William Wallace

Born at Elderslie, Wallace, “the hero of Scotland,”  when little over twenty years of age, led the Scottish forces which opposed Edward I.  After several successful engagements he met the English arm, under the Earl of Surrey, at Stirling Bridge in 1297.  Before the battle Surrey dispatched two predicant friars with an offer of terms for the Scots surrender, to whom Wallace replied “Go back and tell your masters that we came not here to treat of peace but to avenge our wrongs” The Scots gained a brilliant victory, but the following year Edward routed Wallace at Falkirk.  In 1305 Wallace was betrayed near Glasgow, and afterwards cruelly executed at London.