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William Alexander Halliday
18?? - 18??
William was Calum's and Jamie's great great great great great grandfather.
Very little is known about William as yet. He was recorded as father to
Alexander William Halliday in Alexander's wedding certificate on June 27th 1862, and the certiicate very clearly distinguishes
William Alexander the father from Alexander William the son. The only additional information was that William's wife was Martha
Ann Halliday.
Known child of William and Martha Ann Halliday:
Alexander William Halliday
b: 18?? d: aft 1867
See below.
Alexander William Halliday
18?? - bef. 1881
Alexander William Halliday was Calum's and Jamie's great great
great great grandfather.
It is known that Alexander was a member of the second battalion of the
2nd Regiment of Foot, the Queen's Royal Regiment. This battalion was founded
in Colchester, England, in August 1857, and was first commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Bruce, formerly of the Highland
Light Infantry, and who introduced the secondary regimental march past tune "We'll Gang Nae Mair to Yon Toun".
From "The Queen's Royal Regiment
(West Surrery)" by Jock Haswell, the following information was found on the battalion's movements:
Early in 1859 the 2nd Battalion was warned for service in the Mediterranean
and it went first to Malta and then to Corfu. On the 1859 anniversary of the Glorious First of June, at a 'brilliant and impressive'
parade on the esplanade in front of the Citadel, the battalion received its first Colours from Lady Buller, wife of Sir George
Buller, commanding Her Majesty's Forces in the Ionian Islands. The year 1860 was spent on peaceful garrison duties in Cephalonia
and Zante, while the 1st Battalion was waging war in China (p.99).
The 2nd Battalion spent the bi-centenary year of 1861 in Corfu but there
is no record of any celebrations on the 14th of October (p.105).
The Hampshire Telegraph and Sussex Chronicle of June 7th 1862 records that
plans were afoot for the 6th regiment at Gibraltar to exchange places with the 2nd Battalion of the 2nd regiment at Corfu
("The Mediterranean Fleet"). Three weeks later, Alexander was definitely still on Corfu however, as he was recorded
as having married Teresa Mooney there on June 27th 1862. In the record he was described as a Corporal
in the battalion. The wedding was carried out at the Garrison Church, in a Church of England ceremony performed by the regimental
chaplain Sydney Cluck M.A., and was witnessed by James Crabtree and Catherine Elizabeth Johnston.
The record also notes both parents of Alexander, listing them as William Alexander and Martha
Ann Halliday (GRO Ionian Civil Registration Marriages 1818-1864, Corfu Vol 9 p.6 - no year listed in index, but cert
shows it to be 1862). Perhaps the fact that the regiment was soon to be reposted prompted the marriage?
The regimental history by Haswell notes that the battalion was in Gibraltar and the West Indies between
1862 and 1865. In the Daily News of 14 JAN 1863, it is recorded that the officers, non-commissioned officers and men of the
2nd battalion in Gibraltar donated £52 to a relief fund known as the Mansion House Committee, though it is not known
for what purpose the fund existed ("The Mansion House Committee").
Again, we have proof that Alexander was in Gibraltar, for on September 7th 1863, his
daughter Florence was born there. In the birth record, Alexander was again recorded as a Corporal.
Following their posting at Gibraltar, the 2nd Battalion was sent out to Bermuda in the West Indies,
but there is some confusion as to when this happened. Haswell's history states on p.105 that "In June 1864 the 2nd Battalion
went out to Bermuda". However, the Pall Mall Gazette of October 24th 1866 seems to contradict this. Whilst the regiment was
there, a major epidemic of yellow fever broke out, claiming many lives within the regiment. The following is the Gazette's
description of what happened next:
In July the 2nd Regiment came in from Gibraltar. The fever had been three weeks in the place, and the health
officer urged the instant removal of the troops to healthy quarters. He urged in vain. There they were kept, crowded together,
seventy men in one hospital thrust into the room of thirty, "ejecting black vomitover one another as they lay on the floor,"
till Dr Barrow came from Canada with eight more doctors. He hired blacks to do the nursing, whch had been attempted by orderlies
who died by scores under the work: and gradually managed to get the men out into camp, but not until in Georgetown alone 107
out of 705 had died, besides 14 officers and four of the Canadian doctors. This is bad enough; but it is scarcely a third
of the loss at the same place in 1843: and when we remember that a soldier costs us (on the lowest calculation) £150, it is
perhaps worth while to give up St. George's and permanently camp out in Bermuda.
The date is corroborated with another account of the fever in the
Freeman's Journal of October 31st 1866, which it states to have taken place in the previous year:
Yellow fever appeared in Bermuda towards the end of June, 1865.
