With distant origins in the Flanders region of Western Europe, Flemings of today can also lay claim to firm roots in the ancient soil of Scotland.
• Settling here from as early as the twelfth century, many adopted the name of Fleming while others took the name of the lands granted to them by grateful monarchs in return for loyal and faithful service to the Crown.
• In other fields of endeavour, Sir Alexander Fleming, born in Ayrshire in 1881, was the Scot who discovered the antibiotic known as penicillin. Having studied as a biologist and pharmacologist he was the first to isolate penicillin from a fungus.
