Colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of ...

Henry James Baillie PC (1803 – 16 December 1885), was a British

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

politician. He served under

Lord Derby Edward George Geoffrey Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby, (29 March 1799 – 23 October 1869, known before 1834 as Edward Stanley, and from 1834 to 1851 as Lord Stanley) was a British statesman, three-time Prime Minister of the United Kingdom ...

Under-Secretary of State for India This is a list of Parliamentary Under-Secretaries of State and Permanent Under-Secretaries of State at the India Office during the period of British rule between 1858 and 1937 for India(and Burma by extension), and for India and Burma from 193 ...

from 1858 to 1859.

Background

Baillie was the son of Colonel

Hugh Duncan Baillie Hugh Duncan Baillie (31 May 1777 – 21 June 1866) was a British army officer, MP and Lord Lieutenant of Ross-shire. Early life He was the second son of Evan Baillie of Dochfour, a prosperous Bristol merchant, and his wife Mary, daughter of Pete ...

, son of

Evan Baillie Evan Baillie (1741 – 28 June 1835) was a Scottish slave-trader, merchant and landowner in the West Indies.Alston, David (2021), ''Slaves and Highlanders: Silenced Histories of Scotland and the Caribbean'', Edinburgh University Press, pp. 22 - 2 ...

, by his first wife Elizabeth, daughter of Reverend Henry Reynett.

Peter Baillie Peter Baillie (1771 – 1 September 1811) was a British West Indies merchant, and Whig politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1807 to 1811. Baillie was the eldest son of Evan Baillie of Dochfour and his wife Mary Gurley, daughter of Pet ...

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 w ...

were his uncles.''Burke's Landed Gentry 1886'', page 71 He was educated at

Eton College Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, C ...

Political career

Baillie was a friend of

Benjamin Disraeli Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, (21 December 1804 – 19 April 1881) was a British statesman and Conservative politician who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He played a central role in the creation o ...

, and in 1835 was actually called upon by Disraeli to serve as his second (after d'Orsay declined), when it appeared that Disraeli and

Morgan O'Connell Morgan O'Connell (31 October 1804 – 20 January 1885), soldier, politician and son of Daniel O'Connell, ''the Liberator of Ireland ''. He served in the Irish South American legion and the Austrian army. He was MP for Meath from 1832 until 1840 ...

, the son of

Daniel O'Connell Daniel O'Connell (I) ( ga, Dónall Ó Conaill; 6 August 1775 – 15 May 1847), hailed in his time as The Liberator, was the acknowledged political leader of Ireland's Roman Catholic majority in the first half of the 19th century. His mobilizat ...

, were going to fight a duel, which apparently did not actually occur. In 1840 Baillie was elected Member of Parliament for

Inverness-shire Inverness-shire ( gd, Siorrachd Inbhir Nis) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. Covering much of the Highlands and Outer Hebrides, it is Scotland's largest county, though one of the smallest in populatio ...

, and retained that seat until 1868. In the early 1840s he was associated with the "

Young England {{about, the Conservative political group, imaginary military society, Edward Oxford Young England was a Victorian era political group with a political message based on an idealised feudalism: an absolute monarchy, absolute monarch and a strong Ch ...

" movement, of which Disraeli was the head. Another member of that group, George Smythe, was Baillie's brother-in-law. He apparently broke with

Sir Robert Peel Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Baronet, (5 February 1788 – 2 July 1850) was a British Conservative statesman who served twice as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1834–1835 and 1841–1846) simultaneously serving as Chancellor of the Exchequer ...

over the

Corn Laws The Corn Laws were tariffs and other trade restrictions on imported food and corn enforced in the United Kingdom between 1815 and 1846. The word ''corn'' in British English denotes all cereal grains, including wheat, oats and barley. They were ...

and accepted minor office in

's 1852 government as Joint

Secretary to the Board of Control {{unreferenced, date=November 2010 The Secretary to the Board of Control was a British government office in the late 18th and early 19th century, supporting the President of the Board of Control, who was responsible for overseeing the British East ...

. He again held office under Derby as

from 1858 to 1859. In 1866 he was sworn of the

Privy Council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...

Family

Grave of Hugh Duncan Baillie in the Lebanon Circle in Highgate Cemetery

Baillie married firstly the Honourable Philippa Eliza Sydney Smythe, daughter of

Percy Smythe, 6th Viscount Strangford Percy Clinton Sydney Smythe, 6th Viscount Strangford (31 August 178029 May 1855) was an Anglo-Irish diplomat. Early life He was the son of Lionel Smythe, 5th Viscount Strangford (1753–1801) and Maria Eliza Philipse. In 1769, his sixteen-yea ...

, in 1840. They had several children. After Philippa's death in June 1854 he married secondly Clarissa Rush, daughter of George Rush, in 1857. Baillie died at the age of 82 and was buried in the Baillie family vault in the Lebanon Circle on the west side of

Highgate Cemetery Highgate Cemetery is a place of burial in north London, England. There are approximately 170,000 people buried in around 53,000 graves across the West and East Cemeteries. Highgate Cemetery is notable both for some of the people buried there as ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Baillie, Henry James 1803 births 1885 deaths Burials at Highgate Cemetery People educated at Eton College Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Highland constituencies Scottish Tory MPs (pre-1912) UK MPs 1837–1841 UK MPs 1841–1847 UK MPs 1847–1852 UK MPs 1852–1857 UK MPs 1857–1859 UK MPs 1859–1865 UK MPs 1865–1868 Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom