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| Sir Gawaine was raised at Leeds castle, the ancient fortress in ] that his mother Lady Olive Baillie had bought with her sister ] in 1928. At age five, after ] broke out, Baillie went to live with his American cousins, the Whitney family. Soon after returning to England, his father died, and he succeeded to the family title, becoming 7th Baronet of Polkemmet, Linlithgowshire on ], ].<ref>{{cite web | last = Lundy | first = Darryl | title = A genealogical survey of the peerage of Britain as well as the royal families of Europe: Person Page - 12893 | publisher = ThePeerage.com | url = http://www.thepeerage.com/p12893.htm | accessdate = 2008-06-30 }}</ref> | Sir Gawaine was raised at Leeds castle, the ancient fortress in ] that his mother Lady Olive Baillie had bought with her sister ] in 1928. At age five, after ] broke out, Baillie went to live with his American cousins, the Whitney family. Soon after returning to England, his father died, and he succeeded to the family title, becoming 7th Baronet of Polkemmet, Linlithgowshire on ], ].<ref>{{cite web | last = Lundy | first = Darryl | title = A genealogical survey of the peerage of Britain as well as the royal families of Europe: Person Page - 12893 | publisher = ThePeerage.com | url = http://www.thepeerage.com/p12893.htm | accessdate = 2008-06-30 }}</ref> | ||
| Following education at ] and ], he created HPC Engineering, a company which specializes in sub-contract manufacturing for the automotive, aerospace, computer, defence, medical and machine tool industries. He served as chairman and managing director of the company for the rest of his life. He was also an elite amateur race car driver, competing at the highest professional level with such legendary figures as ], ] and ], participating in numerous championships, including ], ], ], ] and the ].<ref>{{cite web | title = The Seventh Sale of Stamps from the Collection of Sir Gawaine Baillie | work = Press release | publisher = ] | date = 2006-02-01 | url = http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.shareholder.com/bid/downloads/news/20060201-186213.pdf | format = pdf | accessdate = 2008-06-30 }}</ref> After retiring from motor racing, he returned to his boyhood hobby of collecting stamps. | Following education at ] and ], he created HPC Engineering in 1959, a company which specializes in sub-contract manufacturing for the automotive, aerospace, computer, defence, medical and machine tool industries. He served as chairman and managing director of the company for the rest of his life. He was also an elite amateur race car driver, competing at the highest professional level with such legendary figures as ], ] and ], participating in numerous championships, including ], ], ], ] and the ].<ref>{{cite web | title = The Seventh Sale of Stamps from the Collection of Sir Gawaine Baillie | work = Press release | publisher = ] | date = 2006-02-01 | url = http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.shareholder.com/bid/downloads/news/20060201-186213.pdf | format = pdf | accessdate = 2008-06-30 }}</ref> After retiring from motor racing, he returned to his boyhood hobby of collecting stamps. | ||
| == Racing Career == | |||
| == Stamp Collecting == | == Stamp Collecting == | ||
Revision as of 22:53, 12 August 2008
Sir Gawaine Baillie, 7th Bt (8 March, 1934 - 21 December, 2003) was an amateur motor racing driver, engineer, industrialist, stamp collector, and the owner of the ancient estate surrounding Leeds Castle, the ancient fortress in Kent. After his death, it was discovered that he had amassed, almost entirely in secret, one of the greatest collections of stamps of the former British Empire.
Early Life
Sir Gawaine was raised at Leeds castle, the ancient fortress in Kent that his mother Lady Olive Baillie had bought with her sister Dorothy Paget in 1928. At age five, after World War II broke out, Baillie went to live with his American cousins, the Whitney family. Soon after returning to England, his father died, and he succeeded to the family title, becoming 7th Baronet of Polkemmet, Linlithgowshire on January 8, 1947.
Following education at Eton and Cambridge, he created HPC Engineering in 1959, a company which specializes in sub-contract manufacturing for the automotive, aerospace, computer, defence, medical and machine tool industries. He served as chairman and managing director of the company for the rest of his life. He was also an elite amateur race car driver, competing at the highest professional level with such legendary figures as Stirling Moss, Mike Hawthorn and Jackie Stewart, participating in numerous championships, including Le Mans 24 Hours, Goodwood, Aintree, Silverstone and the Tour de France. After retiring from motor racing, he returned to his boyhood hobby of collecting stamps.
Racing Career
Stamp Collecting
Sir Gawaine's goal in stamp collecting was to build a comprehensive collection of postage stamps from Great Britain and the British Empire, starting with the earliest issues of Queen Victoria through to the present. Sir Gawaine was interested in only the most perfectly preserved stamps and his collection is distinguished from others of comparable scale by his exacting standards. He mastered at least ten areas of specialisation and acquired over 100,000 stamps, of the highest quality including a copy of the scarce Edward VII 2d Tyrian plum. The collection was considered the most comprehensive of its kind and, when Sotheby's put the stamps up for auction, after his death, the collection was described as the most important to be sold in more than 50 years. Sotheby's divided the stamps into ten separate auctions, the first nine of which exceeded the initial estimate of £11m, by more than £4m.
References
- "Sir Gawaine Baillie, Bt". Obituaries. Telegraph.co.uk. 2004-01-02. Retrieved 2008-06-30.
- Adams, Susan (2004-09-14). "Lots Of Stamps". What's Hot Now. Forbes.com. Retrieved 2008-06-30.
- Lundy, Darryl. "A genealogical survey of the peerage of Britain as well as the royal families of Europe: Person Page - 12893". ThePeerage.com. Retrieved 2008-06-30.
- "The Seventh Sale of Stamps from the Collection of Sir Gawaine Baillie" (pdf). Press release. Sotheby's. 2006-02-01. Retrieved 2008-06-30.
- ^ "Stamp collection raises millions". BBC. 2004-10-01.
- "The Philatelic Collection formed by Sir Gawaine Baillie, Bt". News Stories. Worldcollectorsnet.com. 2004-09-25. Retrieved 2008-06-30.