Pbesident's Address. 5 



" The Home of Annie Laurie." In that paper I made some 

 remarks upon the family history of its present possessor, and 1 

 stated that the facts I mentioned were based upon authentic records. 

 This led to the request that I would at some future time give 

 further information upon the same subject ; and this, with your 

 leave, I now propose to do. 



The family of which I am a member has, of course, as all 

 families have, a double lineage ; one on the father's, another on the 

 mother's side. In our case we are descended on both sides from 

 Protestant Refugees, and it is chiefly of that connection that I pro- 

 pose to treat. 



Our paternal name of " Bayley " is neither English nor Scotch, 

 but Flemish. It was an old tradition in our family that we were 

 descended from a Protestant Refugee, who settled in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Thorney in Cambridgeshire. It was also a tradition 

 " that none of the family were ever engaged in any kind of trade; " 

 they certainly lived as gentlemen ; they brought with them their 

 love of field sports ; they associated with and married into the 

 best families of the neighbourhood. 



My father's brother, who was the genealogist of the family, 

 gave most of his spare time to the investigation of the family his- 

 tory. The first discovery he made was of a French register of 

 baptisms at Thorney, containing numerous entries in the name of 

 de Bailleul, and in one instance of Bayley. In an entry of 16.55 

 Philippe de Bailleul is named as a sponsor ; this Philippe was our 

 ancestor. 



Philippe de Bailleul about the year IG.oO bought an estate at 

 Willow Hall, near Thorney, where he built a house, in which the 

 family resided for several generations. Attached to the house 

 were stables and granai'ies, remarkable for their height, size, and 

 construction ; which indicates that the land was used for grazing 

 pui-poses, no occupation connected with the cultivation of a per- 

 son's own land being considered as any disparagement to his 

 nobility. Arthur Young, a well-known agricultural authority in 

 the last century, writes in his " Travels " that " in Flanders the 

 cattle are tied up and fed in stables all the year round, but kept 

 scrupulously clean ; " and was told that no practice was considered 

 so wasteful as letting the cattle pasture abroad, from the loss of 

 food which was spoiled, as also of manure, to which great value 

 was attached. The nature and extent of the buildings at Willow 



