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The Halliday Family
The Halliday family originated
in the valley of the Annan River in South Scotland. (1) The word
"Annan" is Celtic, its old spelling was "Annand",
and probably meant 'slow running water'. That is an accurate
description of most of the river's flow through comparatively
low-lying country. It has its source in an area of rugged hills
some six miles north of the town of Moffat and its mouth thirty-two
miles farther down when it empties into the Solway Firth. At
its source the hills form a startling recess, approaching so
near each other as almost to exclude the sunlight. Only to the
south is there exit from the hollow by a narrow gorge. Through
this the tiny stream begins its southward flow. The awesome hollow
in the hills is known as the Devil's Beef Tub.
A few hundred yards below
the Beef Tub the glen begins to widen. Almost immediately it
takes on the characteristic features of the Annandale watershed,
a gently flowing stream bounded by water meadows, with the rounded
hills flanking the valley. At this point where Annandale begins
stands the first farm homestead of the dale, Corehead, its name
indicating its primary position at the top of the corrie. Here,
at Corehead, the Halliday family had its historical beginnings.
Long before recorded history
identified a Halliday family, however, the name was known in
Annandale and tradition had tales of its deeds. The name itself
appears to derive from the Latin word 'allodil. The supposition
is that when the Roman legions penetrated the valley of the Annan
they were struck by the fact that the peoples there, - a mixed
race of Pict, Celt, Dane and Saxon, lived on lands owned by themselves.
That is, no near-feudal system existed, but one more nearly like
freehold tenure. In their surprise at this social system the
Romans called the inhabitants 'the allodil , or 'those who cultivate
their own land'.
Whatever the source of
the surname, apparently a large proportion of the inhabitants
of Annandale were known as Hallidays. A tradition concerning
this exists from the time of the crusades. According to it, about
the year 1190 A.D. Richard I of England had gone to Palestine
on the Third Crusade. William I of Scotland, known as 'The Lion',
had become a temporary vassal of Richard and was called upon
to provide troops for the latter's assistance. He raised five
thousand men whom he sent under the command of his brother, the
Earl of Huntingdon. An old record states "one thousand were
from Annandale, and nearly all of them Hallidays" (2) Allowing
for some patriotic exaggeration by the narrator (possibly himself
a Halliday!), still the name must have been well established
in the area and its numbers more than considerable.
Some time later than the
Crusades and when tradition was giving way to verifiable history,
another glimpse is given of the extent of the Hallidays in Annandale.
It is in the form of a quatrain of folk-verse. It speaks of the
wide distribution of the family in the dale, from where Annan
joins the Solway Firth to the hill at the Beef Tub called Ericstane.
"Frae Annan-fit to
Errickstane
Man and horse lang syne hae gane,
Neth greenwood gay; and a' the way
Upon the lands of Halliday." (3)
It is not until the year
1297 that an individual Halliday of Annandale be (known to verifiable
history. He was Thomas Halliday of Corehead. He o the peel-tower
there. Such towers were commonly built by the chieftains Annandale
as a common fortress and residence. The Halliday tower at Corehead
stood on a slight eminence within sight of the Beef Tub and just
below Great Hill, which rises to a height of 1,528 feet. On such
a site, protected on the north by unassailable hills and commanding
the one approach up the corrie from the south, the Corehead tower
was ideal for defence and safe for living.
Thomas Halliday of Corehead
was married to one of the two daughters of Sir Malcolm Wallace
of Elderslie. He was thus a brother-in-law of the famous Scottish
patriot Sir William Wallace. Thomas Halliday had a son, also
Thomas who was referred to by Sir William when speaking of his
devoted followers as "Thom Halliday, my sister's son so
dear".
The family relationship
to Sir William Wallace was never forgotten by the Halliday descendants.
It was a source of pride to many of them. Even six centuries
later, when the Wallace blood had been diluted beyond estimation,
a William Halliday in Canada, in humourous yet none the less
prideful verse, made the relationship a poet's theme. He could
speak of himself as "a brither Scot who bears Sir William's
name"; and "in my veins pure rins the bluid that warmed
that man of might"; and "rouse the Wallace bluid! for
bluid shall all my wrongs repay". (4)
The Halliday association
with Sir William Wallace had, however, a more far-reaching effect
upon the family fortunes than to be merely the boast of a minor
poet. It may well have been the reason why the Hallidays were
never to become landed lords of Annandale or perhaps even titled
members of the Scottish nobility. To understand the tale of cause
and effect one must consider elements in the earlier history
of Scotland and particularly of the border area where Annandale
lay.
