Thomas Sinclair was born at Hopefield House in north Belfast and he was the second son of Thomas Sinclair senior and Sarah Archer. The family had come from Scotland to Ulster and the earliest known member of the family in Ulster was William Sinclair of Dundrod.
Educated at Royal Belfast Academical Institution and then at Queen's College (which went on to become Queen's University Belfast), where he earned a degree in mathematics. At the age of 28 he was elected and ordained an elder in the Duncairn congregation in north Belfast; and a year later he was appointed its clerk of Kirk Session, before entering the family business – J. & T. Sinclair, Provision Merchants and Pork Curers. On the death of his father in 1867 he became head of the firm and he held that position until his own death in 1914.
Thomas Sinclair was the man who introduced golf from Scotland into Ulster in 1881 and he was really the founder of the Royal Belfast Golf Club but he is remembered more for his contribution to Ulster Presbyterianism and to Ulster Unionism.
He was the leading layman in the Presbyterian Church and he was thoroughly evangelical and evangelistic. The family contributed much of the cost of Duncairn Presbyterian Church and Sinclair Seamen's Presbyterian Church was a memorial to his uncle John Sinclair. Thomas was also a strong supporter of foreign missions and home missions, especially the Belfast Town Mission and he became president of the Town Mission, later the City Mission, in 1893.
Supported the Liberal Party of the day and he believed fervently in the disestablishment of the Church of Ireland, in land reform and in non-denominational education. However like most Liberals he was a committed unionist and when the Liberals divided over Home Rule he became the first president of the Ulster Liberal Unionist Association. The Ulster Unionist Convention, held on the eve of the General Election of 1892, was Sinclair's idea. In 1912 Sinclair composed the wording of Ulster's Solemn League and Covenant, drawing inspiration from the Scottish Covenants of the seventeenth century.
Sinclair died at his home, Hopefield House ,in 1914, as the crisis of the Third Home Rule Bill reached a crescendo. The funeral was on the following Tuesday and men from the four Belfast battalions of the Ulster Volunteer Force accompanied the coffin as it made its way along the Antrim Road, and headed towards the City Cemetery. A memorial window was unveiled in Church House, the headquarters of the Presbyterian Church, on 8 June 1915 and the Sinclair Memorial Hall at Duncairn Presbyterian Church was opened on 10 September 1915.
Educated at Royal Belfast Academical Institution and then at Queen's College (which went on to become Queen's University Belfast), where he earned a degree in mathematics. At the age of 28 he was elected and ordained an elder in the Duncairn congregation in north Belfast; and a year later he was appointed its clerk of Kirk Session, before entering the family business – J. & T. Sinclair, Provision Merchants and Pork Curers. On the death of his father in 1867 he became head of the firm and he held that position until his own death in 1914.
Thomas Sinclair was the man who introduced golf from Scotland into Ulster in 1881 and he was really the founder of the Royal Belfast Golf Club but he is remembered more for his contribution to Ulster Presbyterianism and to Ulster Unionism.
He was the leading layman in the Presbyterian Church and he was thoroughly evangelical and evangelistic. The family contributed much of the cost of Duncairn Presbyterian Church and Sinclair Seamen's Presbyterian Church was a memorial to his uncle John Sinclair. Thomas was also a strong supporter of foreign missions and home missions, especially the Belfast Town Mission and he became president of the Town Mission, later the City Mission, in 1893.
Supported the Liberal Party of the day and he believed fervently in the disestablishment of the Church of Ireland, in land reform and in non-denominational education. However like most Liberals he was a committed unionist and when the Liberals divided over Home Rule he became the first president of the Ulster Liberal Unionist Association. The Ulster Unionist Convention, held on the eve of the General Election of 1892, was Sinclair's idea. In 1912 Sinclair composed the wording of Ulster's Solemn League and Covenant, drawing inspiration from the Scottish Covenants of the seventeenth century.
Sinclair died at his home, Hopefield House ,in 1914, as the crisis of the Third Home Rule Bill reached a crescendo. The funeral was on the following Tuesday and men from the four Belfast battalions of the Ulster Volunteer Force accompanied the coffin as it made its way along the Antrim Road, and headed towards the City Cemetery. A memorial window was unveiled in Church House, the headquarters of the Presbyterian Church, on 8 June 1915 and the Sinclair Memorial Hall at Duncairn Presbyterian Church was opened on 10 September 1915.
