Albert Victor Baillie KCVO, DD (5 August 1864 – 3 November 1955) was a

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

clergyman Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...

during the first half of the 20th century, ending his career as

Dean of Windsor The Dean of Windsor is the spiritual head of the Canon (priest), canons of St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle, England. The dean chairs meetings of the Chapter of Canons as ''primus inter pares''. The post of Dean of Wolverhampton was assimilat ...

. He was the Registrar of the

Order of the Garter The Most Noble Order of the Garter is an order of chivalry founded by Edward III of England in 1348. The most senior order of knighthood in the Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom, British honours system, it is outranked in ...

(1917–1939). Born on 5 August 1864 at

Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( ; ; ; South Franconian German, South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, third-largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, after its capital Stuttgart a ...

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg ( ; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a states of Germany, German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million i ...

, the third son of Evan Peter Montague Baillie (1824–1874) and his wife, Lady Frances Anna (née Bruce, d. 1894), daughter of

Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin and 11th Earl of Kincardine, ( ; 20 July 176614 November 1841), often known as Lord Elgin, was a Scottish nobleman, diplomat, and collector, known primarily for the controversial procurement of marble sculptures ...

. With his aristocrat background, Baillie could claim two popes among his ancestors (one had been a widower before entering the priesthood). In addition, he was a godchild of

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...

.Richard Ollard, ‘Baillie, Albert Victor (1864–1955)’, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 201
accessed 23 Oct 2017
/ref> He was educated at

Wixenford Wixenford is an area of the civil parish of Wokingham Without in which Ludgrove School stands. It adjoins Wokingham and is in the English county of Berkshire. Name The area was developed by the former Wixenford School, which closed in 1934. That ...

Marlborough Marlborough or the Marlborough may refer to: Places Australia * Marlborough, Queensland * Principality of Marlborough, a short-lived micronation in 1993 * Marlborough Highway, Tasmania; Malborough was an historic name for the place at the sou ...

and

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any ...

(matriculated 1883; BA, 1886; honorary DD, 1918). Baillie was ordained in 1888 and he began his ecclesiastical career with Curacies in the slums of Tyne Dock at

South Shields South Shields () is a coastal town in South Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England; it is on the south bank of the mouth of the River Tyne. The town was once known in Roman Britain, Roman times as ''Arbeia'' and as ''Caer Urfa'' by the Early Middle Ag ...

, his second and third at

Walworth Walworth ( ) is a district of South London, England, within the London Borough of Southwark. It adjoins Camberwell to the south and Elephant and Castle to the north, and is south-east of Charing Cross. Major streets in Walworth include the ...

and

Plumstead Plumstead is an area in southeast London, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich, England. It is located east of Woolwich. History Plumstead has been settled since ancient times, and London's earliest timber structure has been found here. ...

— both at that time in the 1890s being rough and very poor districts of south-east London. Following this he was

Chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secular institution (such as a hospital, prison, military unit, intellige ...

Randall Davidson Randall Thomas Davidson, 1st Baron Davidson of Lambeth, (7 April 1848 – 25 May 1930) was an Anglican bishop who was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1903 to 1928. He was the longest-serving holder of the office since the English Reformation, Re ...

Bishop of Rochester The Bishop of Rochester is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary of the Church of England's Diocese of Rochester in the Province of Canterbury. The town of Rochester, Kent, Rochester has the bishop's seat, at the Rochester Cathedral, Cathedral Chur ...

, then

Rural Dean In the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion as well as some Lutheran denominations, a rural dean is a member of clergy who presides over a "rural deanery" (often referred to as a deanery); "ruridecanal" is the corresponding adjective ...

Rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby union: 15 players per side *** American flag rugby *** Beach rugby *** Mini rugby *** Rugby sevens, 7 players per side *** Rugby tens, 10 players per side *** Snow rugby *** Tou ...

and

Vicar A vicar (; Latin: '' vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English p ...

of St Michael, Coventry before a 27-year stint as

. His family connections brought him invitations to preach before Queen Victoria, with whom he was always on good terms, being rumoured to have been her favourite godson. Baillie was married on 9 August 1898 to Hon. Constance Elizabeth Hamilton-Russell (died 1924), the third daughter of Gustavus Russell Hamilton-Russell, 8th

Viscount Boyne Viscount Boyne, in the province of Leinster, is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1717 for the Scottish military commander Gustavus Hamilton, 1st Viscount Boyne, Gustavus Hamilton, 1st Baron Hamilton of Stackallan. He had alr ...

(1830–1907). Her death and that of two of their three sons badly affected him. He resigned the deanery in 1945 and retired to

Baldock Baldock ( ) is a historic market town in the North Hertfordshire district of Hertfordshire, England. The River Ivel rises from springs in the town. It lies north of London and north northwest of the county town of Hertford. Nearby towns inc ...

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...

where he died on 3 November 1955, survived by his second son, Ean.

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

, Friday, Nov 04, 1955; pg. 11; Issue 53369; col A ''The Rev. A. V. Baillie Dean Of Windsor For 27 Years'' A statue of the Madonna and Child is displayed in the Church of St Mary the Virgin in Baldock having been donated in his memory, he worshipping there in his later years. The statue, by Sir William Reid Dick, had been presented to Baillie on his retirement from Windsor.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baillie, Albert Victor 1864 births People educated at Marlborough College Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Knights Commander of the Royal Victorian Order Deans of Windsor 1955 deaths People educated at Wixenford School