Sir William Baillie

Sir William Baillie 1st bart of Polkemmet (1782-1854), who married Mary Lyon Dennistoun, daughter of James Dennistoun and Margaret Dreghorn. Awarded the compensation as one of the trustees and executors of his brother-in-law Farquhar(d) Campbell (q.v.).

1. "Marriage at Edinburgh of Farquhard Campbell, Esq., of Huntington and Miss Penuel Jane Baillie, daughter of the late Hon. William Baillie of Polkemmet."

2. Memorial inscription at Knapdale Cemetery, Argyll, Scotland: "Sacred to the memory of FARQUHARD CAMPBELL, ESQ OF ORMSARY and Melville Estate Demerary. Who died at Edinburgh 18 December 1829, aged 69" and also of Penuel Jane Baillie who died 1866 and their son William Campbell of the 42nd Regiment who died 1867.

3. 22 letters of Mary Lyon Baillie are stored at the Edinburgh University Library, Special Collections Division: "The correspondence of Lady Mary Lyon Baillie consists of letters from Polkemmet to her sister Mrs. E. Campbell of Barcaldine. The letters are general in content, giving a glimpse of country and town life of the period. There is a description of a public rebuke in church, and mention of a risk of smallpox... Lady Mary Lyon Baillie was the daughter of James Dennistoun of Colgrain and Margaret Dreghorn. In 1815 she married William Baillie, who in 1816 became Sir William Baillie, 1st Baronet of Polkemmet, on the death of his father [this is incorrect- the Baillie baronetcy of Polkermmet was created on 14th November 1823]."

T71/885 British Guiana no. 591.

1. Scots Magazine 79:399, 24/04/1817.

2. http://www.knapdalepeople.com/MIMiadanOrmsary.html [accessed 13/05/2013]. Note that the Menes Family Tree by 1_Becky_13 on Ancestry.com gives Mary Lyon Baillie's year of death as 1856.

3. http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb237-coll-290 [accessed 13/05/2013].

We are grateful to Malcolm Sandilands and Ian Hossack for their assistance in compiling this entry.