Reivers

 On 3 Dec 1541 Sir Thomas Wharton the English Warden of the West March reported to the Privy Council the

Slaughters and cruell murdures commytted and doyn within the Kinges highnes West Marches of England by Scotish men at sundry tymes sithens the begynnyng of the peace,agaynst the trewes as foloweth .


Andro Forster, John Forster, John Gray ,Alan Forster, Jok Haliday, Andro Armstrang Scotishmen comme to Dermaynstedes in Ingland,and there cruelly slewe and murdered Richy Blaikburn Inglishman.’


The same band of individuals appear again for similar cross border forays.

Alane Forster, Gerge Forster, John Haliday, Willy Forster, John Gray and there complices, Scotishmen, to the nombre of XL men, comme to a place in Gilleslond called Kyng and there cruelly slewe and murdered John Crawe, Thomes Crawe and Thomas Crawe younger. (Bain,J. 1890 The Border Papers)

Halliday Border Reivers

I shall post a few extracts from original records of incidents on the Border where individual Hallidays took part. There are no records of the family organised as a fighting unit like the better known Johnstones and Armstrongs.Rather they participated with different Border families both on the Scots and English sides.

In 1554  Donald Halieday was listed for escheat of all gudis  with numerous Johnstones, Bells, Carruthers and Charteris of Amisfield, were denuncit rebellis and put to the horne for coming in the month of August last to the place of William Kirkpatrick of Kirkmichael and there spoiling and away taking of his gudes and geir and cruelly slaying Roger Kirkpatrick, wounding and hurting Robert and Alex Kirkpatrick. (Registrum Secreti)

A Halliday! A Halliday! Lets Get Organised

Ok,enough procrastination,lets get a proper global communication going between all Hallidays with roots in Scotland and lets see where we share our heritage and family connections. Due to other genealogy commitments I have let this lapse but with the New Year I am determined to get the ball rolling and see what develops. I will continue to post historical,biographical and genealogical stories of interest and will welcome enquiries from others.We have several members of the clan in Australia,NewZealand,Canada and USA who have done a considerable amount of research and now we really need to share that with others.
I am currently writing an MSc thesis  The Fiction of Identity; Has Scottish Literature Invented My Family History ? which takes a close critical examination of the writings of mostly 19th century antiquarians and how they invented what we believe to be the Halliday family history.
How many times have you seen written on the web and in publications that:

1.  Tom Halliday of Corehead was the nephew of William Wallace
2.  They had a tower/castle at Corehead
3. The Halliday family took part in the Crusades
4. They were Border Reivers
5. They were Covenanters
6. The family gathered on Halliday Hill before embarking on a raid into England
7. The origins of the name from a war cry,Latin,Old English etc
8. We are descended from Picts,Celts Anglo-Saxons

Hopefully you and I will be able to set the record straight and who knows in the future compile a new up to date publication about our family history and origins. There will be another Clan gathering in Scotland in 2014 and it would be great if we could aim to join this with our other Border neighbours the Moffats and the Johnstons.Plenty to think about so please contribute with your stories and thoughts.
I can be contacted at email  chrisxhalliday@tiscali.co.uk
                             twitter    http://twitter.com/scotsgen

First visit to varsity for north dentist - Press & Journal

First visit to varsity for north dentist - Press & Journal

Dave Halliday of Queen of the South F.C.

Dave Halliday (1901-1970) was one of the most prolific scorers in British football. A native of Dumfries,the 6ft,12st 4lb centre forward was well equipped physically for the position. He played for his hometown team,Queen of the South,Dundee and St Mirren before moving on to play in England for Sunderland, Arsenal, and Manchester City. He scored 375 goals and is among the very few group of players of less than 30 to have scored over 200 goals in English top divisions. As a manager only Halliday and Sir Alex Ferguson have guided Aberdeen to be Scottish champions. He would be a worthy addition to the Scottish Football Hall of Fame. Dave Halliday also had two brothers Billy and John who played for Queen of the South,and Billy went on to be manager of Newcastle United.  

Lt Gen Sir Lewis Stratford Tollemache Halliday V.C.

From time to time I will add biographies of famous Hallidays. Where better than to start with our only Victoria Cross holder.Lt Gen Sir Lewis Halliday 14/5/1870-9/3/1966 became Adjutant General of the Royal Marines and Honorary Colonel Commandant. He was awarded the V.C. as a Captain in the Boxer Rebellion. He was descended from John Halliday of Castlemains in Kirkcudbright and Antigua.


Citation: On the 24th June, 1900, the enemy, consisting of Boxers and Imperial troops, made a fierce attack on the west wall of the British Legation [at Peking], setting fire to the West Gate of the south stable quarters, and taking cover in the buildings which adjoined the wall.


The fire, which spread to part of the stables, and through which and the smoke a galling fire was kept up by the Imperial troops, was with difficulty extinguished, and as the presence of the enemy in the adjoining buildings was a grave danger to the Legation, a sortie was organized to drive them out. A hole was made in the Legation Wall, and Captain Halliday, in command of twenty Marines, led the way into the buildings and almost immediately engaged a party of the enemy.

Before he could use his revolver, however, he was shot through the left shoulder, at point blank range, the bullet fracturing the shoulder and carrying away part of the lung. Nothwithstanding the extremely severe nature of his wound, Captain Halliday killed three of his assailants, and telling his men to "carry on and not mind him," walked back unaided to the hospital, refusing escort and aid so as not to diminish the number of men engaged in the sortie.



(London Gazette Issue 27262 dated 1 Jan 1901, published 1 Jan 1901.)

Corehead