Joseph Baillon

Major-General Joseph Aloysius Baillon, (6 October 1895 – 11 April 1951) was a senior British Army officer who served in both the First and Second World Wars.

Early years Joseph Baillon was the seventh son of Louis Augustin and Mary Julia Baillon (at some time residents of the Falkland Islands). He was educated at King Edward's School, Birmingham and at St Bede's College. He married, in 1925, Gertrude Emily Fellowes Prynne of Plymouth; the couple had two sons and one daughter.

As Adjutant during the advance through Abancourt on the afternoon of 9 October 1918, he frequently, under heavy fire, proceeded in advance of the battalion in order to find the route. Both before and after this event he carried out his duties regardless of his personal safety under the most adverse conditions, and often under heavy artillery fire.

Baillon remained with the South Staffordshires during the interwar period until 1931, as adjutant or as a staff captain. From 1931 to 1932 he was in England, where he attended the Staff College, Camberley, where Brian Horrocks, Sidney Kirkman, Arthur Dowler, Cameron Nicholson and Nevil Brownjohn were among his classmates. From 1936 and 1945, he was employed as a General Staff Officer in the Middle East, Australia and Britain. In 1948 he was made a Companion of the Order of the Bath.

He retired from the Army on 30 March 1949 as a Major-General. From 1949, Baillon was a Director of the Irish brewers, Beamish and Crawford Ltd, of Cork. Joseph Baillon died on 11 April 1951.

Honours and awards Companion of the Order of the Bath 10 June 1948 Commander of the Order of the British Empire (Military Division) 5 August 1943 (OBE 30 December 1941) Military Cross 2 April 1919 Mentioned in Despatches 24 May 1918, 23 December 1943 Commander of the Order of the Crown with Palm (Belgium) 15 February 1952 Croix de Guerre 1940 with Palm (Belgium) 15 February 1952