Born at Kirkwall, Orkney, the oldest son of Captain John Baikie RN. Educated at the local grammar school and the University of Edinburgh where he obtained his MD. Entered the Royal Navy in 1848 as a surgeon and after serving on various ships in the Mediterranean, became assistant surgeon at the Haslar Hospital, Gosport, from 1851-54. Here he came under the influence of Sir Roderick Murchison who procured for him the post of surgeon and naturalist on the expedition to the River Niger in 1854 which traveled over two hundred and fifty miles further upriver than any previous expedition and about which Baikie published a Narrative of an Exploring Voyage up the River Niger, 1856. Earlier, in 1848, he had published an account of the mammals and birds of the Orkneys.
In April 1855 he commanded a further expedition to the Niger which was disbanded after his ship sank. Baikie carried on alone, however, and bought land at Lukoja where he eventually became the head of a considerable native settlement. In this capacity he was responsible for opening up roads and establishing new markets. He died in Sierra Leone while returning home for a well-earned period of leave.
Baikie’s interest in Coleoptera appears to have commenced while he was at the Haslar hospital. He assisted Arthur Adams with his Manual of Natural History, 1854, and with his 'Systematic List of the Coleoptera found in the vicinity of Alverstoke, South Hants.', Zool, 14-16, 1856-58. He is listed in the Ent.Ann., 1866, 2, as interested in Coleoptera, Myriapoda and Arachnida, and is known to have returned from the first Niger expedition with extensive collections.
To the obituary listed by Gilbert (1977), may be added Illustrated London News, 46, 1865, 88 (with portrait) and RGS Journal, 35, 1865,123. There is also an account of him in the DNB. (MD 9/01)