BAILLIESTON,  THE NAME,  THE ESTATE , THE MAXWELLS , THE  FAMILY TREE  © Baillieston Born 'n' Bred 2024

FOREWORD:

What is the origin of the name Baillieston?  No matter what book,  essay, or article we read there is no definitive answer.

"The Rise of a Community"  Wotherspoon & Leitch 1950 , Mention a most likely "Baron Baillie" of the Monklands.

"My Ain Folk", Stewart Jackson 1983 agrees with the above "Baron Baillie" proposal.

 "Old Baillieston, Garrowhill and Easterhouse"  Rhona Wilson's 1997, suggests "The Baillies of Provan".

      Rhona Wilson states in her book that Baillieston House and the Estate was the property of the Maxwell family for its entire existence since 1600, yet provides no source for that claim and Baillieston or Baillieston House was not on any map in the 1600s.

       John Maxwell Scott-Maxwell  who inherited the Baillieston estate in 1901 wrote in his notes that "A John Baillie was living at Baillieston in 1732", he is described as "A merchant sometimes of London" on old tax records . That on it's own is a historical fact that really cannot be disputed as it was noted by the Maxwell's in their ancestral notes on the Baillieston Estate, and there was nothing there on maps before this period, it was all open moorland, meadow and bog.

  NOTE:  Work on tracing John Baillie is still ongoing and there are several possibilities that  hopefully research will narrow down. I am currently building a John Baillie page on the site  which I will put up with the historical data on the ongoing research and any input of knowledge would be most helpful. The records in that  pre-1855 period are really not that good and I am finding that university essays on the Ballie's and Maxwell's and clan books on the  families relating to the 1200's and on to the 1700's are the best source of information. 

One name that is very common throughout this research is Buchannan, which old books and diaries name the full family name as the "Maxwell-Buchanan''s and since the transfer of the deeds of the estate in the early years follows the female line it may be that John Baillie was mentioned by JM Scott-Maxwell as "living there" he perhaps was not actually "own" the estate, or was the Laird. But is still work in progress and delayed due to my wife's health.

Sources of the following : Birth, death and Marriage certs, Cess, Servants and Horse /Carriage tax from NLS (National Library of Scotland archives) . Newspapers archives. The Glasgow Story,  The Maxwell family tree and notes supplied by Douglas Scott-Maxwell Melbourne John Maxwell Scott-Maxwell's grandson.

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1730

Baillie : The name 'Baillieston' only appeared on maps from around 1750, nearly 20 years after John Baillie lived there.

*Notes from the last owner of Baillieston House, John Maxwell Scott-Maxwell:

"A John Baillie was living at Baillieston in 1732" 

On documents described as: "John Baillie of Baillieston, sometime merchant in London" 

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1770

French: The next owner is well recorded: William French a tobacco merchant, Baillie, and Provost of Glasgow intermittently. He married Elizabeth Buchanan daughter former Provost of Glasgow Andrew Buchanan of Drumpellier in 1774.

Below is a reprint published in 1871 by Robert Forrester. Page 31

William French was a tobacco merchant. His firm of French, Crawford & Co was sufficiently successful for him to purchase the estate of Baillieston. French was one of the founder directors of Glasgow Chamber of Commerce. He was a magistrate, and Lord Provost, 1778-1780. His fortunes were adversely affected by the disruption to trade caused by the American War of Independence, 1776-1783, and he was declared bankrupt in 1786.

Reference: Mitchell Library, GC 914.14351

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After French declared bankruptcy there is little doubt that Baillieston House and Estate would have been one of the first things to be sold off to pay debtors and looks as if it ended up in the hands, possibly back in the hands, of  the Buchanan family.

 However that was not the end of French, he  strangely reappeared in 1793 as part owner of the East Barrachnie Coal Company.

He died in 1802 of Small Pox.

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1778

Coats:  Archibald Coats Glasgow Merchant  lived in the Baillieston House.

He was married to Mary (Maxwell) Buchanan. 

Note: Mary Maxwell-Buchanan's mother was Christian Maxwell-Mitchell. The Maxwell family tree list her as Christina Mitchell, however all  historical records relating to the Buchanan family name her the unisex name Christian. It is the same person as the birth , marriage and death dates all match. Why they omitted the name Maxwell from the family tree is a mystery however it does appear as Mary Maxwell-Buchanan on the Buchanan Ancestry website. The lines  goes all the way back to Gabriel Maxwell and Andrew Buchanan in the 1630's

Archibald Coats died in 1780.

They had 6 children  Cecilia 1749/ George 1751 / Christian 1753 / Archibald1755 / Mary 1759 / Janet 1762

Their son George Coats then lived in the house and was listed in tax registers as a Bachelor.

Their daughter Cecelia Coats Married Stephen Maxwell  (not a relation)  in 1769 . They had one child James Maxwell

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 1780

(Maxwell) Buchanan-  : Mary (Maxwell) Buchanan continued to live in the house after Archibald Coats death.

Mary died in 1788.

