William James Laidlaw Baillie was born in Edinburgh, where he later worked as a tutor at the Edinburgh College of Art. Baillie worked as a tutor at the Edinburgh College of Art. He was a keen teacher and devoted much of his energy to the advancement of fellow artists; a regular exhibitor with the Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour, Baillie was later appointed President of the Royal Scottish Academy. His professional output as an artist was minimalistic, and often went against the fashion of the times. Much of the artist’s work reflected upon his time in the British Army, when he travelled to India and Nepal and his own solo adventures to Bombay and Kashmir.