The Accounting Historians Notebook Volume 28 Article 6 Number 1 April 2005

2005 John Menzies Baillie, chartered accountant: Nine hundred years of landownership in France, England, Scotland, and America Tom Lee

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John Menzies Baillie, Chartered Accountant: Nine Hundred Years of Landownership in France, England, Scotland, and America by Tom Lee Professor Emeritus, University of Alabama The accounting history literature . He also died there in contains books and papers dealing 1886. In the intervening 60 years, with the foundation of modern pub- he had an unexceptional career as a lic accountancy in Scotland in the public accountant in Edinburgh be- last half of the nineteenth century fore retiring to Culter Allers. His (e.g. Kedslie, 1990; Lee, 2000; place in history rests exclusively on Walker, 1995). Most deal with his membership in the group of 61 events, circumstances, and conse- Edinburgh accountants who formed quences of the foundation but few the first modern institution of pub- describe the founders other than in lic accountancy in 1853 - the Insti- terms of generic analyses of ori- tute of Accountants in Edinburgh, gins. The objective of this note is renamed the Society of Accountants to provide a detailed biography of in Edinburgh (hereafter, SAE) in one of the founders and give a 1854. JMB was a relatively young glimpse of the type of individual and inexperienced practitioner who helped found the modern pub- when he signed the SAE charter lic accountancy profession. The petition in 1853. He was the first individual was not a driving force and only public accountant in his behind the foundation or an impor- family - although three distant an- tant historical figure. However, his cestors held the highest governmen- family history illustrates the élitism tal accounting office of Chamber- of the foundation community and lain of Scotland more than six cen- emphasizes the relation of founders turies before. His historical impor- to law and land. Contrary to the tance has nothing to do with his social model of Thomas Carlyle career as a public accountant. In- that history comprises great men, stead, it relates to his family’s asso- this note describes the background ciation with landownership over of an ordinary member of a new nine centuries and the connection of profession and reveals a genealogy landownership to the formation of that assists understanding the insti- the SAE. Throughout its history, tutional foundation of modern pub- the Baillie family was concerned lic accountancy. with the acquisition and retention of John Menzies Baillie (hereafter, land and other property and the eco- JMB) was born in 1826 near Culter nomic and social influences attrib- Allers in the Scottish county of utable to these matters. In addition,

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landownership was connected to eighteenth century to Georgia when reforms in bankruptcy law that con- this was a British-controlled colony vinced the SAE founders to protect in America. Several members of their interests in 1853. The foun- the Baillie family in Georgia re- ders were an élite group and many, turned to Scotland after the Ameri- like JMB, had close connections to can Revolutionary War and the loss the land and law. Approximately of their estates in the US. Bulloch six of every 10 SAE founders had (1898) was an American-based de- direct family connections to land- scendant of the Highland Baillie ownership. Thirteen were land- migrants. His book reveals that owners in their own right, 21 had JMB was not descended directly parents who owned land, 37 had from either Scottish kings and pow- grandparents as landowners, and 21 erful nobles or wealthy Lanarkshire married into landowning families. landowners. Instead, his immediate The Baillie genealogy illustrates ancestors were Edinburgh mer- this relation as it evolved over nine chants seeking commercial profits centuries from France to England to in colonial America and impover- Scotland to America and back to ished Scottish Highlanders attracted Scotland. JMB’s family estate at there by the promise of a fresh start. Culter Allers consisted of 4,500 Several migrants returned to Scot- acres in a parish of approximately land due to economic disaster 10,000 acres and, in 1882, he built caused by war. Despite genealogi- a new home in the Scottish baronial cal biases, the obvious and consis- style at Culter Allers. tent thread running through the The best-known source about 1872 and 1898 Baillie histories is JMB’s family tells a complex but the ownership of land. incomplete story about the Baillie The recorded Baillie family his- lineage (Baillie, 1872). It was writ- tory starts in 1090 when King Wil- ten by his lawyer brother, James liam II granted land in Northumber- William Baillie, and ignored sig- land in the north of England to one nificant aspects of the family his- of his knights, Guy de Baliol. Guy tory. The clear intention was to was the brother of Renaud de promote the Baillies of Culter Al- Baliol, Sheriff of Shropshire, and lers as members of a family with came from Bailleul in Normandy or powerful and notable associations French Flanders. Guy de Baliol with the turbulent history of Scot- had a son Bernard who fought for land. The reality, however, is a King Stephen at the Battle of the Baillie family history comprising Standard in 1138 and his descen- several branches, including one that dants included John de Baliol who left Lanarkshire in the fifteenth cen- acquired the barony of Galloway in tury for the Highland region of southern Scotland, and was succes- Scotland and then migrated in the (Continued on page 10)

