Edmund J. Baillie

Edmund John Baillie  (4 May 1851 – 18 October 1897) was a Welsh businessman, horticulturalist and vegetarianism activist.

Biography
Edmund John Baillie was born in Hawarden on 4 May 1851. 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. On the amalgamation of Dickson's two firms, he became deputy Chairman of Dicksons, Limited.

Baillie was a friend of John Ruskin and was President of the John Ruskin Society in Liverpool. 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. 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.

Baille contributed to the Gardener's Magazine, Journal of Botany, Journal of Horticulture, Cottage Gardener and the Proceedings of the Linnean Society. For his services to natural science he was awarded the Kingsley Memorial Medal. Baillie was a Presbyterian and was church secretary at the English Presbyterian Church of Wales, Chester for many years. He was a spiritualist and member of the London Spiritualist Alliance.

Baillie died on 18 October 1897 in Chester.

Vegetarianism
Baillie was a vegetarian. He joined the Vegetarian Society in 1878 and later served as a Vice-President. Baillie authored papers in defence of vegetarianism that were read at conferences such as the International Vegetarian Congress.

Selected publications

 * John Ruskin: Aspects of His Thought and Teachings (1882)
 * The Importance of British Fruit Growing From a Food Point of View (1896)