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1809

Maxwell:

1809 Major James Maxwell son of Stephen and Cecilia inherited the Baillieston House estate from his grandmother Mary (Maxwell) Buchanan as he was the heir. The eldest son Stephen does not appear on any registers after his birth and he possibly emigrated. It is really a moot  point as James inherited  the estate. If I discovered nothing else pulling this together it as that nothing follows logical paths and it was down to the death of all ages mostly due to disease, war, or emigrating to the colonies. 

c. 1810 Major James Maxwell and Hannah Hunter had 8 children rapidly between 1820 and 1831

Stephen 28-11-1820 / John 3-8-1821 /  Henry 8-11-1822 / Cecilia 19-2-1824 / David 15-4-1822 / Mary 14-1-1827 / George 19-4-1830 / Rebecca  6-9-1831

"The Major" died in 1833

Hannah died 1872

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1852

At the age of 21 John Maxwell inherited Baillieston estate and married Jessie Morris from Largs on July 24th 1852

He was involved in coal mining in the Barrachnie, Garrowhill and Baillieston area. The Barrachnie pit ran right under his estate all the way to the current site of Baillieston Health Centre. He even named Baillieston Colliery after his wife, "The Jessie". The  pithead was somewhere between Muiredge and the Ladyhill field as the railway map that shows its location is approximate. 

My maternal grandfather was a miner and my mother told me that he could walk all the way from Barrachnie to Muiredge (Health Centre) underground. 

 John Maxwell was also a renowned Entomologist who travelled the world collecting mainly insect specimens which are in the Hunterian museum.

John and Jessie  had no children.

Jessie died in 1890 leaving John a widower

John died in 1899.

Jessie's father was a military man and yachtsman of note Major Robert Morris who inherited Moorburn House - Largs. The family were also related to the Buchanan family.

The male heir was John Maxwell's great nephew, his sister Rebecca's daughter, Rebecca Maxwell-Henderson's, son John Maxwell-Scott. He was only 19 on his great uncles John's death.

His sister Rebecca, as John Maxwell's will, became the trustee of the estate for 2 years until John Maxwell-Scott was 21.

1901

At the age of  21 John Maxwell-Scott  was the sole inheritor of the Baillieston Estate from his Great Uncle John Maxwell and took on the Lairds (English Lord) name of John Maxwell Scott-Maxwell. The money in the inheritance was £80,000  the equivalent of £12M in 2024.

Some other historical background to JM Scott-Maxwell can be read here>>>  John Maxwell Scott-Maxwell - Graces Guide 

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1910: JM Scott-Maxwell married  American novelist and screenplay writer Florida Pier she took on the name Florida Scott-Maxwell

They had 4 children:

Ian Stephen*,  b1911

 Hilary.  b1914

 Peter Douglas*. b1916

 Denis Gordon*. b1918

*I included  the second forenames as they were used in street names in the Garrowhill page.

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1939: (Feb) JM Scott Maxwell and Florida divorced. Florida moved to London and  Hilary, Peter and Denis moved with her. Stephen stayed with his father in Baillieston House until the outbreak of war. 

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1939 (April): JM Scott-Maxwell married his secretary Isabella Wharrie and took on the name Isabella Wharrie Scott-Maxwell . They had no children.

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1951

JM Scott-Maxwell died of bronchitis aged 70 at Baillieston House.

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Ian, Stephen  SM: Moved to Glamorgan in Wales in 1954 as was Chief Engineer and Manager of The Steel Company of Wales,  then Colville's, then British Steel as a Director. He died in 1989.

Hillary SM:  Followed  her mother Florida to London and then to Exeter. After WW2 she became a physiotherapist. she died in 2004 in Exeter 

Peter, Douglas SM : DSC & Bar served in RN for duration of WW2. Joined Vickers shortly after the war and in 1966 was promoted to  Managing Director of Vickers Australia, a diverse engineering group.  Retired in 1980, died 1990.

Denis, Gordon SM: Moved to Devon after WW2 and worked in the textile industry relatively close to Hilary and his mother Florida.

Denis was also an invertor. and patented modern food packaging methods.

 It is also uncertain how long Isabella  Wharrie Scott-Maxwell , JMSM  2nd wife, lived in the house. She did move to Edinburgh sometime after JM Scott-Maxwell died. Isa, as she was known, died in Edinburgh in 1972 aged 78.

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1964

The grounds of the house were sold to Lanarkshire County Council by the Maxwell Family.

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Notes on Scott-Maxwell Family tree compiled by Tom Hamilton of Baillieston for the website BBnB2024

Sources for compiling this version of the family tree were as follows.

• The Scott-Maxwell family tree base data was compiled from the notes of JM Scott-Maxwell transcribed by his son Denis Scott-Maxwell in 1985 and sent to me by his son Douglas from Melbourne. I thank them for this which gave me the foundation for this version of their family tree. 

• Original documents and certificates downloaded from the Scotland's People website, Birth, Marriage, Death Certificates, Census registers, Wills  total=198. I referred to date of some deaths not being available possibly due to family members emigrating, I will continue to trace these relatives and update.

• The Clan Buchanan / Family published history literature. The tree can be taken further back in time for anyone who wishes to do so however I suggest this is done using Clan Buchanan literature as you will see below.

• Wiki Tree was used also as it referenced source material.

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