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(Continued from page 9) and Lanarkshire and married the sively Sheriff of Cumberland, Not- illegitimate daughter of Sir William tingham, and Derby, and Governor Wallace of Elderslie. Their son, Sir of Castle. In 1255, John de William Baillie of Hoprig, Penston, Baliol forfeited his lands because of and Carnbrae, a favorite of King alleged treason. He later recovered David II of Scotland, produced two his estate and financed scholarships sons, each of whom started a sepa- for Scots students at the University rate branch of the family. Alexan- of Oxford in 1263. His widow der Baillie received the estate of funded Baliol College at Oxford. Dunain near Inverness from his John de Baliol was one of the Re- cousin the Earl of Huntley for brav- gents of Scotland during the minor- ery during the in ity of King Alexander III and as- 1452 and created the line from sisted King Henry III of England in which the American branch of the his war with the barons between family came. His brother, Sir Wil- 1258 and 1265. John’s son, also liam Baillie of Lamington, married John de Baliol, claimed the Scottish into the powerful family of Hume throne and King Edward I of Eng- of Polwarth and a son, Richard land arbitrated his claim. In 1292, Baillie, started the minor Baillie of Baliol became the tributary King of Bagbie line to which JMB be- Scotland and a vassal of the English longed. Other descendants of Sir king. His son, Edward de Baliol, William Baillie made judicious who died without issue, succeeded marriages involving influential his father as king but surrendered families in Scottish history and pro- the throne to King Edward III of vided public service in a variety of England in 1356. This effectively ways. For example, Sir William ended the royal Baillie lineage but Baillie of Hopring, Penston, and its persistent connection with nobil- Carnbrue’s grandson William Bail- ity continued for several further lie, was a favorite of King James III centuries. of Scotland and a Conservator of Guy de Baliol’s descendants the Truce between James and King included Ingelram de Baliol who Richard III of England. A great was the first Baillie to become grandson, Sir William Baillie of Chamberlain of Scotland. His son, Lamington, was Principal Master of Sir Henry de Baliol of Cavers, suc- the Wardrobe of Mary of Guise, the ceeded him as Chamberlain in Queen of Scotland, circa 1530 and 1219, and his grandson, Sir Alexan- the father of one of the nobles ac- der de Baliol of Cavers, also held cused of murdering the husband of the office from 1287. It is this Mary, Queen of Scots. King James Baliol line to which JMB belonged. VI of Scotland knighted a direct Sir Alexander’s son, William Bail- descendant of these Baillies, Sir lie, owned lands in Haddingtonshire William Maxwell-Baillie, who be-

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came Commissioner of the Lesser daughter of the Chief of the Clan Barons of Lanarkshire in 1612. A Grant. However, the Baillie of further direct descendant, also Sir Dunain fortunes declined rapidly William Maxwell-Baillie, was a after the forfeiture of their lands member of the General Assembly following the Battle of in in 1638, and defended the royal 1568. A direct descendant of Alex- cause against the Lord Protector ander Baillie, also Alexander and Oliver Cromwell in 1650. The the ninth Laird of Dunain, had a Lanarkshire Baillies were also re- sister, Mary Baillie, who married lated by marriage to the Menzies William McIntosh of Borlum near family and, thus, to the Carmichael Inverness. The McIntosh-Baillie family. Sir William Baillie’s line was to be important in the his- daughter married a neighboring tory of the Baillie family in colonial landowner, Alexander Menzies of America. Culter Allers, in the early seven- The American story of the Bail- teenth century and connected the lies starts with the foundation of the Baillies by marriage to the powerful British colony of Georgia. James Carmichael family that influenced Edward Oglethorpe was the eldest politics and control in southern son of a wealthy Surrey family of Scotland for centuries. Carmi- landowners and military men. He chaels were responsible for manag- was Member of Parliament for ing the borders region on behalf of Haslemere in Surrey in 1722 and, numerous kings of Scotland over while a member of the Prison Dis- many years and became influential cipline Committee, became aware courtiers and leading law officers of of the poor treatment of pauper Scotland. debtors and bankrupts. He was one Much of the foregoing geneal- of 21 trustees who obtained a royal ogy concerns the mainstream charter in 1732 to form the colony branch of the Baillie family as it of Georgia in North America for the relates to southern Scotland and is resettlement of paupers. The col- the principal focus of the Baillie ony was formed in 1733 at Savan- (1872) study. As such, it presents a nah with colonists from South formidable pedigree for JMB and Carolina, as there were insufficient his brother to impress the account- paupers available or willing to mi- ing and legal communities of Victo- grate from the UK. The true pur- rian Edinburgh. However, it ig- pose of the colony was as a bridge- nores the subsidiary branch of the head between the northern tobacco- family traceable back to Guy de producing colonies in British Baliol and concerned with the de- America and the Spanish colony of scendants of Alexander Baillie of Florida. In order to defend Geor- Dunain. The latter was Constable gia, which had been under Spanish of Inverness and husband of a (Continued on page 12)

