Thomas Symington Halliday (11 April 1902 – 22 May 1998) was a Scottish artist and teacher. Although Halliday was an accomplished sculptor, painter and teacher, he is also known for his designs for stained glass windows.

Biography

Halliday was born in Thornhill near

Dumfries Dumfries ( ; sco, Dumfries; from gd, Dùn Phris ) is a market town and former royal burgh within the Dumfries and Galloway council area of Scotland. It is located near the mouth of the River Nith into the Solway Firth about by road from the ...

. His father was a

grain merchant The grain trade refers to the local and international trade in cereals and other food grains such as wheat, barley, maize, and rice. Grain is an important trade item because it is easily stored and transported with limited spoilage, unlike other ...

and he grew up on a farm. After attending

Ayr Academy Ayr Academy (Scottish Gaelic: ''Acadamaidh Inbhir Àir'') is a non-denominational secondary school situated within the Craigie Estate area at University Avenue in Ayr, South Ayrshire. It is a comprehensive school for children of ages 11–18 fro ...

, Halliday spent some years working as a marine engineer on the

River Clyde The River Clyde ( gd, Abhainn Chluaidh, , sco, Clyde Watter, or ) is a river that flows into the Firth of Clyde in Scotland. It is the ninth-longest river in the United Kingdom, and the third-longest in Scotland. It runs through the major cit ...

in Glasgow before he enrolled at the

Glasgow School of Art The Glasgow School of Art (GSA; gd, Sgoil-ealain Ghlaschu) is a higher education art school based in Glasgow, Scotland, offering undergraduate degrees, post-graduate awards (both taught and research-led), and PhDs in architecture, fine art, and ...

. Helped by the artist Norman Forrest, Halliday began his career as a sculptor in 1932 and would, in due course, produce figures of animals and birds in wood, bronze and terracotta. Halliday worked as the Art Master at Prestwick High School for several years and also taught at Ayr Academy. In 1941 he was appointed principal of the art department at the

High School of Dundee The High School of Dundee is an independent, co-educational, day school in Dundee, Scotland, which provides nursery, primary and secondary education to just over one thousand pupils. Its foundation has been dated to 1239, and it is the only priv ...

, a post he retained until he retired in 1965. During World War Two, Halliday painted ship building and naval camouflage operations on the Clyde. Two of these paintings were subsequently purchased by the

War Artists' Advisory Committee The War Artists Advisory Committee (WAAC), was a British government agency established within the Ministry of Information at the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939 and headed by Sir Kenneth Clark. Its aim was to compile a comprehensive artist ...

and are now held by the

Imperial War Museum Imperial War Museums (IWM) is a British national museum organisation with branches at five locations in England, three of which are in London. Founded as the Imperial War Museum in 1917, the museum was intended to record the civil and military ...

in London. Later he was commissioned to paint a large mural of the

Battle of Narvik The Battles of Narvik were fought from 9 April to 8 June 1940, as a naval battle in the Ofotfjord and as a land battle in the mountains surrounding the north Norwegian town of Narvik, as part of the Norwegian Campaign of the Second World War. ...

for the Royal Naval Dockyard at Rosyth. In 1947 he co-edited, with the poet George Bruce, the magazine ''Scottish Sculpture''. For many years, Halliday lived at

Wormit Wormit is a village on the south shore of the Firth of Tay in north-east Fife, Scotland. Its location at the southern end of the Tay Rail Bridge has led to it becoming a commuter suburb of Dundee. Together with Woodhaven and Newport-on-Tay, Wo ...

Newport-on-Tay Newport-on-Tay is a small town in the north-east of Fife in Scotland, acting as a Commuting, commuter suburb for Dundee. The Fife Coastal Path passes through Newport-on-Tay. The area itself is surrounded by views of the two bridges that cross the ...

. There he carved the war memorial for the parish church and designed a coat of arms for the Town Council. Newport-on-Tay Town Council also commissioned him to produce a carving of a stag, which they presented to the

Queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

in 1958. He designed numerous stained glass windows including several for parish churches in and around Ayr and Dundee. He was a founding member of the Guild of Aviation Artists, was a member of the

Royal Society of Marine Artists The Royal Society of Marine Artists (RSMA) is an association of artists in London, England, that promotes contemporary marine art. This includes painting, drawing, printmaking and sculpture.Society of Scottish Artists The Society of Scottish Artists is a Scottish artist-run organization which seeks to ''promote and encourage experimentation and the "adventurous spirit" in Scottish art.'' It was founded in 1891 and its main space for annual exhibitions has bee ...

in 1943. In 1963 he exhibited works with the

New Scottish Group The New Scottish Group was a loose collection of artists based in Glasgow, who exhibited from 1942 to 1956. It was formed around John Duncan Fergusson after his return to Glasgow in 1939. It had its origins in the New Art Club formed in 1940, an ...

. Halliday was also a regular exhibitor with both the

Royal Scottish Academy The Royal Scottish Academy (RSA) is the country’s national academy of art. It promotes contemporary Scottish art. The Academy was founded in 1826 by eleven artists meeting in Edinburgh. Originally named the Scottish Academy, it became the ...

and the

Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts The Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts (RGI) is an independent organisation in Glasgow, founded in 1861, which promotes contemporary art and artists in Scotland. The institute organizes the largest and most prestigious annual art exhibitio ...

. He was awarded an

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

in 1963.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Halliday, Thomas Symington 1902 births 1998 deaths 20th-century Scottish painters Alumni of the Glasgow School of Art British war artists Royal Scottish Academicians Scottish male painters Scottish stained glass artists and manufacturers People associated with Dundee People educated at Ayr Academy People from Thornhill, Dumfries and Galloway World War II artists 20th-century Scottish educators 20th-century Scottish male artists