Findlay (Gaelic Fionn-laidh)
Commonly called Findla Mor, or Great Findla, from his great size and strength, was killed at the battle of Pinkie September 10, 1547, while bearing the Royal Standard of Scotland, and was buried in the Inveresk churchyard, near Edinburg. By his first wife, a daughter of Baron Reid, of Kinkardine Stewart, he had four sons, who took the name of Mac Ianla, the name being derived from Finlay, the Gaelic form of which is Fionn-laidh. The form Mac Fhionn-laidh (meaning son of Findlay), being pronounced as nearly as English spelling can show it---Mac-ion-lay, or Mach-un-la.
The second wife of Findla Mor was Beatrix Gardyn, of Balchorie, by whom he had seven sons who retained the name of Farquharson. From the sons by his first wife sprang the Clan Fhinla, or MacKinlay, which was so closely allied to Clan Farquharson that they adopted the same war cry and badge.
The MacKinlay Suaicheantas, or badge, is Lus-nam-ban-sith, the foxglove. The old motto of the clan was "We force nae friend, we fear nae foe." The MacKinlay tartan, or plaid, is the same as that of the Farquharsons, excep the yellow lines are replaced by red lines.
This is where all the hard work of our Aunt Marg begins. All of her research led to Findla Mor, unfortunately she did not get any further back than that. Thanks to the world of computers and the Internet, I was able to take it back another 500 years.
All of my research is from documented sources written by various genealogists. Some of this research conflicts with what Aunt Marg found. Basically there were a few missed generations and confused titles, but basically it is the same.
