James Evan Baillie (1781 – 14 June 1863) was a British West Indies merchant, landowner and Whig politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

in two periods between 1813 and 1835. Baillie was the third son of Evan Baillie of Dochfour and his wife Mary Gurley, daughter of Peter Gurley of St. Vincent. Joseph Gaston Baillie Bulloch. ''A history and genealogy of the family of Baillie of Dunain, Dochfour and Lamington : with a short sketch of the family of McIntosh, Bulloch, and other families.''
/ref> His father was a landowner in Scotland with commercial interests in Bristol including the firm of Evan Baillie, Sons & Co. Baillie, together with his older brother Hugh Duncan Baillie, became a partner in the Bristol Old Bank in 1812 after death of his brother Peter Baillie. In 1813 Baillie became Member of Parliament for

Tralee Tralee ( ; , ; formerly , meaning 'strand of the River Lee') is the county town of County Kerry in the south-west of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The town is on the northern side of the neck of the Dingle Peninsula, and is the largest town in ...

and held the seat until 1818. Baillie was a partner in J E Baillie, Fraser & Co of Bristol, Chairman of British Guiana Association, president of Whig Anchor club of Bristol and a Member of Brook's club. He was put up for parliament at Bristol without his consent in 1820 but in fact his brother Hugh stood unsuccessfully. He became Member of Parliament for

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 ...

in 1830 and held the seat until 1835. In parliament he was in favour of parliamentary reform and catholic relief. In 1834 Baillie purchased land in

Badenoch Badenoch (; ) is a district of the Scottish Highlands centred on the upper reaches of the River Spey, above Strathspey. The name Badenoch means the drowned land, with most of the population living close to the River Spey or its tributaries ...

comprising the Laggan farms on the upper Spey, the

Kingussie Kingussie ( ; ) is a small town in the Badenoch and Strathspey ward of the Highland council area of Scotland. Counties of Scotland, Historically in Inverness-shire, it lies beside the A9 road (Great Britain), A9 road, although the old route of ...

lands from Ballachroan to Kerrowmeanach, and the

Alvie Alvie () is a small crofting hamlet, a working Scottish highland estate and civil parish, located on the south shore of Loch Alvie in the Badenoch and Strathspey area of Inverness-shire, within the Scottish council area of Highland. Alvie si ...

farms of Pitchurn, Pitourie and Delfour from the Trustees of the

Gordon Gordon may refer to: People * Gordon (given name), a masculine given name, including list of persons and fictional characters * Gordon (surname), the surname * Gordon (slave), escaped to a Union Army camp during the U.S. Civil War * Gordon Heuck ...

Estates. He continued to buy land in Scotland after his father's death in 1835. He had been a prominent opponent of

abolition Abolition refers to the act of putting an end to something by law, and may refer to: *Abolitionism, abolition of slavery *Capital punishment#Abolition of capital punishment, Abolition of the death penalty, also called capital punishment *Abolitio ...

but after abolition received a slave compensation of £53,964 in 1835–1836.Douglas Hamilton ''Scotland, the Caribbean and the Atlantic world, 1750-1820''
/ref> When the British government emancipated the slaves in the 1830s, James and his brother Hugh received compensation for more than 450 slaves across 21 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 ...

. This money was invested in further Scottish estates at Glenelg in 1837, Glenshiel in 1838 and Letterfinlay in 1851. Baillie never married and died at the age of 82.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Baillie, James Evan 1781 births 1863 deaths Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Kerry constituencies (1801–1922) UK MPs 1812–1818 Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies UK MPs 1830–1831 UK MPs 1831–1832 UK MPs 1832–1835 Businesspeople from Bristol Whig (British political party) MPs for English constituencies Whig (British political party) MPs for Irish constituencies 19th-century British businesspeople British slave owners