| Edmund J. Baillie | |
| Birth Name: | Edmund John Baillie |
| Birth Date: | 4 May 1851 |
| Birth Place: | Hawarden, England |
| Death Place: | Chester, England |
| Occupation: | Businessman, horticulturalist, activist |
| Awards: | Kingsley Memorial Medal |
Edmund John Baillie (4 May 1851 – 18 October 1897) was a Welsh businessman, horticulturalist and vegetarianism activist.
Edmund John Baillie was born in Hawarden on 4 May 1851.[1] As a young man, Baillie worked at the firm F. and A. Dickson and Sons of Eastgate, Chester, where he eventually became its adviser and partner.[2] On the amalgamation of Dickson's two firms, he became deputy Chairman of Dicksons, Limited.[3]
Baillie was a friend of John Ruskin and was President of the John Ruskin Society in Liverpool.[3] [4] He was honorary secretary and treasurer of the Grosvenor Museum at Chester and a member of the Chester Society of Natural Science. He was a member of the Royal Horticultural Society and was later a Fellow.[5] He was elected for the Linnean Society of London on 21 June 1878 and became a Fellow in 1883. Baillie specialised in fruit trees. He also corresponded with Walt Whitman.[4] [6]
Baille contributed to the Gardener's Magazine, Journal of Botany, Journal of Horticulture, Cottage Gardener and the Proceedings of the Linnean Society.[1] For his services to natural science he was awarded the Kingsley Memorial Medal.[2] Baillie was a Presbyterian and was church secretary at the English Presbyterian Church of Wales, Chester for many years.[2] He was a spiritualist and member of the London Spiritualist Alliance.[7]
Baillie died on 18 October 1897 in Chester.[1]
Baillie was a vegetarian. He joined the Vegetarian Society in 1878 and later served as a Vice-President.[8] Baillie authored papers in defence of vegetarianism that were read at conferences such as the International Vegetarian Congress.[2] [9]