by Col. William Van Derpoel Hannay.
The origins of the family are lost in antiquity.The early records of Scotland are far from complete as many were destroyed during the various English invasions, and Edward I King of England in 1296 destroyed all the records and monuments of the history of Scotland in his effort to make this kingdom a part of his own. Hence we find scattered here and there mention of members of the family but no definite clue as to their relation to one another.
Perhaps the most powerful native Galloway families were the MacDowells and the MacCullochs but certainly the oldest and best authenticated as really native, ie local Pictish, were the Ahannays. They are expressly stated to have been one of the old Galloway Septs. This however is no where stated of any of the others.
The family was of considerable importance, for at an early period a district of Wigtownshire, now known as the Machers was (it is said) called Machers-Hannay from their possessions there, and the Burg of Wigtown marched to their tune.
One thing, however, is known of them: their crest was, from early times, a cross crosslet fitchee issuing out of a crescent sable. This implies that the head of the family, at one time of organized heraldry, was engaged in or had been on a crusade to the Holy Land. It is believed from this crest that the crusade must have been the second one, under Richard Coeur de Lion (1190-99). There is a tradition that a Hannay did serve with him and was knighted there (? Thomas de Hannay). In the "Book of Galloway" 1745, is a statement "A family which has delt many blows in time of war from Flodden Feild to the gates of Rhodes and for such service bore heraldic device of a crescent and a fitched cross".
This is an unusual distinction. Whilst not supposing Scottish Knights to be less pious than their English neighbors, few in fact took part in the Crusades. Perhaps the reason was the greater distance or the turbulent state of their own country. It does however, point to the standing and security of the early Hannays, that they were able to dispatch one of their family on one of these long and unprofitable jaunts.
They early obtained the lands of Sorbie from which the parish of that name is called, and which they retained until the later part of the 18th Century. This ancient seat of the Hannay Family, is known to have belonged to a family named Sorbie or de Sorbie, who like so many families of ancient standing in Galloway, disappeared without trace. It may be that the Sorbie family were in fact the then representatives of the Hannay`s going under the same name as their property, for in Acta Dominorum conslii for 1488 Odo Hannay is shown as Odo Sorbie, whilst his sons are clearly shown as Hannays.
The first mention we find of the lands of Sorbie is in 1185 when they were granted to Ivo Veterponte. His grandson Robert of Sorbie gave to the Abbey the church and lands of Lessor Sorbie. It may be that the Hannays even at this early date held Sorbie in feif from the Abbot, for it is unlikely that the Veterponts lived there after 1240 the date of Robert`s gift to the church.
While Robert Bruce was struggling to establish Scottish Independence, Edward Ist of England succeeded in occupying the border regions of Scotland and setting up his nominee John Balliol as King. In order to secure his position and in accordance with feudal custom, and to assert rights as soi distant feudal overlord of Scotland, a title not by conquest but originating from Saxton heptarchy, when the Bretwalds of England was indeed the overlords of southern Scotland, he arranged for the feudal Lords and Chieftans of Scotland to swear allegiance to him at Bewick Castle. In a document called the Ragman Roll (now in the Tower of London) their names were entered. Among them on that Aug 28, 1296 were a Gilbert de Hannethe and a Gilbert de Annethe of County Wigtown, or as it appears on the roll, as written by the Norman Scribes:
"item a tous - ceans qui cestes verront ou orront Gilbert De Annethe, Gilbert de Hannethe, del counte de Wiggeton"
These were probably father and son. Among them were other powerful chiefs of Galloway, the MacDowells and the MacCullochs.