nephew, who took the name Hope-Wallace.
- Sundrum Castle
Built in the 14th century for Sir Duncan Wallace, Sheriff of Ayr.
- Craigie Castle
Passed by marriage to John Wallace of Riccarton about 1371.
- Auchenbathie Tower
Held by the Wallaces of Elderslie, recorded owners in 1398; the Auchenbothie Wallace line died out around 1650.
- Busbie Castle
Passed through General Sir James Wallace (d. 1867) to William Wallace of Busbie and Cloncaird.
- Caprington Castle
The Wallaces of Sundrum owned the property from 1385 until 1400.
- Auchans Castle
Held by the Wallaces of Dundonald from 1527; Colonel James Wallace, leader of the 1666 Pentland rising, was the last of the family to occupy it.
- Cloncaird Castle
Held by the Wallaces of Cairnhill from 1843 until sold in 1905.
- Cessnock Castle
Owned by the Wallace family, in the succession of owners between the Campbells and 1946.
The castles of the homeland
The great strongholds of the homeland, look one up, see what it looked like in its prime, and recreate it to explore.
Edinburgh CastleRestored · prime 1520
Stirling CastleRestored · prime 1542
Glamis CastleStill standing · prime 1900All castles in Scotland → · Strongest castles in Scotland → · Castles of Europe
Play As Your Clan
Pick any year from 500 to 1945 and any place on earth, the Wallace country, or a shore no Wallace ever reached. The chronicler sets the scene; the deeds are yours.
Notable bearers of the Wallace name
- Sir William Wallace
Stories of Clan Wallace
Stirling Bridge
1297On the morning of 11 September 1297, the English army of John de Warenne and Hugh Cressingham began crossing the Forth at Stirling on a wooden bridge two horsemen wide. The Scottish patriot army on the high ground above the river held its position and watched. Its commanders were William Wallace, the outlaw turned national leader, and Andrew de Moray, who would die of wounds taken that day. The Scottish question had no precedent for what they were about to do: Highland and Lowland infantry had not been thought capable of breaking trained knights in the field. By sunset that question had its answer.
Read the story →
Execution at Smithfield
1305In August 1305, after seven years of guerrilla war and near-misses, William Wallace was betrayed in Glasgow by Sir John Menteith, taken in chains across the Border, paraded through the south of England, and brought into Westminster Hall to be tried for treason. Edward I had personally insisted on the trial. A garland of laurel was placed on his head in mockery of an old prophecy that said a Scot would one day be crowned king in London. He refused to plead. The court convicted him in absence of his own defence. The four-mile drag from Westminster to Smithfield, and what they did to him there, was set down in the chronicle of Lanercost in language meant to deter.
Read the story →