The Marital Arms of Halliday and Harvie
The armorial bearings as engraved upon this Pair of Old Sheffield Plate Wine Coolers by Matthew Boulton
dating to the early 19th Century are those of the family of Halliday impaling Harvie.1
These armorial bearings denote the marshalling of a marital coat showing on the dexter
(the heraldic right on the left as you view the piece) the arms of the husband and on the sinister
(the heraldic left on the right as you view it) the arms of the wife.
They may be blazoned as follows:
Arms:
(on the dexter) :
Argent a sword erect palewise the pommel within a crescent in base gules a canton azure
charged with a saltire of the first (for Halliday)
(on the sinister)
Gules on a bend argent three trefoils slipped vert (for Harvie)
Crest: A boar's head couped2 argent armed or (for Halliday)
These armorial bearings undoubtedly commemorate the marriage of Simon Halliday of Whinnyrig in the County of Dumfriesshire
(born circa 1758 died 20th April 18293) and
Elizabeth Harvie (born circa 17624 died ?).
Simon and Elizabeth were married at the
Parish Church of St Luke,
Chelsea in the County of Middlesex on the 18th September
1788.
Simon was the second son of John Halliday of Whinnyrig aforesaid,5
whilst
Elizabeth was the daughter of Dr Thomas Harvie and his wife, Anne Stevenson.6
It is
known that unusually Simon served as a Surgeon in the Royal Navy prior to becoming
a Banker in Westminster.7
He is said to have made a fortune during the Napoleonic
Wars.
Sadly, there is a dearth of information concerning Simon's naval career and how
he gravitated to banking.
It is to be presumed that as both the Hallidays and Harvies
had connections with landholdings on the Island of Jamaica,
as a good deal of their wealth
came from their plantations and, perhaps, banking was a natural progression?
By
various means, Simon eventually became the owner of the Castle Wemyss Estate
located in the Parish of St James on the island.
At the time of his death, Simon was
living at Lower Berkeley Street in the County of Middlesex.8
Here it should be noted
that Simon's surname of Halliday was mistakenly rendered as 'Holliday'
upon his
marriage licence and marriage entry and his Christian name was spelt as 'Somon' upon
his burial record.
This is undoubtedly due to the clerks concerned mishearing the name
or being lazy when writing the various entries.
1 Also spelt as 'Harvey'.
2 Here the boar's head is shown 'erased' rather than 'couped'.
3 Simon was buried at the Parish Church of St Martin in the Fields, Co. Middlesex on the 25th April 1829.
His will was proved at London on the 7th May 1829.
4 Elizabeth was born in Jamaica.
5 Sadly, the name of Simon's mother is not known at present.
6 Also spelt as 'Stephenson'. After Thomas's death circa December 1767, Anne married Sir Walter
Farquhar (1738 -1819)
the 1st Baronet, styled 'of London' in 1771.
7 He was a partner in the banking house of Herries, Farquhar, Halliday, Davidson & Company,
of 16 St
James's Street, Co. Middlesex.
8 Located in today's City of Westminster in the West End of Central London.
Heraldry by John Tunesi of Liongam
MSc, FSA Scot, Hon FHS, QG
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