Sir Gawaine George Hope Baillie, 7th Baronet (8 March 1934 – 21 December 2003) was a British amateur motor
racing driver, engineer,
industrialist,
stamp collector, and the owner of the estate surrounding
Leeds Castle
Leeds Castle is a castle in Kent, England, southeast of Maidstone. It is built on islands in a lake formed by the River Len to the east of the village of Leeds.
A castle has existed on the site since 857. In the 13th century, it came into th ...
, the ancient fortress in Kent. The castle itself was bequeathed to the nation upon his mother's death in 1974.
After his death, it was discovered that he had amassed, almost entirely in secret, one of the greatest collections of stamps of the former
British Empire
The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts e ...
.
Early life
Sir Gawaine was raised at
Leeds Castle
Leeds Castle is a castle in Kent, England, southeast of Maidstone. It is built on islands in a lake formed by the River Len to the east of the village of Leeds.
A castle has existed on the site since 857. In the 13th century, it came into th ...
, the ancient fortress in
Kent
Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
that his mother
Lady Baillie (''née'' Olive Cecilia Paget), a Whitney heiress, had bought with her sister
Dorothy Paget
Dorothy Wyndham Paget (21 February 1905 – 9 February 1960) was a British racehorse owner and sponsor of motor racing.
Early life
Paget was the daughter of Lord Queenborough and Pauline Payne Whitney of the American Whitney family. She was ...
in 1928.
At age five, after
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
broke out, Baillie went to live with his American cousins, the
Whitney family
The Whitney family is an American family notable for their business enterprises, social prominence, wealth and philanthropy, founded by John Whitney (1592–1673), who came from London, England to Watertown, Massachusetts in 1635. The historic fa ...
. Soon after returning to England, his father (
Sir Adrian Baillie, 6th Baronet
Sir Adrian William Maxwell Baillie, 6th Baronet Deputy Lieutenant, DL (5 May 1898 – 8 January 1947) was a British MP for two constituencies.
Early life
Baillie was born on 5 May 1898. He was the second son of Sir Robert Alexander Baillie, 4 ...
) died on 8 January 1947,
and he succeeded to the family title, becoming 7th Baronet of
Polkemmet, Linlithgowshire.
Following education at
Sandroyd School
Sandroyd School is an independent co-educational preparatory school for day and boarding pupils aged 2 to 13 in the south of Wiltshire, England. The school's main building is Rushmore House, a 19th-century country house which is surrounded by the ...
,
Eton Eton most commonly refers to Eton College, a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England.
Eton may also refer to:
Places
*Eton, Berkshire, a town in Berkshire, England
* Eton, Georgia, a town in the United States
* Éton, a commune in the Meuse dep ...
and
Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...
, he created HPC Engineering in 1959,
a company which specialises in sub-contract manufacturing for the automotive, aerospace, computer, defence, medical and machine tool industries. He served as chairman and managing director of the company for the rest of his life. He was also an amateur race car driver, competing in numerous championships against
Stirling Moss,
Mike Hawthorn
John Michael Hawthorn (10 April 1929 – 22 January 1959) was a British racing driver. He became the United Kingdom's first Formula One World Champion driver in 1958, whereupon he announced his retirement, having been profoundly affected by the ...
and
Jackie Stewart
Sir John Young Stewart (born 11 June 1939), known as Jackie Stewart, is a British former Formula One racing driver from Scotland. Nicknamed the "Flying Scot", he competed in Formula One between 1965 and 1973, winning three World Drivers' Cha ...
. After retiring from motor racing, he returned to his boyhood hobby of collecting stamps.
Racing career
Sir Gawaine's driving career began in 1956, when he first started racing a
Lotus Eleven
The Lotus Eleven is a sports racing car built in various versions by Lotus from 1956 until 1958. The later versions built in 1958 are sometimes referred to as Lotus 13, although this was not an official designation. In total, about 270 Elevens ...
sports car. By 1958, he became a member of the Equipe Endeavour team, earning several wins in a
Jaguar Mark 1
The Jaguar Mark 1 is a British saloon car produced by Jaguar between 1955 and 1959. It was referred to in contemporary company documentation as the Jaguar 2.4 Litre and Jaguar 3.4 Litre. Its designation as Mark 1 was retroactive, following its ...
including the John Davy Trophy at
Brands Hatch
Brands Hatch is a motor racing circuit in West Kingsdown, Kent, England, United Kingdom. Originally used as a grasstrack motorcycle circuit on farmland, it hosted 12 runnings of the British Grand Prix between 1964 and 1986 and currently host ...
as part of the inaugural
British Saloon Car Championship
The Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship is a touring car racing series held each year in the United Kingdom, currently organised and administered by TOCA. It was established in 1958 as the British Saloon Car Championship and was renamed as ...
season. By 1960, Sir Gawaine had purchased a
Lotus Elite
The Lotus Elite name has been used for two production vehicles and one concept vehicle developed and manufactured by British automobile manufacturer Lotus Cars. The first generation Elite Type 14 was produced from 1957 until 1963 and the second ...
and entered several rounds of the
World Sportscar Championship
The World Sportscar Championship was the world series run for sports car racing by the FIA from 1953 to 1992.