On July 15 part of the 2nd regiment, 753 strong, arrived from Gibraltar. Seveen companies were encamped at Bowz Island, and
three "at the Navy Tanks, within half a mile of St. George's, now known to be a tainted district." On the very same day a
sergeant of the 39th Regiment (which the 2nd Regiment came to relieve) was smitten with yellow fever; and on the next day
Dr. Hunter, health officer, called on the commanding officer of the 2nd Regiment and urged him instanttly to move his
men away from the inspected spot. But doctors' advice in matters sanitary is usually not favourably received, and was
here once again fatally unheeded. The 39th Regiment happily sailed for England. On the 23rd of July appeared the first case
in the fated 2nd Regiment, and from that day forward the men fell thickly; and then only, and too late, when the regiment
had become "thoroughly tainted," was it moved to Ferry Point; and yet only half moved, for six officers and fifty-six men
were left behind. Moreover, incredible as it may appear, in defiance of all warnings, the headquarters, the commissariot,
the civil departments, and the general hospital establishments, where the sick were treated, were all left behind, in the
very focus of the disease. Fast as the orderlies in attendance on the sick were struck down fresh men were sent in from the
camp, until at last, such was the drain of life, that "there seemed a probability of the whole force being expended." At this
period it was that Dr. Barrow appeared on the scene. On the 23rd and 25th of August two medical officers arrived from Halifax,
and seven (including Dr. Barrow) from Canada. Dr. Barrow at once took the position of principal medical officer. He found
all the medical men of the force prostrated and worn out. There had been 238 cases of fever, and 65 deaths, of which
53 had occurred at St. George's. There were 100 sick in the general hospital, and 13 were admitted on the day of his arrival.
His first act was to remove from St. George's every man "he could induce the military authorities to send into camp, and to
hire blacks to carry on the service lately performed by soldiers." He was met with "difficulties", and there had been all
along "difficulties"; but, happily, they did not stop him. His description of the general hospital is fearful. Seventy men
were thrust into a place fit only to hold 35. And this is what he tells us:- "The sick were not only lying around the
wards, but may be said to have covered the entire floor." Professor Maclean... thus sums up the matter:- "There lay these
unhappy men on the floor of the pesthouse, ejecting black vomit over one another." Dr. Barrow went at once into this
scene of horrors with his brother officers. They pitched tents and broght the sick into them; yet still did the epidemic rage
and the sick pour in. All the medical officers who had come from Canada, including Dr. Barrow, were struck down, and four
of them died. At St. George's 290 cases were treated and 107 died. Of the officers who were left there 30 took the disease
and 14 died. Professor Maclean, commenting on these facts, says that "it would be difficult, even in the lamentable history
of Crimean blunders and disasters, to find anything more painful than this."
However, several articles in the Guardian appear to suggest that
Haswell's date is correct. Whatever the date of the epidemic, Haswell does also give a brief summary of what happened:
These fearful epidemics with their huge toll of men's lives attacked every unit stationed in the West Indies and
were a greater test of a regiment's discipline and morale than any battle. The odds against survival were shorter and there
was no prospect of honour or reward. The Queens survived their many ordeals in the Carribean with, as Davis says, the highest
credit and an enhanced reputation (p.105-106).
Alexander was certainly in Bermuda with the regiment,
as attested to by the birth of his son on August 29th 1866. This
record is interesting on a couple of fronts. First, his son is christened as William, but is later found
in the 1891 census at Aldershot as Alexander William. Secondly, his father Alexander was again noted
as a Corporal, but as with his son, is also noted as William, rather than Alexander. There is no indication
as to whether Alexander was infected with the yellow fever, though the odds are high, and it is possible that he died there.
A list of the deceased from the regiment is held by the West Surrey Archive, which has yet to be checked.
Certainly in his daughter Florence's marriage certificate on 7 JUN 1881,
Alexander (noted as William) was recorded as deceased, but there is no indication that he was dead on his son's birth record.
Interestingly, his description on Florence's wedding certificate was also noted as 'bandmaster'.
If Alexander did survive the yellow fever epidemic, he will
have returned to England, and Haswell's book recalls the next postings of the battalion, though the dates are again open to
question:
The 2nd Battalion came home in the following year, 1865, and served in Ireland and returned to Aldershot
in 1869. In 1877, after another tour in Ireland, it moved to Malta and thence, in 1878, to India (p.106).
All that is known for certain is that Alexander was dead by
1881.
Child of WILLIAM HALLIDAY and TERESA:
Florence Halliday
b: 7/9/1863 d: 18/9/1911
Florence was Calum's and Jamie's great great grandmother - see below.
Alexander William Halliday
b: 16/8/1866 d: aft 1911
Alexander was born on August 16th 1866 on the island
of Bermuda in the West Indies, and baptised by the Reverend J. Bullock, Chaplain to the 2nd Battalion of the 2nd Regiment
of Foot. His father was recorded as Corporal William Halliday, and his mother Teresa. In
his birth certificate, he is simply listed as William, but in all subsequent records within which he is found,
he is noted as Alexander William (GRO Regimental Birth Indices 1761-1924, 1866 2nd regt. Vol. 996 p.15).
