Early Life
There's a bit of confusion about William's provenance:
- Burke's Family Records1 has William as the son of William Baillie and Marion Seaton, the daughter of John Seaton of Seaton
- Baillie Family2 has William ("4th of Hoprig and Lamington") as the son of William Baillie and Catherine Hamilton and the grandson of William Baillie and Isobel Seton, daughter of Sir William Seton and Catherine Sinclair
- Lives of the Baillies3 concurs with Baillie Familyand has William as the son of William Baillie and Catherine Hamilton, grandson of William Baillie and Isabella Seyton, daughter of William Seyton of Seyton.
- Electric Scotland is difficult to follow, but appears to make this William the grandson of William and Catherine Hamilton and the great-grandson of William and Isabella Seaton; as a result of an additional generational William Baillie.
The lineages are summarised as follows:
Burke's Family Records
1. William de Bailliol of Penston and Carnbrue m. dau. of William Wallace
2. William Baillie of Hoprig, Penston and Carnbrue
3. Un-named generation
4. William Baillie of Lamington m. c. 1430 Marion Seton
5. William Baillie of Lamington m. 1492 Marion Hume, daughter of Patrick Hume of Polwarth
History & Genealogy of Family of Baillie
1. William Baillie of Hoprig married Marion Wallace, daughter of William Wallace
2. William his heir married Isobel Seton
3. William his heir married Catherine Hamilton
4. William his heir married Marion Home
5. Sybilla Baillie his daughter married "Mr Edmonstone"
Lives of the Baillies
1. William de Baliol m. natural daughter of William Wallace
2. Sir William Baillie of Lamington married Isabella Seyton
3. William Baillie of Lamington married Catherine Hamilton
4. William Baillie of Lamington Marion Hume
5. Sybilla Baillie his daughter married Archibald Edmonstone of Duntreath
Electric Scotland (
Link here)
1. William Baillie of Hoprig and Lamington married natural daughter of William Wallace
2. William his heir married Isabella Seton
3. William his heir married Catherine Hamilton
4. William his heir married ?
5. William his heir married Marion Home
I'm going to ignore Burke and follow the lines given in the two pedigree works by Joseph Bulloch and James William Baillie as they seem a little more researched and more internally consistent. I would estimate that William was born in the middle of the 15th century, based on extrapolation from descendant lines.
Career & Family Life
From
Lives of the Baillies3:
Sir William Baillie ... was a favourite of James III, King of Scotland. In 1477, King James III, being twenty-five years of age, took up with unworthy favourites, which gave great offence to the old nobility, who alienated their affections from the King and bestowed them on his brothers the Duke of Albany and the Earl of Mar. In 1480 war broke out between Scotland and England, and in 1481 the Scottish Parliament authorized King James III to levy six hundred men to garrison the fortresses of the kingdom. Of these, a hundred are ordered to be in
"The Ermitage, which sal be redy to support baith ye myddel and west borders in time of need, and as they shall be armed and charged, and to be Captain of them, the Laird of Lamington." A fleet of English ships burned the village of Blackness in Linlithgowshire, but it was defeated by Andrew Wood of Leith, a rising officer, whose name is associated with many daring and gallant exploits in the naval warfare of his country. About the same time a person named Cochrane, one of King James's unworthy favourites, was invested with the revenues of the late Earl of Mar, brother of King James, in whose death he was generally believed to have had the principal hand.
At midsummer 1481 the Scottish army marched across Soutra Hill towards the borders, with the prospect of a fierce struggle, for Richard Duke of Gloucester, afterwards Richard III of England, with the Duke of Albany and the banished Douglas, were at no great distance. At Lauder the barons seized on Cochrane and the rest of the King's favourites, and hanged them over the parapet of the bridge, after which they returned to Edinburgh, carrying King James III with them, whom they committed a close prisoner to the Castle. During the reign of this monarch, Edward IV, King of England, recovered the town of Berwick from the Scots, which remained in the hands of the English ever after.
