M. J. Baillie, Esq.
(1837-1866)
31 January 1861

 

Volume 2, page 176, sitting number 1995. 

[Identified as 'M. J. Baillie, Esq.' in the Silvy daybooks, this is probably Matthew John Baillie, formerly of the 72nd Highlanders.]

Born at 14 Suffolk Square in Cheltenham, William John Baillie was baptised on 7 August 1837 in the parish church at Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. His parents were William Hunter Baillie and his wife Harriet. His paternal grandfather was the physician and pathologist Matthew Baillie (1761-1823).

Matthew was educated at Eton and at Caius College, Cambridge. On 14 December 1855 he became an Ensign (without purchase) in the 72nd (Duke of Albany’s Own Highlanders) Regiment of Foot. He served during the Indian Mutiny but retired from the Army in 1860, still with the rank of Ensign.

He appears on the 1861 census living at 4 Upper Harley Street with his father William Baillie, a widower and a ‘Barrister not practising.’ Matthew gave as his profession ‘Servd. in the Army.’ Also present on the night of the census were four sisters, a younger brother, a nurse and seven servants, including a butler and a footman.

Later that year he became a Lieutenant in the Royal North Gloucestershire Militia (Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette, 15 August 1861).

Lieutenant Matthew John Baillie died, aged only 28, on 17 June 1866 at 4 Upper Harley Street, London (Naval & Military Gazette, 23 June 1866). The cause of death was pulmonary tuberculosis. He was buried in Kensal Green Cemetery on 23 June 1866.