120 HALLDYKES AND THE HERRIES FAMILY, 
Dumfries for infanticide of Isobel Walker, upon whose case, 
and the devotion of her sister Helen, Scott founded his 
Heart of Midlothian. According to the Autobiography of 
Dr Alexander Carlyle, minister of Inveresk, he did not pros- 
per at Dumfries, and eventually settled at Rotterdam. 
Here he succeeded well enough to be able to retire from busi- 
ness early in life and buy Halldykes.11_ Some accounts of his 
have been preserved, which show that he farmed part of the 
land himself, for an entry of 31st December, 1770, states that 
£34 5s had been received for ‘‘ potatoes and milk sold this 
year, besides maintaining the family and 10 servants.’’ In 1757 
he built new stables, and in 1764 a chaise and harness cost 
£42, and two bay horses £32 11s. Probably he found coun- 
try life less to his liking than he had expected, for at the end 
of 1771 he departed for London with his family to begin a 
second business career as “‘ acting partner’ in a bank that 
his nephew, Sir Robert Herries (see Footnote 10), had just 
started in St. James’s Street. For this post he was “‘ ex- 
tremely well qualified,’’ according to Sir William Forbes of 
Pitsligo, another partner in that concern. He died in 
London at his house in King Street, near the Bank, the 3rd 
October, 1791, in his 82nd year. He had married in 1747 
ce 
11 Sir William Forbes’s Memoirs of a Banking House, p. 17, 
where the seller of Halldykes is wrongly called John, instead of 
William Herries. 
12 Tbid., p. 30. 
13 Gentlemen’s Magazine, 1791, July-December, p. 972. In 
1747 this Robert Herries matriculated his arms (the old Herries 
three sable herissons on a silver field, with a crescent in the centre 
for his difference) and crest, and is described in the Lyon Register 
as ‘‘second son of the deceast Robert Herries of Haldykes, who was 
son to Robert Herries of Haldykes, who was son to Mr Robert 
Herries, minister of the Gospel at Drysdale, and younger son of the 
last Lord Herries.’”’ To this a note was added in 1824 pointing out 
that the minister was really son of William Herries, of Edinburgh 
(see Footnote 4). In 1789 Robert’s nephew, William Herries, of 
Brussels, matriculated his arms with due difference, and is described 
in the same register as ‘‘ brother of Sir Robert Herries (see Footnote 
10) . . . and third son of William Herries of Halldykes by his 
lady Katherine, eldest daughter of John Henderson of Broadholme. 
which last William was parternally descended from the 
ancient and respectable family of the Lords Herries,’’ etc. 