The more loyal of the barons were not disposed to support the Earl of Angus in the deposition of King James III, and assembled a considerable force near Haddington to maintain the independence of the kingdom. The Duke of Gloucester, who along with Albany commanded the English forces, marched from Berwick to Haddington, at which a peace was concluded between the Scotch and the English. After this, Albany, having been reconciled to his brother James III, attacked the Castle of Edinburgh, in which he was confined, and delivered him from imprisonment, in return for which he was made Lieutenant-General of the kingdom and Earl of Mar, but having been detected in a treasonable intrigue with Edward IV, King of England, a great body of the nobility and gentry showed their detestation of his designs by rallying once more round the King.
Albany and his accomplices were deprived of their offices, but in a short time he resumed his treasonable intrigues with the Court of England, and in concert with Edward IV, King of England, and the banished Earl of Douglas, organized the plan of a formidable invasion, but the death of King Edward IV, which occurred at this time, and the seizure of the Crown by his brother, Richard III, deranged their plans, and a peace having been concluded between him and James III, in 1484, this Sir William Baillie was nominated amongst those lords and gentlemen that were appointed conservators on the Scottish side for the sure observation, keeping, and performance of this truce and league. This Sir William Baillie, on 22nd May 1482, obtained a decreet of comprising against John Montgomery of Thorntoun of the half of the lands of Easter and Wester Akingalls, extending to ten merks yearly, the fifteen shilling and fourpenny lands of Monyet, in the shire of Edinburgh, for £148, 16s. 8d., for goods
spulzied by the said John Montgomery, off the said Sir William's land of Hoprig.
In 1485 King Richard III of England was killed in battle, and was succeeded by Henry VII, and a peace between England and Scotland was concluded. King James III, administrator for the Duke of Rothesay, afterwards King James IV, granted a Charter of Comprising in favour of this Sir William Baillie, of said lands of Akingalls, on 6th October 1487, wherein liberty is granted to the said John Montgomery to redeem his lands within seven years, on payment of the money for which they had been comprised. In this year a number of the Scottish barons conspired against King James III of Scotland, and persuaded the Duke of Rothesay, afterwards King James IV, to join them. King James III on this retired to the north in a ship belonging to Sir Andrew Wood of Largo, and was joined at Aberdeen by a large force. The King marched at the head of this to Perth, at which others joined him. A skirmish took place at Blackness in Linlithgowshire, between the King and the barons, after which a temporary pacification was effected, and the King disbanded his forces and took up his residence at Edinburgh. The rebellion broke out again, and King James III proceeded to Stirling, at which he effected a junction with considerable detachments from the Western and Midland counties. The rebels having marched to Stirling, the King advanced to meet them, and a battle was fought at
Sauchieburn on 18th June 1488, in which the Loyalists were defeated, and King James III was afterwards murdered, and buried at Cambuskenneth Abbey.
No mention is made of the part taken by this Sir William Baillie in the dispute between King James III and his nobles, but from his having previously been a great friend of the King, it is probable that he adhered to his part, and may have been in one of the detachments from the Western shires, by which the King was joined at Stirling. On 7th May 1491 this Sir William Baillie was ordered by the Lords of Council to appear before them, prepared to prove
"that he was lawfully entered by the Sheriff to the Tack and Mailing of a part of the third of Middlerig, lying in the Sheriffdom of Lanark." In 1492 his name often appears in the records in connexion with the affairs of his deceased Brother-in-law, Lord Somerville, to whom he had been appointed Executor, and in the same year he is incidentally mentioned in a case before the Lords of Council.
William married
Marion Home, daughter of
Patrick Home of
Polwarth. They had at least three sons and two daughters:
- Andrew, or William, the eldest
- Richard
- William
- Sibylla, who married William Edmonstone of Duntreath c. 1497
- Helen, who married James Hunter
Lives of the Baillies suggests that William also had an illegitimate son,
Cuthbert Baillie who became a clergyman.
Footnotes
[1]
Burke's Family Records, 1897, Volume 1, page 30
[2]
A History & Genealogy of the Family of Baillie of Dunain, Dochfour and Lamington by Joseph Gaston Baillie Bulloch, 1852
[3]
Lives of the Baillies, by James William Baille, Edinburgh 1872
Abt 1450 - 