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| Baird of Elie |
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| Baird of Ury, Viscounts Stonehaven |
The family noticed here were tenant farmers at Old Monkland in north Lanarkshire throughout the 18th century, and lived in very humble circumstances. Even Alexander Baird (1765-1833), who became a coalmaster as well as a farmer on a large scale, and the confidant of several of his landlords, left a personal estate of less than £1,000 and lived most of his life in a single-storey farmhouse.
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| High Cross Farm, Old Monkland: the largest of the farms occupied by Alexander Baird (1765-1833) before he bought Lochwood. |
All of the partners in William Baird & Co. made fortunes, and William Baird as the senior partner and James Baird as the technical mastermind became millionaires. Their wealth was on such a scale that the acquisition of landed estates did not require the withdrawal of capital from the business on a significant scale. The fact that several of the brothers bought estates within a year or two makes it look as though they acted in concert, although in most cases it would seem that the purchase of landed property did not imply retirement from the business. Robert Baird seems to have bought the Auchmedden estate (on which there was no house) essentially because it represented a connection with the earlier Baird gentry family, with whom there was believed to be a distant connection. Four of the brothers died without issue and passed their property either to a sibling to to nephews, creating a remarkably complicated pattern of ownership, which may most easily be summarized in a table.
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| Table 1: acquisition and descent of landed property in Baird family. |
Few of these rapidly acquired properties remained the property of the brothers' descendants for more than a couple of generations, as their descendants proved better at spending money than at making it. William's son, William Baird (1848-1918) and grandson William James Baird (1893-1961) were both addicted to foxhunting, and moved to Rutland, where they both served as masters of the Cottesmore hunt. Cambusdoon and Elie House, which they held, were sold in 1926 and 1928 respectively. William's younger son, John George Alexander Baird (1854-1917) inherited the Muirkirk estate and built Wellwood House there, but before his death he had acquired Colstoun (East Lothian) from his wife's family, and his widow lived there and sold the Muirkirk estate in 1926.
John Baird's eldest son, Sir Alexander Baird (1849-1920), 1st bt., spent much of his life in the Middle East, although he did not neglect the Ury and Rickarton estates. His son, Sir John Lawrence Baird (1874-1941), 2nd bt. and later 1st Viscount Stonehaven, was a diplomat and politician and was also abroad for a good deal of his life. He too maintained Ury and Rickarton, but on his death Ury had to be sold to meet the death duties on the estate. Rickarton remains the property of his descendants.
John's younger son, John Baird (1852-1900) inherited Lockwood, Easterhouse and Knoydart, but sold Knoydart soon afterwards, and let Lockwood and Easterhouse from the late 19th century onwards. At his death they passed to trustees, who appear to have sold the freehold in 1926. Douglas Baird (1808-54) left two daughters, who inherited Closeburn Hall jointly, but the house appears to have been abandoned before 1900. George Baird left one son, George Alexander Baird (1861-93), who inherited Auchmedden, Stichill and Strichen. He was well-known in his day as a racehorse owner, trainer and amateur jockey (riding as 'Mr. Abington'), but he is said to have made money from the turf rather than otherwise. His extravagances lay in other directions: he was an early promoter of prize-fighting and he was twice named as co-respondent in divorce proceedings, as well as having a long and expensive affair with Lillie Langtry. At his death he left no issue and his estates passed to trustees who sold them in about 1916 and 1925.
Thus only the modest Rickarton estate remained in Baird hands after the Second World War. After Lord Stonehaven died in 1941 it remained the home of his widow. In 1966 she succeeded her brother as Countess of Kintore in her own right, and the Keith Hall estate passed to her son and heir, the 2nd Viscount Stonehaven, who took the name Keith in preference to Baird. When she died, aged 100, in 1974, her son inherited as 12th Earl of Kintore and took possession of Rickarton. Lord Kintore lived, however, at Keith Hall (until the sold the house there to Kit Martin in 1984 for division into apartments) and he sold Rickarton to his son-in-law, John Francis Holman (1924-2015). Holman's son, Richard Ian Holman-Baird (b. 1958), and his family now live at Rickarton.
Lochwood House, Easterhouse, Lanarkshire
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| Lochwood House, Easterhouse in about 1906. Image: Mitchell Library, Glasgow |
The house was built in about 1825 in a fine position above Bishop's Loch for Alexander Baird (1765-1833), and probably consisted at first only of the three-bay two storey block in the centre of the view above, and a service wing behind it. It was later extended at either end with taller wings having low-pitched gables with decorated bargeboards. The wing on the right was built first, as a new main block with reception rooms, the principal bedrooms, and an entrance porch. This was certainly in existence by 1858 and was probably built in the 1840s for John Baird. The wing on the left followed later but was in existence by 1897. The house was let from the late 19th century onwards, and by 1937 was a tenement building. The house was acquired by the National Coal Board in the 1940s and used as a home for pensioned mineworkers until the Easterhouse estate was built and they were rehoused there. The house was derelict by 1962 and was demolished soon afterwards.