Thomas Sinclair was born at Hopefield House in north Belfast and he was the second son of Thomas Sinclair senior and Sarah Archer. The family had come from Scotland to Ulster and the earliest known member of the family in Ulster was William Sinclair of Dundrod.
Educated at Royal Belfast Academical Institution and then at Queen's College (which went on to become Queen's University Belfast), where he earned a degree in mathematics. At the age of 28 he was elected and ordained an elder in the Duncairn congregation in north Belfast; and a year later he was appointed its clerk of Kirk Session, before entering the family business – J. & T. Sinclair, Provision Merchants and Pork Curers. On the death of his father in 1867 he became head of the firm and he held that position until his own death in 1914.
Thomas Sinclair was the man who introduced golf from Scotland into Ulster in 1881 and he was really the founder of the Royal Belfast Golf Club but he is remembered more for his contribution to Ulster Presbyterianism and to Ulster Unionism.
He was the leading layman in the Presbyterian Church and he was thoroughly evangelical and evangelistic. The family contributed much of the cost of Duncairn Presbyterian Church and Sinclair Seamen's Presbyterian Church was a memorial to his uncle John Sinclair. Thomas was also a strong supporter of foreign missions and home missions, especially the Belfast Town Mission and he became president of the Town Mission, later the City Mission, in 1893.
Supported the Liberal Party of the day and he believed fervently in the disestablishment of the Church of Ireland, in land reform and in non-denominational education. However like most Liberals he was a committed unionist and when the Liberals divided over Home Rule he became the first president of the Ulster Liberal Unionist Association. The Ulster Unionist Convention, held on the eve of the General Election of 1892, was Sinclair's idea. In 1912 Sinclair composed the wording of Ulster's Solemn League and Covenant, drawing inspiration from the Scottish Covenants of the seventeenth century.
Sinclair died at his home, Hopefield House ,in 1914, as the crisis of the Third Home Rule Bill reached a crescendo. The funeral was on the following Tuesday and men from the four Belfast battalions of the Ulster Volunteer Force accompanied the coffin as it made its way along the Antrim Road, and headed towards the City Cemetery. A memorial window was unveiled in Church House, the headquarters of the Presbyterian Church, on 8 June 1915 and the Sinclair Memorial Hall at Duncairn Presbyterian Church was opened on 10 September 1915.
Educated at Royal Belfast Academical Institution and then at Queen's College (which went on to become Queen's University Belfast), where he earned a degree in mathematics. At the age of 28 he was elected and ordained an elder in the Duncairn congregation in north Belfast; and a year later he was appointed its clerk of Kirk Session, before entering the family business – J. & T. Sinclair, Provision Merchants and Pork Curers. On the death of his father in 1867 he became head of the firm and he held that position until his own death in 1914.
Thomas Sinclair was the man who introduced golf from Scotland into Ulster in 1881 and he was really the founder of the Royal Belfast Golf Club but he is remembered more for his contribution to Ulster Presbyterianism and to Ulster Unionism.
He was the leading layman in the Presbyterian Church and he was thoroughly evangelical and evangelistic. The family contributed much of the cost of Duncairn Presbyterian Church and Sinclair Seamen's Presbyterian Church was a memorial to his uncle John Sinclair. Thomas was also a strong supporter of foreign missions and home missions, especially the Belfast Town Mission and he became president of the Town Mission, later the City Mission, in 1893.
Supported the Liberal Party of the day and he believed fervently in the disestablishment of the Church of Ireland, in land reform and in non-denominational education. However like most Liberals he was a committed unionist and when the Liberals divided over Home Rule he became the first president of the Ulster Liberal Unionist Association. The Ulster Unionist Convention, held on the eve of the General Election of 1892, was Sinclair's idea. In 1912 Sinclair composed the wording of Ulster's Solemn League and Covenant, drawing inspiration from the Scottish Covenants of the seventeenth century.
Sinclair died at his home, Hopefield House ,in 1914, as the crisis of the Third Home Rule Bill reached a crescendo. The funeral was on the following Tuesday and men from the four Belfast battalions of the Ulster Volunteer Force accompanied the coffin as it made its way along the Antrim Road, and headed towards the City Cemetery. A memorial window was unveiled in Church House, the headquarters of the Presbyterian Church, on 8 June 1915 and the Sinclair Memorial Hall at Duncairn Presbyterian Church was opened on 10 September 1915.
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