Frask used at the Battle of Flodden

[Wanda Sinclair <Wanda.Sinclair@unilever.com>]

Found the following in a biographical file at the Metro Toronto (Canada) 
Reference Library taken from the Toronto Globe & Mail (Oct. 6, 1922?):

AMONG THE MOST TREASURED of heirlooms in a certain Canadian home is an 
amber-colored trask of curious shape & curious history, which belonging to 
two sisters of the lineage of Sinclair, & descendants of the House of 
Caithness, Scotland, once saw service on the Field of Flodden & again 
served Armistice Day in Canada.  Proudly these Sinclair sisters trace the 
history of the flask back to the days of the Battle of Flodden Field. 
 Bitter war waged between England & Scotland during the reign of James IV. 
 William Sinclair of the House of Caithness - the county of Caithness, the 
most northerly of the mainland of Scotland - was under an attainder, 
although history never defined his crime.  A high-spirited nobleman, & 
loyal to his King, he voluntarily raised 300 men & rushed to the assistance 
of King James.

The Earl of Huntley was leading the right wing of the Scottish army & 
William Sinclair supported him valiantly.  The night before the Balle of 
Flodden, as the Earl of Caithness led forward his troops, the King, 
watching them approach, cried out at sight of the fresh, green uniforms. 
 Curiously he questioned his men, & when they told him that the fresh 
troops were under the leadership of the Earl of Caithness he exclaimed: "If 
that be William Sinclair, I will pardon him."

The King ordered parchment brought to him, but none could be found; then, 
pointing to a drum, heordered that the deed of forfeiture be written on the 
drum head.  When it was complete, King James added his signature & 
commanded his men to cut it out.  This pardon he presented to William 
Sinclair.  The Earl, turning to one of his men, thrust the document into 
his hands, commanding: "Run with this to Caithness & put it into the hands 
of my Lady, for fear I fall in battle, & the title of the estate will still 
be hers."

The following day the Scots suffered defeat.  The Earl of Huntley deserted 
the field, but the Earl of Caitness, stood the ground, sacrificing his own 
life.  All of his men-excepting the runner who had gone to Caithness with 
the pardon-perished.  An amber flask in leather casing was strapped to the 
back of the runner bearing the pardon to the Lady of Caithness.

Through generations of Sinclairs, this flask of the House of Caithness has 
come down to the possession of the sisters of the lineage of Sinclair. 
 During the late war the brother of the Sinclair sisters volunteered in a 
Canadian battalion drafted in the home town of the Annapolis Valley, Nova 
Scotia.  On the eve of his departure the historic flask of Caithness was 
filled with blackberry wine & stored in the dusk of a cupborard agiinst the 
brother's return, when a toast should be proposed.

The brother paid the supreme sacrifice at Vimy Ridge, but on Armistice Day 
these Sinclair sisters bravely brought into light the amber flask of wine, 
& carrying it proudly, they marched with the rejoicing mobs of the town 
streets.  Visiting an old Scottish friend, the sisters of the House of 
Caithness unsealed the flask that had once been carried on the Field of 
Flodden, & in the Canadian home drank a toast to the boys then overseas.




I wonder where the flask in now


WANDA SINCLAIR
Rexdale, Ontario

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