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Haig


The first of the name was one Petrus del Hage who is mentioned in documents c.1162, but traditionally they are said to descend from Druskine, King of the Picts who was killed at the Battle of Camelon by Kenneth, King of Scots in 839. His son, Hago escaped to Norway and it was his descendant, Petrus de Hago who served with the Viking forces of King Harold IV of Norway. Hago who was shipwrecked off Eyemouth befriended the Earl of March who gave him his daughter's hand in marriage and the lands of Bemersyde near Dryburgh Roxburghshire. The Haigs lived on the lands of Bemersyde for many centuries and almost bore out the ancient prophecy of Thomas the Rhymer - "Tyde, Tyde, what'er betide There'll aye be Haigs at Bemersyde" In the 17th century the Chief of Haig had twelve daughters before a son but in the 19th century the 25th Laird and his three sisters all died unmarried. The chief made a joint disposition conveying Bemersyde to Arthur Balfour Haig of the Clackmannanshire who was descended from a second son of the 17th Chief. In the 17th century William Haig was the King's solicitor for Scotland for James VI and Charles I. In 1921 the peoples of the British Commonwealth purchased the estate of Bemersyde from Balfour Haig and presented it to Field-Marshal Earl Haig in recognition of his services during the First World War. Alexander Haig who resigned from the Nixon administration is of the American branch of the family. The present Chief, a distinguished painter is the son of the Field-Marshal and succeeded to the title in 1928.


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