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(Continued from page 11) Alexander Baillie of Hillhouse and control, Oglethorpe recruited 177 an Edinburgh lawyer. He acquired Scots from around Inverness in the estate of Culter Allers from the 1735. John Mohr McIntosh led Menzies family when the latter fell these immigrants. on hard times. His son, John Bail- John McIntosh was born in lie, was an Edinburgh merchant 1698 at Borlum south of Inverness. who traded with the British colo- He was a member of the Borlum nies in America and had sons who branch of the Clan McIntosh and a resided in Georgia - Alexander gentleman farmer well connected in Baillie as a lawyer and Robert Bail- the Scottish Highlands. He was lie as a plantation owner and sol- recruited by Oglethorpe and stated dier. For many years, Robert Bail- to be of good character and a Pres- lie prospered in Georgia, mainly in byterian. The immigrants left In- timber production but also growing verness in 1735 and reached Savan- rice and cotton. He purchased hun- nah in 1736. The settlement was an dreds of acres of land and received outpost of Scotland and McIntosh hundreds of acres from the Crown died there in 1761. Also in the in several parishes of Georgia in the McIntosh party was Kenneth Bail- 1760s and 1770s. The total area he lie - twenty years of age, a farmer, owned grew to nearly 5,000 acres. grandson of Alexander Baillie, the Robert Baillie also built and oper- ninth Laird of Dunain, and a distant ated Fort Barrington in 1760 as part cousin of JMB. John Mohr of Oglethorpe’s defenses against McIntosh became a leader in the the Spanish. development of Georgia and In 1751, Robert Baillie married McIntosh County is named after Ann McIntosh, a daughter of John him. He created the port of Darien Mohr McIntosh. At this time, there and fought in the War of Jenkin’s was a marriage settlement that later Ear against Spain with his Highland became central to a court dispute in Independent Company of Foot Sol- 1799 between various members of diers. His descendants included the Baillie family over the sale of well-known Georgian officers in Ann Baillie’s assets. She brought the Revolutionary Army of George several assets to the marriage in Washington as well as British 1751. These included 450 acres in Army officers in the war against St Andrews Parish, 50 acres in the Spain. town of Savannah, 7 Negro slaves, There were also Lanarkshire and 200 cattle. The sale of these Baillies who played a part in the assets was crucial to the survival of early history of Georgia. They Ann Baillie and her family. How- were descended from the Baillies of ever, during the American Revolu- Lamington via the Baillies of Bag- tionary War, Robert Baillie was a bie. James Baillie was the son of Tory or Loyalist and supported the

