GENERAL HALLIDAY belonged to an old Dumfriesshire family. He was the son of Mr. Thomas Halliday, of Ewell, Surrey, and was born on the 9th May, 1822. His grandfather was Dr. Matthew Halliday, physician at the Imperial Court of St. Petersburg during the latter part of the reign of Catherine the Great.
He entered the military service of the Hon. East India Company as a cadet, and joined the 12th Madras Native Infantry at the age of sixteen. He served in various stations in the Madras Presidency until he was appointed to the Mysore Commission for the civil administration of Mysore. He was married in 1845 to his cousin, Miss Lucy Cotton, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Cotton, of Petrograd, being then a decided Christian. He became acquainted at Cannonore with Samuel Hebich, Christian Missionary, well known to Anthony Norris Groves, then laboring at Chittoor, from whom he derived much spiritual help.
On becoming Lieut. -Colonel he reverted to military duty, commanding his old regiment in various stations in India and Burma, until he was promoted to Regimental Colonel in 1876, when he took up his residence in England, and lived for more than thirty years in Lee. He was promoted to the rank of full General in 1888, and was the Senior General of the Indian Army. He was an accomplished linguist, having a thorough knowledge of French, German, and Hindustani; was well acquainted with Hebrew and Greek in Bible study, and possessed an extensive knowledge of various subjects connected with science, art, and literature, and was also gifted in water color drawing.
Yet with all this he was an earnest and faithful witness for the Lord Jesus Christ, exhibiting great humility of spirit, and ever ready to company with fellow-believers, regardless of social position, and was for very many years in fellowship with believers meeting at the Gospel Hall, Loampit Vale, Lewisham, by whom he was greatly beloved.
If there was one grace that shone out in his life more than another it was that of humility, and in this he was a faithful follower of Him who “humbled Himself.” On Lord’s Day morning, 4th February, 1917, at his residence, Church Terrace, Lee, Kent, and in his 95th year, beloved General John S. Halliday departed to be with Christ.