Portrait of Captain John Baillie, 1805 (oil on canvas)

Colonel John Baillie (1772–1833) of Leys, entered the military service of the East India Company in 1790. He proved to be an excellent linguist and took up a professorship at Fort William College in Calcutta, India. In 1807 he resigned his professorship for the position of Resident at the Indian city of Lucknow which he held until 1815. In that year was commissioned a Lieutenant-Colonel of the 4th Native Infantry. He returned to the United Kingdom in 1816 and as well as managing the family estates in Inverness-shire he became Member of Parliament and a director of the East India Company.