Baird

Dominus Fecit

Baird Tartan
©2022 Gazetteer for Scotland

Baird Tartan

A family which takes its name from lands near Biggar in Southern Uplands of Scotland which they said to have gained after one of the family saved King William the Lion from a wild boar. King Robert the Bruce granted the barony of Cambusnethan to a Robert Baird and this branch of the family spread to Banffshire and later to Auchmeddan in Aberdeenshire.

Thomas the Rhymer is noted for a curious prophecy relating to the Bairds. He predicted that as long as Auchmedden was home to the Bairds, there would be eagles nesting in the nearby cliffs. When the lands passed out of Baird hands to the Earls of Aberdeen, nesting did indeed stop and they only returned when the youngest son of the Earl married a Baird.

Notable family members are General Sir David Baird (1757 - 1829), engineer Hugh Baird (1770 - 1827), foundrymen William and James Baird (1796 - 1864 and 1802-76), colonial administrator Sir Alexander Baird (1849 - 1920) and his son John Baird, who became Viscount Stonehaven (1974 - 1941) and inventor John Logie Baird (1888 - 1946).


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