Alexander's father had died by the time he was 14 years of age, as noted in his sister Florence's
wedding certificate in 1881. In the 1881 census, however, we learn that Alexander had taken a leaf out of his father's book
- as a fourteen year old, he was noted in the 1881 census for Aldershot, England, as a 14 year old private in the 1st Battalion
of the 2nd Regiment of Foot, the Queen's Royals. The entry lists him as having been born in Bermuda, and as unmarried.
From 1879 to 1891 the 1st Battalion was based in both England and Ireland, and we therefore find him
yet again in the Aldershot barracks ten years later, this time as a 23 year old Lance Corporal in the battalion, and still
unmarried. In this record, his birthplace is recorded as the West Indies, and his regiment as The Queen's Royal West
Surrey Regiment.
By the time of the 1911 census, Alexander had left the army, and settled in Ireland. He is recorded
as resident at 3 Synnott Row, in the Parliamentary division of College Green, in the Inns Quay Ward. He was noted as a motorman,
and as a pensioner from the 'infantry of the line'. His birthplace was noted as Bermuda, West Indies, and living with him
in the house was his 39 year old wife Margaret, from County Dublin, to whom he had been married for just
two years, and his 75 year old mother, now noted as Teresa Burns, implying that she had remarried. The interesting
details concern their religion. Whilst Teresa is noted as of the Church of England, and from County Dublin, both Alexander
and his wife are listed as Roman Catholic. The couple had no children.
A Margaret Halliday is noted as having passed away in North Dublin in the third quarter
of 1930, aged 58, which would seem to be 'our' Margaret. In the 1939-40 electoral register for Dublin, available at www.dublinheritage.ie, Alexander is still recorded at the same address, though curiously with a Brigid Halliday. It is not know
whether Alexander remarried, or whether Brigid was perhaps a daughter.
An Alexander Halliday is noted as having died in South Dublin in the second quarter of 1947, aged
81.
Florence Teresa Halliday
7/9/1863 - 18/9/1911
Florence was Calum's and Jamie's great great great grandmother.
Florence was born in Gibraltar on 7 SEP 1863, as noted in the Army Births and Baptisms Register 1761-1924,
held by the General Register Office (GROE&W:Army1761-1924 - Vol.996,p.11). She was baptised on 11 OCT 1863 by the Reverend
T. Gardiner C. F. The birth and the baptism were both certified by Lt. & Adjutant G. Woodard.
Following her birth, Florence's parents were sent to Bermuda with the 2nd Battalion of the 2nd Regiment
of Foot, the Queen's Royal Regiment. Her mother was certainly still there in August 1866, when Florence's brother William
was born, but it is not yet known if her father was still alive at this point, as a third of the regiment was wiped out by
an epidemic of yellow fever.
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| Florence's grave and fallen headstone at City Cemetery, Belfast |
Florence married Edwin Graham in Barrow on Furness on June 27th 1881 (GROE&W: Barrow Vol 8e, p.1193). In her marriage certificate Florence
was noted as residing at 317 Brick Cottages, Old Barrow, and as being a 17 year old servant. Her father was recorded as William
Alexander Halliday, a bandmaster, who was deceased. The marriage took place at Trinity Presbyterian Church, Barrow-in-Furness, the
minister was the Reverend William Ferguson, and the witnesses were Samuel and Annie
Lunn (GROEW: M 1881 Q2 Vol.8e p.119). (Eng 1881 census: Barrow, ED23, RG11, piece 4291, folio 55, p.11). Florence
herself could not be found in the same census.
In the next few years, Florence and Edwin lived in Partick in Scotland, and in England, before returning
to Belfast.
In 1901, the couple were recorded as living at Upper Canning
Street in Belfast.
In the 1911 census for Belfast, Florence was noted as
48 years old and as having been born in Gibraltar. She could read and write, was a member of the Church of Ireland, and
had an incredible seventeen children, of whom nine had died in infancy by that year. She was also noted as having been married
for some thirty years, confirming the marriage in 1881.
Sadly, Florence passed away at 67 Duncairn Gardens, Belfast, on September
18th 1911, aged just 48. The cause of her death was chronic nephritis, basically a kidney disease, and it is noted in
her death entry that she was Church of Ireland by way of religion. Edwin's great niece Renee Fisher (nee Graham) has grave
papers in her possession which show that Florence was buried in Belfast's City Cemetery two days later, in the same grave
as her daughter Florrie who predeceased her in 1905.
The inscription on the headstone reads as follows:
FLORENCE
The Beloved Wife of
EDWIN GRAHAM
Died 18th Sept 1911
Also FLORRIE their daughter
Died 3rd Jan 1905
CHILDREN of FLORENCE HALLIDAY and EDWIN GRAHAM:
Thomas Graham
b: 1883
Edward Graham
b: 1885
John Graham
b: 1887
William Graham
b: 1889
Ernest Graham
b: 1893 d: 23/8/1942
Calum's and Jamie's great great grandfather - see Graham (1) page.
Florence Graham
b: 1894 d: 3/1/1905
Robert Graham
b: 189?
Gerald Graham
b: 11/3/1895
Harold Graham
b: 1903
Matilda Graham - unconfirmed
b: 18??
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