Hugh Aiken Bayne

Who was Hugh Aiken Bayne?

Hugh Aiken Bayne was the son of Thomas Levingston Bayne, a lawyer who fought in the Civil War. His grandfather John Gayle was a Congressman and Governor of Alabama.

Bayne attended Yale University, where he graduated in 1892 with an AB. While at Yale, he published The Tales of Temple Bar: A Prologue, a collection of his comic writing for campus humor magazine The Yale Record. He was a member of Skull and Bones.

He would later receive an honorary LLD from Tulane University. In the same year he was admitted to the bar, and began the practice of law in New Orleans. Bayne moved to New York City in 1898, where he would continue the practice of law until 1919. From 1905 to 1914 he was a member of the storied law firm, Strong & Cadwalader of New York City.

During World War I he served as a major judge advocate in the Adjutant Generals Office, as a counsel on the Prisoners of War Mission and served on the Liquidation Commission of the War Department. He was made a Lieutenant Colonel in 1919, but he never fought in any battles. For his services he was decorated with the Distinguished Service Medal and the Légion d'honneur.