5000 hands. The worsted, woollen and cotton industries, and the iron, steel and machinery manufactures are very extensive. There are collieries and freestone quarries in the neighbourhood.
The parliamentary borough returns two members. The county borough was created in 1888. The municipal borough is under a mayor, 15 aldermen and 45 councillors. Area, 13,967 acres.
At the time of the Conquest Halifax formed part of the extensive manor of Wakefield, which belonged to the king, but in the 13th century was in the hands of John, earl Warrenne (c. 1245–1305). The prosperity of the town began with the introduction of the cloth trade in the 15th century, when there are said to have been only thirteen houses, which before the end of the 16th century had increased to 520. Camden, about the end of the 17th century, wrote that “the people are very industrious, so that though the soil about it be barren and improfitable, not fit to live on, they have so flourished . . . by the clothing trade that they are very rich and have gained a reputation for it above their neighbours.” The trade is said to have been increased by the arrival of certain merchants driven from the Netherlands by the persecution of the duke of Alva. Among the curious customs of Halifax was the Gibbet Law, which was probably established by a prescriptive right to protect the wool trade, and gave the inhabitants the power of executing any one taken within their liberty, who, when tried by a jury of sixteen of the frith-burgesses, was found guilty of the theft of any goods of the value of more than 13d. The executions took place on market days on a hill outside the town, the gibbet somewhat resembling a guillotine. The first execution recorded under this law took place in 1541, and the right was exercised in Halifax longer than in any other town, the last execution taking place in 1650. In 1635 the king granted the inhabitants of Halifax licence to found a workhouse in a large house given to them for that purpose by Nathaniel Waterhouse, and incorporated them under the name of the master and governors. Nathaniel Waterhouse was appointed the first master, his successors being elected every year by the twelve governors from among themselves. Halifax was a borough by prescription, its privileges growing up with the increased prosperity brought by the cloth trade, but it was not incorporated until 1848. Since the Reform Act of 1832 the burgesses have returned two members to parliament. In 1607 David Waterhouse, lord of the manor of Halifax, obtained a grant of two markets there every week on Friday and Saturday and two fairs every year, each lasting three days, one beginning on the 24th of June, the other on the 11th of November. Later these fairs and markets were confirmed with the addition of an extra market on Thursday to Sir William Ayloffe, baronet, who had succeeded David Waterhouse as lord of the manor. The market rights were sold to the Markets Company in 1810 and purchased from them by the corporation in 1853.
During the Civil War Halifax was garrisoned by parliament, and a field near it is still called the Bloody Field on account of an engagement which took place there between the forces of parliament and the Royalists.
See Victoria County History, “Yorkshire”; T. Wright, The Antiquities of the Town of Halifax (Leeds, 1738); John Watson, The History and Antiquities of the Parish of Halifax (London, 1775); John Crabtree, A Concise History of the Parish and Vicarage of Halifax (Halifax and London, 1836).
ḤALIṢAH (Hebrew, חליצה “untying”), the ceremony by
which a Jewish widow releases her brother-in-law from the
obligation to marry her in accordance with Deuteronomy xxv.
5-10, and obtains her own freedom to remarry. By the law
of Moses it became obligatory upon the brother of a man
dying childless to take his widow as wife. If he refused, “then
shall his brother’s wife come unto him in the presence of the
elders and loose his shoe from off his foot, and spit in his face,
and shall answer and say, So shall it be done unto that man that
will not build up his brother’s house.” By Rabbinical law the
ceremony was later made more complex. The parties appear
before a court of three elders with two assessors. The place is
usually the synagogue house, or that of the Rabbi, sometimes
that of the widow. After inquiry as to the relationship of the
parties and their status (for if either be a minor or deformed,
ḥaliṣah cannot take place), the shoe is produced. It is usually
the property of the community and made entirely of leather
from the skin of a “clean” animal. It is of two pieces, the upper
part and the sole, sewn together with leathern threads. It has
three small straps in front, and two white straps to bind it on
the leg. After it is strapped on, the man must walk four cubits
in the presence of the court. The widow then loosens and
removes the shoe, throwing it some distance, and spits on the
ground, repeating thrice the Biblical formula “So shall it be
done,” &c. Ḥaliṣah, which is still common among orthodox
Jews, must not take place on the Sabbath, a holiday, or the eve
of either, or in the evening. To prevent brothers-in-law from
extorting money from a widow as a price for releasing her from
perpetual widowhood, Jewish law obliges all brothers at the time
of a marriage to sign a document pledging themselves to submit
to ḥaliṣah without payment. (Compare Levirate).
HALKETT, HUGH, Freiherr von (1783–1863), British
soldier and general of infantry in the Hanoverian service, was the
second son of Major-General F. G. Halkett, who had served
many years in the army, and whose ancestors had for several
generations distinguished themselves in foreign services. With
the “Scotch Brigade” which his father had been largely instrumental
in raising, Hugh Halkett served in India from 1798 to
1801. In 1803 his elder brother Colin was appointed to command
a battalion of the newly formed King’s German Legion, and in
this he became senior captain and then major. Under his
brother’s command he served with Cathcart’s expeditions to
Hanover, Rügen and Copenhagen, where his bold initiative on
outpost duty won commendation. He was in the Peninsula in
1808–1809, and at Walcheren. At Albuera, Salamanca, &c., he
commanded the 2nd Light Infantry Battalion, K.G.L., in succession
to his brother, and at Venta del Pozo in the Burgos
retreat he greatly distinguished himself. In 1813 he left the
Peninsula and was subsequently employed in the organization
of the new Hanoverian army. He led a brigade of these troops
in Count Wallmoden’s army, and bore a marked part in the battle
of Göhrde and the action of Schestedt, where he took with his
own hand a Danish standard. In the Waterloo campaign he
commanded two brigades of Hanoverian militia which were sent
to the front with the regulars, and during the fight with the
Old Guard captured General Cambronne. After the fall of
Napoleon he elected to stay in the Hanoverian service, though
he retained his half-pay lieutenant-colonelcy in the English army.
He rose to be general and inspector-general of infantry. In his
old age he led the Xth Federal Army Corps in the Danish War
of 1848, and defeated the Danes at Oversee. He had the G.C.H.,
the C.B. and many foreign orders, including the Prussian
order of the Black Eagle and pour le Mérite and the Russian
St Anne.
See Knesebeck, Leben des Freiherrn Hugh von Halkett (Stuttgart, 1865).
His brother, Sir Colin Halkett (1774–1856), British soldier, began his military career in the Dutch Guards and served in various “companies” for three years, leaving as a captain in 1795. From 1800 to the peace of Amiens he served with the Dutch troops in English pay in Guernsey. In August 1803 Halkett was one of the first officers assigned to the service of raising the King’s German Legion, and he became major, and later lieutenant-colonel, commanding the 2nd Light Infantry Battalion. His battalion was employed in the various expeditions mentioned above, from Hanover to Walcheren, and in 1811 Colin Halkett succeeded Charles Alten in the command of the Light Brigade, K.G.L., which he held throughout the Peninsula War from Albuera to Toulouse. In 1815 Major-General Sir Colin Halkett commanded the 5th British Brigade of Alten’s division, and at Waterloo he received four wounds. Unlike his brother, he remained in the British service, in which he rose to general. At the time of his death he was governor of Chelsea