In the years when William
the Conqueror was establishing a feudal rule of Norman barons
in England, David I was king of Scotland. David admired the ability
of these Normans and invited several of them (perhaps thereby
shrewdly assuring his own position) to take up lands in Scotland.
Already various Lairds in the southern area had built their towers
and it may be that David mistrusted the degree of their independence.
When the Normans accepted his invitation he made them overlords
of various areas in his kingdom.
Thus, one of the ablest
Normans was Robert de Brus. David made him Lord of Annandale
and Keeper of Lochmaben Castle, situated midway down the Annan
valley. One of his descendants, Robert Bruce, tenth Lord of Annandale,
was to become the most famous of these Norman Scots. Over time
they became loyal to their adopted country, anxious to defend
their privileges. So when Edward I of England interfered in the
dynastic affairs of the Scottish kingdom these Scots nobles were
prepared to resist. The leader of the resistance was Sir William
Wallace. Wallace was not of Norman-noble birth. But his passion
for freedom of noble and commoner alike, allied with his known
valour, marked him as the acknowledged leader of the Scots forces.
Much slaughter and rapine
accompanied the struggle. Sir Malcolm Wallace, father of Sir
William and of the wife of Halliday of Corehead, was killed when
invaders captured the castle at Lochmaben, the home of the Bruces.
"Not long out of his teens, Sir William, with four of his
followers, came to Corehead. Here (at the home of his sister,
Mrs. Thomas Halliday) was mustered the small devoted band who
struck the first blow for Scotland's freedom from England".
(5) The Hallidays of Corehead were among the first of those "Scots
wha hae wi Wallace bled".
At Stirling, Wallace's
army defeated the English and drove them from Scotland. Following
the victory, Wallace regulated the affairs of the country with
wisdom and vigour. He was not to be a power for long. In 1298
Edward led his army of revenge into Scotland. It now appeared
to the Scots nobles that victory would probably lie with Edward.
So, concerned more about freedom for their own class privileges
than for the commonalty of Scots, the nobles for the most part
deserted Wallace and made their peace with Edward. At Falkirk
Wallace's army was defeated and he was forced to retreat north.
Later he was captured, largely, it is believed, as a result of
treachery on the part of some of his erstwhile noble followers.
His death in the Tower of London followed.
Of course some who had
fought with Wallace from the beginning had remained loyal to
the end. Among such were the Hallidays of Annandale. Now, however,
they were out of favour, out of favour with the powerful nobility
who had honours to bestow in the form of lands and titles. Apparently
the family lost much of its earlier pre-eminence in its native
dale. Its members took up the quieter pursuits of the farmer,
the artisan, or the professional career. Any preeminence in the
future was to be connected with the arts of peace.
This is not to say that
the Hallidays took no active part in the troubled life of the
Border. Two major social convulsions shook the Border in the
following centuries. One was 'The Reiving Times' of the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries, the other the 'Persecution of the
Covenanters' in the late seventeenth. In both the Hallidays must
have played a part.
The lawless period of the
reivers was marked by ravage, rapine and slaughter throughout
the border counties of Scotland and England. Bands of mosstroopers
organized in their family groups to steal from neighbouring clansmen
and to attack the settlements across the national border. The
forces of law and order appeared powerless to control the disgraceful
situation, possibly because in any given area all families were
represented among the trooper bands.
The part played by the
Hallidays of Annandale in the reiving is not clear. One tradition
would make their part a considerable one. According to it the
family got its surname from its activity. An old Anglo-Saxon
word which may well have survived in the border country was the
word 'Haligdaeg', meaning ‘a festival'. This tradition declares
that when a plundering expedition on the English was being organized,
the clansmen of Annandale used to sound the rallying cry, "A
haligdaeg, a haligdaeg", and gather on a small hill in the
lower reaches of the dale not far above Annan town. As a result,
the hill became known as Halliday Hill (6) and the reivers who
gathered on it as the Hallidays.
In some respects the tradition
may be well founded. Such a hill does exist even to this day.
It is more than probable that any gatherings upon the hill world
include members of the Halliday family who were and have remained
numerous in the area. But to connect an activity of the seventeenth
century with the origin of the Halliday name is to fly in the
face of history. The name existed in Annandale centuries before
the reiving times.
