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| '''Sir Gawaine Baillie''', 7th Bt (], ] - ], ]) was an amateur motor ], ], ], ], and the owner of the ancient estate surrounding ], the ancient fortress in Kent.<ref>{{cite web | title = Sir Gawaine Baillie, Bt | work = Obituaries | publisher = ] | date = 2004-01-02 | url = http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1450793/Sir-Gawaine-Baillie%2C-Bt.html | accessdate = 2008-06-30 }}</ref> After his death, it was discovered that he had amassed, almost entirely in secret, one of the greatest collections of stamps of the former ].<ref>{{cite web | last = Adams | first = Susan | title = Lots Of Stamps | work = What's Hot Now | publisher = ] | date = 2004-09-14 | url = http://www.forbes.com/2004/09/14/cz_sa_0914hot.html | accessdate = 2008-06-30 }}</ref> | '''Sir Gawaine Baillie''', 7th Bt (], ] - ], ]) was an amateur motor ], ], ], ], and the owner of the ancient estate surrounding ], the ancient fortress in Kent.<ref>{{cite web | title = Sir Gawaine Baillie, Bt | work = Obituaries | publisher = ] | date = 2004-01-02 | url = http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1450793/Sir-Gawaine-Baillie%2C-Bt.html | accessdate = 2008-06-30 }}</ref> After his death, it was discovered that he had amassed, almost entirely in secret, one of the greatest collections of stamps of the former ].<ref>{{cite web | last = Adams | first = Susan | title = Lots Of Stamps | work = What's Hot Now | publisher = ] | date = 2004-09-14 | url = http://www.forbes.com/2004/09/14/cz_sa_0914hot.html | accessdate = 2008-06-30 }}</ref> | ||
| == Early |
== Early life == | ||
| 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 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 |
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 amateur race car driver, competing in numerous championships against ], ] and ].<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 |
== Racing career == | ||
| Sir Gawaine's driving career began in 1956 when he first started racing a ] sports car. By 1958, he became a member of the Equipe Endeavour team, earning several wins in a ] including the John Davy Trophy at ] as part of the inaugural ] season. By 1960, Sir Gawaine had purchased a ] and entered several rounds of the ], including his first attempt at the ]. | |||
| {{cleanup-section|date=August 2008}} | |||
| ;1956 | |||
| In 1961, Sir Gawaine entered the ] automobile competition, finishing second in the touring car category. The following year, he crashed his ] during the same competition and fell {{convert|100|ft|m|abbr=on}} down a hillside. Sir Gawaine returned to the British Saloon Car Championship the following year, now campaigning an American-bult ]. The Galaxie was also transported to Australia in 1964, where Sir Gawaine and ] entered the ]. | |||
| Sir Gawaine first race with a ] | |||
| After Sir Gawaine's Australian tour with the Galaxie, he purchased a ] for the 1965 British Saloon Car Championship, he finished second in the class championship behind his teammate Roy Pierpoint. By 1967 Sir Gawaine had retired from racing. | |||
| ;1957 | |||
| Continued with The Lotus Eleven into 1957 | |||
| ;1958 | |||
| During 1958 he drove as number two to ] in his Equipe Endeavour team driving ] 3.4 he finished behind Tommy for most of the year wining at Mallory Park in May when Tommy had a puncture. On Boxing Day 1958 he carried off the John Davy Trophy for saloon cars before a crowd of 30,000 at Brands Hatch. | |||
| ;1959 | |||
| He was teamed with ] in team with after Tommy retired In the Jaguar, Sir Gawaine finished third in each of that year's big spring meetings at ], ] and ], and won a Goodwood ,] and a ] round of saloon car championship. | |||
| ;1960 | |||
| He Raced with his own ] with ] at ] , ] and the ] at Goodwood in sports car races plus a couple of saloon car outings during the year with a new ] 3.8 winning at Snetterton | |||
| ;1961 | |||
| He won the first round of the British Championship plus with his co-driver, ], were runners-up in the touring car category of the Tour de France, An event that lasted ten days with six circuit races, nine mountain climbs and two hours' racing round the public roads of Corsica. | |||
| ;1962 | |||
| He bought a ] Lightweight and continued to campaign the Jaguar saloon, he crashed during the this years Tour de France. His Jaguar leaving the road and plunging 100 feet down a ravine, and Sir Gawaine was taken to hospital with multiple cuts to the face. | |||
| ;1963 | |||
| He ordered an American ] with a 7.0 V8 engine although he raced a ] until its arrival a little later in the season .he engaged ] to run the car and spent the season when it arrived as team mate to ] who became British Touring Car champion. | |||
| His best result being 2nd at the British Grand Prix support race at Silverstone. | |||
| ;1964 | |||
| He raced this on into 1964 His best result being third behind two World Champions, ] and ], at Snetterton | |||
| In November 1964 Sir Gawaine took his Galaxie to Australian co driving with champion ] in Melbourne's ], only for Davidson to crash the giant car and hang precariously through the fence over a dam at Peter's Corner for much of the race.Three months later while still in Australia Sir Gawaine finished second in the Sandown Park International meeting at which Davison was killed; and a week later he travelled to Longford, Tasmania, regarded at the time as the world's most frightening road circuit, where he won outright. | |||
| ;1965 | |||
| Sir Gawaine bought a more nimble 4.7-litre ] V8 for the 1965 British Championship season, with the help of ] to run the car it proved his most successful yet - with two second places and a third. Finishing runner up to in Class to his team mate ] who was also the overall champion, plus a win at the British Grand Prix support race at Silverstone. | |||
| ;1966 | |||
| He moved to a ] Sprint for 1966 using his companies compressor specialty he fitted it with a Paxton supercharger it proved slightly trouble some although he won his class in the British Grand Prix support race and when he finished he was rarely out of the top four finishers. | |||
| In 1967 he used his Ford Falcon as an entrant of Australian ] who had been a team mechanic in 1963 | |||
| == Stamp Collecting == | == Stamp Collecting == | ||
Revision as of 20:58, 23 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 amateur race car driver, competing in numerous championships against Stirling Moss, Mike Hawthorn and Jackie Stewart. After retiring from motor racing, he returned to his boyhood hobby of collecting stamps.
Racing career
Sir Gawaine's driving career began in 1956 when he first started racing a Lotus Eleven sports car. By 1958, he became a member of the Equipe Endeavour team, earning several wins in a Jaguar Mark 1 including the John Davy Trophy at Brands Hatch as part of the inaugural British Saloon Car Championship season. By 1960, Sir Gawaine had purchased a Lotus Elite and entered several rounds of the World Sportscar Championship, including his first attempt at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
In 1961, Sir Gawaine entered the Tour de France automobile competition, finishing second in the touring car category. The following year, he crashed his Jaguar E-Type during the same competition and fell 100 ft (30 m) down a hillside. Sir Gawaine returned to the British Saloon Car Championship the following year, now campaigning an American-bult Ford Galaxie. The Galaxie was also transported to Australia in 1964, where Sir Gawaine and Lex Davison entered the Sandown 6 Hour International.
After Sir Gawaine's Australian tour with the Galaxie, he purchased a Ford Mustang for the 1965 British Saloon Car Championship, he finished second in the class championship behind his teammate Roy Pierpoint. By 1967 Sir Gawaine had retired from racing.
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.