| Clan Baillie | |||
|---|---|---|---|
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| Motto | Quid clarius astris (What is brighter than the stars) [1] | ||
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| Clan Baillie no longer has a chief, and is an armigerous clan | |||
| Historic seat | Hoprig Penston Lamington | ||
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Clan Baillie is a lowland Scottish clan, [2] that is recognized as such by the Lord Lyon King of Arms. However, as the clan does not currently have a chief recognized by the Court of the Lord Lyon, it is therefore considered an armigerous clan.
The most likely origin of the name is baillie which is French for 'bailiff', also referred to as a steward. [3]
According to Alexander Nisbet, by tradition the Baillies in Scotland were a branch of the House of Balliol and that the family changed its name because of the unpopularity of the Balliol kings after Robert the Bruce came to the throne. However, there is no evidence to support this tradition and the name Balliol remained widespread in Scotland after that time. [3]
The first record of the name in Scotland is William de Bailli of Hoperig who was a jury member at an inquest concerning forfeited lands in Lothian between 1311-1312. [3] [4] William was knighted by David II of Scotland in 1357 and was granted a royal charter for the barony and lands of Lamington, South Lanarkshire in 1368. [5] [3] From William descend the branches of the clan: the Baillies of Carphin, Park, Jerviston, Dunrogal, Carnbroe, Castlecary, Provand and Dochfour. [3]
In 1452, Alexander Baillie, who was a younger son of Baillie of Lamington, fought at the Battle of Brechin. After the battle he was rewarded by the Earl of Huntly with the lands of Dunain and Dochfour which are near Inverness. He also became the constable of Inverness Castle. The family were prominent in affairs around Inverness which was the Highland capital. They also formed many alliances by marrying into local families. [3]
In 1512, Cuthbert Baillie of Carphin was Lord High Treasurer of Scotland for James IV of Scotland. In 1566, William Baillie, Lord Provand was called to the Bench from where he took his title as Lord and remained there until his death in 1595. William Baillie of Lamington married Janet, daughter of James Hamilton, 1st Earl of Arran. In 1542, he was Master of the Wardrobe to Queen Mary. He remained loyal to Mary's daughter, Mary, Queen of Scots, and fought for her at the Battle of Langside in 1568. After this his estates were forfeited. [3]
General William Baillie who was the grandson of the forfeited William Baillie, was soundly defeated by James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose at the Battle of Alford and the Battle of Kilsyth in 1645. He had two sons who both married daughters of the Lord Forrester and they eventually succeeded to their estates. Robert Baillie was a renowned Protestant minister and was a chaplain to the army of the Covenanters in 1639. Robert Baillie of Jerviswood was also a staunch protestant and a cadet of the Lamington family. He was planning to emigrate to South Carolina to escape the oppression of the government in 1683. He had been in league with the faction which was opposed to the succession of James VII of Scotland in England. Although he had no connection with the conspiracy to overthrow the government he was still arrested and charged with high treason. The High Court sentenced him to death on 24 December 1684 and he was hanged on the same day. His family fled to Holland and his estates were not restored until after James VII had been overthrown in 1688. [3]
Lady Grizel Baillie was a poet and songwriter who died in 1746. She was the wife of George Baillie who in turn was the son of Robert Baillie who had been executed in 1684. This branch of the family succeeded by marriage to become the Earls of Haddington. James Evan Baillie of Dochfour married the daughter of the great Victorian industrialist, Michael Bass, 1st Baron Burton. Burton died without a male heir and so the peerage passed to the Baillies of Dochfour, who still hold Dochfour Castle on the shores of Loch Ness. [3]
Castles which have belonged to the Clan Baillie have included:
Robert Baillie was a Scottish conspirator incriminated in the Rye House Plot against King Charles II. He was executed for treason.
Lady Grizel Baillie, née Hume, was a Scottish gentlewoman and songwriter. Her accounting ledgers, in which she kept details about her household for more than 50 years, provide information about social life in Scotland in the eighteenth century.
Earl of Haddington is a title in the Peerage of Scotland. It was created in 1627 for the noted Scottish lawyer and judge Thomas Hamilton, 1st Earl of Melrose. He was Lord President of the Court of Session from 1616 to 1625. Hamilton had already been created Lord Binning in 1613 and Lord Binning and Byres, in the County of Haddington, and Earl of Melrose, in the County of Roxburgh, in 1619. These titles were also in the Peerage of Scotland. The title of the earldom derived from the fact that he was in possession of much of the lands of the former Melrose Abbey. However, Hamilton was unhappy with this title and wished to replace it with "Haddington". In 1627 he relinquished the earldom of Melrose and was instead created Earl of Haddington, with the precedence of 1619 and with limitation to his heirs male bearing the surname of Hamilton. This derived from the fact that he considered it a greater honour to take his title from a county rather than from an abbey. Hamilton was a member of the prominent Scottish family of that name and descended from John de Hamilton, younger son of Walter de Hamilton, who was granted the feudal barony of Cadzow and who is also the ancestor of the Dukes of Hamilton and Dukes of Abercorn.
The Battle of Kilsyth, fought on 15 August 1645 near Kilsyth, was an engagement of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. The largest battle of the conflict in Scotland, it resulted in victory for the Royalist general Montrose over the forces of the Covenanter-dominated Scottish Parliament, and marked the end of General William Baillie's pursuit of the Royalists.
William Cochrane of Kilmaronock, Dunbarton was a Scottish politician who sat in the Parliament of Scotland between 1689 and 1707 and as a Tory in the House of Commons from 1708 to 1713.
Charles Hamilton, Lord Binning, was a Scottish nobleman, politician and poet.
Clan Bruce is a Lowlands Scottish clan. It was a royal house in the 14th century, producing two kings of Scotland, and a disputed High King of Ireland, Edward Bruce.
Clan Charteris is a Scottish clan of the Scottish Lowlands.
Clan Seton is a Scottish clan which does not currently have a chief; therefore, it is considered an armigerous clan.
Clan Sempill is a Scottish clan of the Scottish Lowlands.
Clan Ogilvy, also known as Clan Ogilvie, is a Highland Scottish clan. Originating from Angus, Scotland, the progenitor of the Clan received a barony from King William the Lion in 1163. In 1491, King James IV elevated Sir James Ogilvy as Lord Ogilvy of Airlie.
Clan Mar is a Scottish clan of the Scottish Lowlands. It is also officially known as the Tribe of Mar. The chiefs of the Clan Mar were the original Earls of Mar, although this title later went via an heiress to the Douglases in the late fourteenth century, and then to the Stewarts before going to the Erskines. The current chief of Clan Mar is Margaret of Mar, Countess.
Evan Baillie was a Scottish slave-trader, merchant and landowner in the West Indies. He was a Whig politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1802 to 1812.
Lady Grisell Baillie was the first woman to be created a deaconess in the Church of Scotland.
John Sutherland, was the 7th Earl of Sutherland and chief of the Clan Sutherland, a Scottish clan of the Scottish Highlands.
George Baillie was a Scottish politician who sat in the Parliament of Scotland from 1691 to 1707 and in the British House of Commons from 1708 to 1734.
James Baillie was a Scottish merchant, planter and politician who served as a member of Parliament for Horsham from 1792 to 1793.
Events from the year 1684 in the Kingdom of Scotland.
John Cochrane, 2nd Earl of Dundonald, styled Lord Cochrane from 1679 to 1686, was a Scottish aristocrat.
William Baillie of Lamington was a Scottish landowner and, with his namesake son, supporter of Mary, Queen of Scots.
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