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British government, contrary to of Paris and presumably Robert most of his McIntosh relatives. In Baillie lost his property there as 1776, the Parochial Council of St well as in Georgia. It appears that, Andrews Parish issued a proclama- in 1787, the Commissioners of the tion declaring 27 Loyalists includ- East Florida Claims agreed to pay ing Robert Baillie to be taken im- him a sum of £500 in settlement of mediately into custody, as they his father’s estate. He then appears were deemed dangerous to public to have migrated to Edinburgh in safety. His Georgia property was 1789 and retired to Haddington in confiscated and he ended up at St East Lothian in 1794. Augustine in the British Colony of Robert Baillie’s younger son East Florida where he died in 1782. and George Baillie’s brother was In surviving correspondence, he John Baillie. He also traded in tim- writes of being a prisoner on parole, ber and his estates in Georgia with mounting debts and related amounted to at least 1,000 acres. interest he could not repay, and He appears not to have lost his es- hoping to return to his Georgia tates after the Revolutionary War plantation. He also writes of his and he was not listed as a pro- Negro slaves abducted by American scribed Loyalist. He therefore ships and the difficulties of not hav- seems to have avoided the losses ing slaves to support his family. A suffered by his father and brother. year later, his son and heir, George John Baillie married Alicia Gran- Baillie, was listed as one of 225 bery from Virginia in the late Loyalists banished from the State of 1770s. John Baillie is described in Georgia with their property confis- public records as a cotton planter. cated under the Act of Attainder, He appears to have been suffi- Banishment, and Confiscation of ciently successful to migrate to 1783. The British Crown had Scotland in the late eighteenth cen- granted George Baillie lands of tury. He settled at Culter Allers nearly 2,300 acres between 1765 and his son and JMB’s father, and 1772. He appears to have gone Robert Granbery Baillie was born to St Augustine with his father and there. The latter became a leading carried on business there as a tim- country gentleman in Lanarkshire ber merchant. There is surviving and married a relative, Anna Bail- correspondence in the 1780s from lie, daughter of Menzies Baillie, a his Nassau business agent (dealing barrel maker in the port of Leith. with his timber trade) and London Robert and Anna Baillie had two solicitor (dealing with his claim sons. As previously mentioned, against the British government for JMB’s brother was a lawyer, James recovery of his father’s estate in William Baillie, who inherited the East Florida). Florida was ceded to estate at Culter Allers from his fa- Spain in 1783 as part of the Treaty (Continued on page 14)

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(Continued from page 13) High School in Edinburgh and then ther on the latter’s death. He was a attended classes in arts and law at member of the Royal Company of the University of Edinburgh at vari- Archers and son-in-law of an Edin- ous times in the 1840s. He was burgh lawyer. When he died in apprenticed to SAE founder Wil- 1879, the estate reverted to JMB. liam Moncreiff from 1842 until JMB married the daughter of an 1849 when he became Moncreiff’s Edinburgh lawyer in 1854 and had partner. William Moncreiff was a two children. Robert Granbery member of a distinguished family Baillie became a bank clerk in Ed- of Perthshire ministers and lawyers inburgh and inherited the Culter who were substantial landowners Allers estate in 1880. He died in and Scottish nobility from 1744. 1896 of acute alcoholism but the Moncreiffs included a Moderator of family estate appears to have disap- the General Assembly of the peared from Baillie ownership by Church of Scotland in 1785 and this time. In 1888, Robert Gran- Chaplain to King George III in bery Baillie married a granddaugh- 1793, a Dean of the Faculty of Ad- ter of an SAE founder and his vocates in 1826 and high court daughter married into a famous judge in 1829, and a Solicitor Gen- Devon family of landowners, politi- eral for Scotland in 1850 and Lord cians, and academics. JMB’s Advocate for Scotland four times daughter, Anna Euphemia Balfour between 1851 and 1868. William Baillie, married an Edinburgh law- Moncreiff was active in the SAE yer and landowner. Her son, John foundation and held the influential Menzies Baillie Scott, was a fa- Scottish legal office of Accountant mous Scottish rugby player as well of Court from 1865 to 1889. JMB as a lawyer. He represented Scot- had two SAE apprentices during his land 21 times and was the team’s professional career. Robert Forman captain. He served as an officer in was admitted to the SAE in 1862 the Royal Flying Corps during the and was the son of a lawyer and First World War, received serious landowner. He practiced in Edin- wounds, and was mentioned in burgh. Henry William Glynn en- dispatches. JMB’s first wife died in tered the SAE in 1871 and then left 1860 after six years of marriage, Edinburgh for employment in Lon- and he married for the second time don. in 1868. His wife was an aunt of By 1851, JMB’s private resi- his first wife and the couple had dence in Edinburgh was in the fash- three daughters who each married ionable New Town district. He re- but had no issue. tired from public accountancy prac- At the time of the SAE founda- tice to the family estate at Culter tion, JMB was twenty-seven years Allers in 1880 and, in the 1881 old. He was educated at the Royal Census, his household there com-

