[1] Bemersyde has been in the hands of the Haigs for eight hundred years from the founder, Petrus de Haga, to the present chief.

[1] However, later they strongly supported the struggle for Scottish Independence and fought for William Wallace at the Battle of Stirling Bridge in 1297.

[1] In 1449 Gilbert Haig was a commander in the Scottish host that defeated the Earl of Northumberland at the Battle of Sark.

[2][1] However, his son, Robert, the 14th Laird, avenged his death at the Battle of Ancrum Moor in 1544, where he captured Lord Evers, an English commander.

[1] The twenty-first Laird, Anthony Haig was persecuted for his membership of the Society of Friends and suffered a long period of imprisonment.

However, they signed a deed before their death that transferred the succession to a cousin—Colonel Arthur Balfour Haig who was of the Clackmannan branch of the clan and a descendant of the 17th Laird.