While, therefore, participation
by Hallidays in these lawless activities is not to be categorically
denied, it is still true that the family as a whole seems to
have been surprisingly absent. During the reigns of the latter
Jameses and Queen Mary, when the national authorities were trying
to check the reivers, long lists of Border families were drawn
up by the Privy Council of Scotland for punishment. These were
sent down to the Chiefs of Annandale for action. The name of
Halliday does not once appear on these lists, though numerous
in the dale. One record (perhaps written by an apologist for
the family) says, "It would seem as if that sort of thing
did not suit their ideas of warfare". (7)
When the story of Covenanter
activity is told, however, the participation of the Hallidays
is never in dispute. The family were fervent supporters of the
National League and Covenant of 1638. So when the Crown of the
now united Kingdoms tried to force the Covenanters to conform
to a contrary form of worship, the Hallidays resisted. Some of
them paid for their temerity with the lives.
The widespread support
for the Covenant by the family is attested by an unusual incident.
In 1679 King Charles II sent the Duke of Monmouth to Scotland
to enforce compliance with the law by the Covenanters of the
Border. Among Monmouth's officers was Thomas Halliday, a grandson
of one of the Hallidays who lived in Dumfries. Thomas had gone
to England, as Scots have frequently gone. In 1679 he found himself
returning to Scotland as a member of the King's punitive forces.
Upon arrival in Annandale Thomas Halliday discovered that all
his kinsfolk in the dale were Covenanters.. He forthwith deserted
the King's service and joined his covenanting relatives. More
striking proof of the position in the struggle could scarcely
be found.
If there be such, it is
the record of martyrdom for their principles some of the Hallidays
endured. Since towns and their churches were forbidden to the
Covenanters, they were forced to the moors for their religious
services. There they were frequently surprised by the forces
of the Crown, which usually dealt with them in a summary fashion.
On February 21, 1685, a little band gathered for worship on Kirkconnel
Muir where they were surprised by the notorious Grierson of Lag.
David Halliday of Mayfield was among them. He and a companion
were barbarously shot on the spot, "without so much as allowing
them to pray, though earnestly desired". (8) Another David
Halliday, of Glencape was also shot under similar circumstances
on July 11th of the same year.
As has been noted, later
generations of the Halliday family showed pride in belonging
to a clan who had "bled" with Wallace: more of them
remembered their martyred Covenanter forefathers and held with
so much the greater zeal to their ancestral faith.
Meanwhile, the direct male
line of the Hallidays of Corehead had failed in the fifteenth
century. Before then, however, younger members of the family
had fared forth from Upper Annandale, some of them going far
afield. In 1470 Walter Halliday, a younger son of the Corehead
chieftain, had found his way to the court of Edward IV of England
where, as 'Walter the Minstrel', he became Master of the Revels.
He founded a line of Hallidays in England, which numbered among
its members several who obtained distinction in the professions,
the business world, or the political.
One branch of this English
family returned to Scotland, establishing its seat at Tullibodie
Castle in Clackmannanshire. Descendants returned to Annandale,
where in Dumfries, Berngaw, Copewood and Whinnirig the family
has persisted to the present.
One line never left Upper
Annandale. Their direct descent from the Corehead family cannot
be traced, but their continuing residence in the upper reaches
of the dale is attested by many records. They were largely farmers
or tradesmen artisans serving on the landed estates of the area.
They have lived or still live in the parishes of Moffat, Johnstone,
and Wamphray; and specifically on farms estates at Corehead,
Ericstane, Lochbrow, Panlands, Woodrow, and many others in that
part of the valley.
Early in the XVIII century
one such family was living on the estate of Dumcrieff, a mile
or two from Moffat. (9) In 1728 its owner, Sir John Clerk, carried
out many improvements to it. Among them was the establishment
of a corn-mill to grind flour and a wauk-mill to process cloth.
By 1730 the wauk-miller was paying his rent to Sir John; by 1733
a new house had been built for him; and in December of that year
Sir John's agent reported to him, "The millar (sic) is most
diligent". (10) This wauk-miller was apparently a Halliday,
brought to establish the mill in Dumcrieff about 1728. He seems
to have had a son named George.
Certainly, in 1739 George
Halliday, a wauk-miller, was living in Dumcrieff. In that year
he married Mary Hastie and presumably lived in the miller's house
there. Four sons were born to them, the fourth son, John, in
1745. (11)
Seventy years later John's
son, also a John Halliday, left Scotland for Upper Canada. There
he became the founder of a branch of the Hallidays of Annandale
in the New World.
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