Simon Halliday

Mortgagee of Castle Wemyss sugar estate in St James, Jamaica. Father of Rev. Walter Stevenson Halliday (q.v.). Married to the half-sister of Catherine Mathison (q.v.). Wemyss Castle was conveyed to Halliday in 1823; he also took on the mortgages already placed upon the estate. Took an active role in running the estate as an absentee. Died in 1829.

1. Simon Halliday was first Superintendant of Police in Bombay, India, from 1793-1808. Rev. Walter Stevenson Halliday was shown as the son of Simon [Halliday] of Bombay in his entry in Alumni Oxonienses.

2. Will of Simon Halliday of Lower Berk[e]ley Street proved 07/05/1829. He left his house and land at West Cowes on the Isle of Wight to his daughter Elizabeth Conway, and his estates in the West Indies and at Annan in trust, entailing them for his son Walter Stevenson Halliday (subject to the residence for life for his cousin in some of the Annan property). He left a further £30,000 to Walter Stevenson Halliday.

3. Simon Halliday was also a partner in the Herries, Farquhar banking firm.

4. In 1872 Simon Halliday's grandson, William Richard Conway, the son of Elizabeth nee Halliday and Sir William Richard Conway, took the name Halliday in lieu of Conway, as required to inherit under the will of Simon Halliday.

Castle Wemyss Estate Papers, at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, http://www.aim25.ac.uk/cats/16/4592.htm [accessed 24009/2015].

1. 'Mumbai Police: Our History', https://mumbaipolice.maharashtra.gov.in/aboutus.asp [accessed 24/09/2015].

2. PROB 11/1755/340.

3. London Gazette 17099 13 January 1816 p. 74. The combination of roles in the Bombay police and as a London banker appears anomalous, but the presence of George Halliday as a partner in Herries Farquhar in 1816 appears to cement the identification of Simon Halliday of Lower Berkeley Street (d. 1829) as the Simon Halliday also shown as partner in 1816: normally reliable online genealogical materials show that a George Halliday predeceased his father Simon Halliday of Lower Berkeley Street (d. 1829) in 1820.

4. London Gazette 23857 14 May 1872 p. 2305.