The championship evolved from a small collection of the most important sportscar, endurance, and road racing events in Europe and ...
, including his first attempt at the
24 Hours of Le Mans
The 24 Hours of Le Mans (french: link=no, 24 Heures du Mans) is an endurance-focused sports car race held annually near the town of Le Mans, France. It is the world's oldest active endurance racing event. Unlike fixed-distance races whose ...
.
In 1961, Sir Gawaine entered the
Tour de France automobile competition, finishing second in the touring car category. The following year, he crashed his
Jaguar E-Type during the same competition and fell down a hillside, emerging with numerous cuts to his face.
Sir Gawaine returned to the British Saloon Car Championship the following year, now campaigning an American-built
Ford Galaxie
The Ford Galaxie is a full-sized car that was built in the United States by Ford for model years 1959 through to 1974. The name was used for the top models in Ford's full-size range from 1958 until 1961, in a marketing attempt to appeal to the e ...
. The Galaxie was also transported to Australia in 1964, where Sir Gawaine and
Lex Davison
Alexander Nicholas Davison (12 February 1923 – 20 February 1965) was a racing driver who won the Australian Grand Prix four times between 1954 and 1961 and won the Australian Drivers' Championship in 1957. He drove HWM-Jaguar, Ferrari, As ...
entered the
Sandown 6 Hour International.
After Sir Gawaine's Australian tour with the Galaxie, he purchased a
Ford Mustang for the
1965 British Saloon Car Championship
The 1965 BRSCC British Saloon Car Championship, was the eighth season of the championship. The title was won by Roy Pierpoint in a Ford Mustang
The Ford Mustang is a series of American automobiles manufactured by Ford. In continuous prod ...
, he finished second in the class championship behind his teammate
Roy Pierpoint. In 1966 he finished first in class
with a
Ford Falcon
Ford Falcon is an automobile nameplate applied to several vehicles worldwide.
* Ford Falcon (North America), an automobile produced by Ford from 1960 to 1970.
* Ford Falcon (Argentina), a car built by Ford Argentina from 1962 until 1991.
* Fo ...
which benefited from his expertise in
supercharging
In an internal combustion engine, a supercharger compresses the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to produce more power for a given displacement.
The current categorisation is that a supercharger is a form of forced induc ...
.
By 1967 Sir Gawaine had retired from racing.
Stamp collecting
Sir Gawaine's goal in stamp collecting was to build a comprehensive collection of
postage stamps from Great Britain and the British Empire, starting with the earliest issues 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 her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previo ...
through to the present. Sir Gawaine was interested in only the most perfectly preserved stamps and his collection is distinguished from others of comparable scale by his exacting standards. He mastered at least ten areas of specialisation and acquired over 100,000 stamps,
of the highest quality including a copy of the scarce
Edward VII 2d Tyrian plum.
The collection was considered the most comprehensive of its kind. When
Sotheby's
Sotheby's () is a British-founded American multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, an ...
put the stamps up for auction after his death, the collection was described as the most important to be sold in more than 50 years. Sotheby's divided the stamps into ten separate auctions, the first nine of which exceeded the initial estimate of £11m, by more than £4m.
Personal life
In 1966, he married Margot Beaubien,
the daughter of Senator
Louis Beaubien of Montreal. They had a daughter, Liza (born 1969), and a son, Adrian (born 1973), who upon his father's death became Sir Adrian Louis Baillie, 8th Baronet.
Racing record
Complete British Saloon Car Championship results
(
key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap.)
† Events with 2 races staged for the different classes.
‡ Event with 3 races staged for the different classes.
* Car over 1000cc - Not eligible for points.
References
External links
Racing results for Gawaine Baillie
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baillie, Gawaine
People educated at Sandroyd School
People educated at Eton College
Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom
People from Leeds, Kent
English racing drivers
24 Hours of Le Mans drivers
1934 births
2003 deaths
British philatelists
British Touring Car Championship drivers
Alumni of the University of Cambridge
World Sportscar Championship drivers