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prised six members and four ser- gal threat to their occupation vants. Prior to his retirement, JMB (Walker, 1995). The threat con- had been an officer of numerous cerned court-related property ad- organizations based in Edinburgh. ministration (including landed es- This was typical of public accoun- tates) and the management of tancy practice of the time. Corpo- landed estates was of fundamental rate appointments included being importance to the practices of the an auditor or director of several founders. Baillie’s family history is well-known insurance companies. a testimony to landownership. It is He was also the auditor, secretary, obviously impossible to have a treasurer, or director of a number conversation with JMB, or any of of charitable organizations based in his fellow SAE founders, about the Edinburgh. JMB took little part in foundation. However, his family the SAE foundation. He attended a history reveals the importance of planning meeting in 1853. How- landed estates and other property to ever, he became SAE Auditor from the Baillie family over nine centu- 1856 to 1880. A member of the ries and it is hard to conceive this Royal Company of Archers, he would not have been an influence, won archery prizes in 1852, 1863, conscious or subconscious, in the and 1865. He died at Culter Allers foundation. Thus, the Baillie family in October 1886 and his grave is history offers part of the context for with that of his wife in the Dean understanding the SAE foundation. Cemetery of Edinburgh. The Baillie history also pro- This short biography of JMB vides a fascinating glimpse into uses the genealogy of the Baillies wealth creation in the approximate to reveal a family apparently re- period from 1750 to 1800. It is plete with men fit to comply with clear in the case of the immediate the Thomas Carlyle historical ancestors of JMB that family for- model of great men. However, tunes were gained and lost in colo- JMB’s genealogy is more useful in nial America. However, sufficient providing a case study that is useful wealth was accumulated by around in revealing something about the 1780 to 1800 to permit a return founders of the SAE. As previously migration to Scotland and the privi- mentioned, a large majority of the leged and influential life of land- founders such as JMB were con- owners. It is equally clear that this nected directly or indirectly with wealth was gained through use of landownership and this topic was slave labor. The Georgia Historical directly associated with the circum- Society archives relating to the stances of the foundation. Re- Baillie family and its offshoots are searchers typically explain the SAE replete with statements about foundation as a collective response slaves. Perhaps this was the reason by Edinburgh accountants to a le- (Continued on page 16)

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(Continued from page 15) References for JMB’s brother making no men- Baillie, J. W. (1872), Lives of the tion of the American branch of the Baillies (Edinburgh: Edmonston family in his genealogy and perhaps & Douglas). the abolition of slavery was a rea- Bulloch, J. G. B. (1898), A History son for JMB’s grandfather migrat- and Genealogy of the Family of ing from Georgia to Scotland. Suf- Baillie of Dunain (Green Bay, fice to say that JMB would proba- WI: Gazette Print). bly not have been an SAE founder Kedslie, M. J. M. (1990), Firm without the wealth generated by his Foundations: The Development of family’s American connections and Professional Accounting in Scot- activities. land (Hull: Hull University This study can only give a snap- Press). shot of the son of a local landowner who was an Edinburgh public ac- Lee, T. A. (2000), “A Social Net- countant practicing at the time of work Analysis of the Founders of the SAE foundation in 1854 and it Institutionalized Public Accoun- is limited by the amount of archival tancy,” Accounting Historians evidence available. Nevertheless, it Journal, December: 1-48. provides sufficient material to place Walker, S. P. (1995), “The Genesis JMB within a social context at that of Professional Organization in time and provides an insight about Scotland: a Contextual Analysis,” these early chartered accountants. Accounting, Organizations and Society, Vol.20 (4), 285-310. The Academy of Accounting Historians COMMITTEES 2005 (continued)

(Continued from page 3) nouncements of the award. Select the tion at AAA regional meetings. Assist outstanding manuscript under estab- in publicizing technical sessions, pa- lished guidelines. Present the award at pers, or panels at AAA regional meet- the annual AAH research conference. ings that relate to accounting history. Arrange for the manuscript to be con- Joel Thompson sidered for publication in AHJ. Northern Michigan University Thomas N. Tyson Ph: 906-227-1803 St. John Fisher College e-mail: [email protected] Ph: 585-385-8431 RICHARD G. e-mail: [email protected] VANGERMEERSCH THOMAS J. BURNS MANUSCRIPT AWARD BIOGRAPHICAL RESEARCH COMMITTEE AWARD COMMITTEE Charge: Prepare and publish an- Charge: Solicit and review resumes

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