Hugh Duncan Baillie (31 May 1777 – 21 June 1866) was a

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

officer and politician who served as the Lord Lieutenant of Ross-shire from 1843 to 1866.

Early life

He was the second son of Evan Baillie of Dochfour, a prosperous Scottish merchant based in

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

, and his wife Mary, daughter of Peter Gurley of St Vincent. His brothers were Peter Baillie and

James Evan Baillie James Evan Baillie (1781 – 14 June 1863) was a British West Indies merchant, landowner and Whig politician who sat in the House of Commons in two periods between 1813 and 1835. Baillie was the third son of Evan Baillie of Dochfour and his ...

. Hugh succeeded his father in 1835.

Personal life

He had married twice: firstly, at the Cape of Good Hope, Elizabeth, the daughter of Rev. Henry Reynett of Goodmans Fields, London (whose grandfather was a Huguenot who had moved from France to Ireland), with whom he had a son and 3 daughters and secondly Mary, the daughter of Thomas Smith of Castleton Hall, Lancashire, with whom he had 3 sons and a daughter. He bought the Ross-shire estate of Redcastle from the Trustees of Sir William Fettes after the latter's death in 1836. Family vault of Hugh Duncan Baillie

Career

He joined the Army as an ensign in the 37th Foot in 1793. He was promoted to lieutenant in the 93rd Foot the same year, to captain in the 97th Foot and then major in the 86th Foot in 1794 and to lieutenant-colonel in 1800. He took part in the British occupation of the

Dutch Cape Colony The Cape of Good Hope () was a Dutch United East India Company (VOC) supplystation in Southern Africa, centered on the Cape of Good Hope, from where it derived its name. The original supply station and the successive states that the area was ...

between 1796 and 1802 during the

Napoleonic Wars {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Napoleonic Wars , partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg , caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...

. He went on to half pay with the Surrey Rangers from 1802 to 1825 and was finally made a colonel of the army in 1810. He retired from the army in 1825. In 1812 he and his brother James became partners in the Bristol Old Bank. Hugh had become senior partner by his death. He entered Parliament as the MP for

Rye Rye (''Secale cereale'') is a grass grown extensively as a grain, a cover crop and a forage crop. It is grown principally in an area from Eastern and Northern Europe into Russia. It is much more tolerant of cold weather and poor soil than o ...

in 1830 and was then returned for

Honiton Honiton () is a market town and civil parish in East Devon, situated close to the River Otter, Devon, River Otter, north east of Exeter in the county of Devon. Honiton has a population estimated at 12,154 (based on 2021 census). History The ...

in 1835, sitting until 1847. He served as Lord lieutenant of Ross-shire from 1843 until his death. During the Parliament of 1835 he received a share of a compensation award totalling over £60,000 for the freed slaves on some 17 estates in

British Guiana British Guiana was a British colony, part of the mainland British West Indies. It was located on the northern coast of South America. Since 1966 it has been known as the independent nation of Guyana. The first known Europeans to encounter Guia ...

Grenada Grenada is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean Sea. The southernmost of the Windward Islands, Grenada is directly south of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and about north of Trinidad and Tobago, Trinidad and the So ...

St Kitts Saint Kitts, officially Saint Christopher, is an island in the West Indies. The west side of the island borders the Caribbean Sea, and the eastern coast faces the Atlantic Ocean. Saint Kitts and the neighbouring island of Nevis constitute one ...

, St Vincent and

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger, more populous island of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, the country. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is the southernmost island in ...

which he either owned or in which he had an interest in.

Death

He died in 1866. His personal estate after his death was valued at under £50,000. He is buried in a family vault on the inner ring of the Lebanon Circle at

Highgate Cemetery Highgate Cemetery is a place of burial in North London, England, designed by architect Stephen Geary. There are approximately 170,000 people buried in around 53,000 graves across the West and East sides. Highgate Cemetery is notable both for so ...

(West). His son Duncan Baillie was also a British Army officer and rose to the rank of lieutenant-general.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Baillie, Hugh Duncan 1777 births 1866 deaths Burials at Highgate Cemetery 37th Regiment of Foot officers 86th (Royal County Down) Regiment of Foot officers 93rd Regiment of Foot officers Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment officers Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Honiton UK MPs 1830–1831 UK MPs 1835–1837 UK MPs 1837–1841 UK MPs 1841–1847 English bankers Lord-lieutenants of Ross-shire British slave owners 18th-century British Army personnel 19th-century British Army personnel