George Baillie
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George Baillie (16 March 1664 – 6 August 1738) was a Scottish politician who served in the Parliament of Scotland and the Parliament of Great Britain.
George Baillie was the son of the Scottish Covenanter Robert Baillie of Jerviswood, who was implicated in the 1683 Rye House Plot against King Charles II. When his father was imprisoned for treason in 1684, George fled Scotland for Holland with Sir Patrick Hume.[1] In Holland he served in the horse guards of William of Orange, and returned to Britain with William in the Revolution of 1688.[2]
Baillie was elected as a Member of the Parliament of Scotland, representing Berwickshire from 1693–8 and 1700–1, and then Lanarkshire from 1703–7. He was a leading member of the Squadrone Volante, a group of members who were influential in the debates which led to the union with England in 1707.[2]
After the Union, Baillie attended the Parliament of Great Britain, representing Berwickshire for 26 years. In 1711, he was appointed Commissioner for Trade and Plantations by Queen Mary II and in 1714 King George I appointed him one of the Lords of Admiralty. In 1717 he was elevated to Lord of Treasury as a junior Lord Commissioner of the Treasury until 1725.[1] He stepped down as an MP in 1734, and died at Oxford in 1738. He was buried on his estate of Mellerstain in Berwickshire, where he had commenced the building of the mansion by commissioning William Adam to build the east and west wings.[2]
In 1691 he had married Sir Patrick Hume's daughter, the songwriter and poet Lady Grizell Hume, and they had three children; Grisell (1692), who married British army officer Sir Alexander Murray of Stanhope, Robert (1694), who died in infancy and Rachel (1696), who married Charles Hamilton, Lord Binning, son of the Earl of Haddington. Rachel's elder son Thomas inherited the earldom. [2] Mellerstain passed to Rachel's younger son George, who completed the house by erecting a central block between the wings constructed by his grandfather. Mellerstain remains to this day the principal seat of the Earl of Haddington.
References
- 1 2 The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1715-1754. 1970.
- 1 2 3 4 Murison, Barbara C. (2004). "Baillie, George, of Jerviswood (1664–1738)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/64094. Retrieved 3 March 2014.
| Parliament of Scotland | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Sir Archibald Cockburn Sir Patrick Hume Sir John Home John Swinton |
Shire Commissioner for Berwick 1691–1702 With: Sir Archibald Cockburn Sir John Home Sir John Swinton |
Succeeded by Sir Robert Sinclair Sir John Home Sir John Swinton Sir Patrick Home |
| Preceded by William Baillie Sir William Denham James Hamilton Sir William Stewart |
Shire Commissioner for Lanark 1702–1707 With: William Baillie John Sinclair James Hamilton |
Succeeded by Parliament of Great Britain |
| Parliament of Great Britain | ||
| New constituency | Member of Parliament for Berwickshire 1708–1734 |
Succeeded by Alexander Hume-Campbell |