Descent: sold 1825 to Alexander Baird (1765-1833); to son, William Baird (1796-1864), who gave it to his brother, John Baird (1798-1870); to son, John Baird (1852-1900) who let it from 1888; to trustees who appear to have sold in 1926... sold 1940s to National Coal Board; dem. c.1963.
Cambusdoon House, Ayrshire
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| Cambusdoon House: entrance front as first built for James Baird. Image: Glasgow School of Art. Some rights reserved. |
The house was built in a Scots Baronial style in 1853 for James Baird (1802-76), whose interests extended into Ayrshire. The house has been plausibly attributed to David Bryce, but is not included on the standard list of his works. The only archival evidence seems to be plans for the addition of a vinery in c.1855, by William Clarke & George Bell. Since they had both previously been in the office of William Burn, they must also be plausible candidates for the main building.
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| Cambusdoon House: entrance front in 1885, from Millar's Castles and Mansions of Ayrshire. |
The turreted two-storey entrance block in the foreground of the 1885 view above was an addition presumably made for William Baird after he inherited the house. The house became a preparatory school in 1926, and soon after this closed in 1967 the house was burned out in 1970. The ruins were left standing until 1976, when they were deemed to be dangerous and demolished. The landscaped grounds remain a public park.
The ancient castle of Ury was apparently burnt by Royalist troops in 1645 during one of the Scottish campaigns of the Civil War. The ruins seem to have been patched up sufficiently for Col. Robert Barclay (1610-86), who bought the estate in 1647-48, to live there in the 1650s and 1660s, but in 1670 he built a new three-storey L-plan house. It was subsequently converted to the Z-plan by the addition of round towers at two of the diagonally opposite angles, and is said to have been vaulted throughout. In 1679 the architect James Smith was paid to 'cover with freestone the house of Urie', and the towers may have been added at the same time. A 19th century source records that the houe 'was decorated inside by frescoes in the Italian fashion'.
In 1789 James Playfair made proposals for remodelling the house in either the Gothic or the classical style for Robert Barclay (1731-97), but nothing seems to have been done, and the 17th century house survived until 1855, when it was pulled down to clear the site for a new building designed by John Baird I of Glasgow for Alexander Baird (who appears to have been no relation).
In 1882-84 the house was extended at the left-hand end of the main front by the addition of a huge east wing with a second tower rising to pair of crow-stepped gables designed by Alexander Ross for Sir Alexander Baird, 1st bt. The house seems to have remained in use until the 1940s when it was abandoned, and in 1959 it was deliberately unroofed to avoid property taxes. The solidity of construction was such, however, that the shell of the building survived decades of neglect.
The house was begun as a small gable-ended villa built in about 1804 for Col. Hepburn, and was given its present wider front entrance range by John Smith of Aberdeen in 1829-32. This has a plain five bay, two-storey front with a minimally advanced centre and floor-length windows on the ground floor. The overhanging roof gives the house a faintly Italianate air and may have been altered later. Smith's porch was removed in 1975 and now stands detached, like a folly, on the lawn south-east of the house. A better image of the house can be found here.
Descent: built for Col. William Rickart Hepburn (d. 1807); to son, Robert Rickart Hepburn (c.1803-37) ... sold c.1854 to Alexander Baird (1765-1833); to son, John Baird (1798-1870); to son, Sir Alexander Baird (1849-1920), 1st bt.; to son, Sir John Lawrence Baird (1874-1941), 2nd bt. and 1st Viscount Stonehaven; to son, James Ian Baird (later Keith) (1908-89), 2nd Viscount Stonehaven and later 12th Earl of Kintore; sold to son-in-law, John Francis Holman OBE (1924-2015); to son, Richard Ian Holman-Baird (b. 1958).
An account of this house will be found in my previous post on the Carmichael-Anstruther family of Elie House and Carmichael House, baronets.
A large but rather plain Victorian mansion built by an unknown architect in 1878 for John Baird of Muirkirk on the site of a much smaller earlier house of the Campbell family, which reputedly bore the date 1600. The new house was L-shaped and built of stone, and was of three storeys, with a projecting four-storey tower at the angle between the two main ranges. The gables of the tower and a subsidiary gable to its left were crow-stepped. A lower service wing projected at the rear. The house was demolished in 1928 or 1936.
Descent: built for John Baird (1854-1917); to widow, Susan Georgiana Baird (1861-1951), who sold 1925; demolished 1928 or 1936.
Baird, Alexander (1765-1833). Son of William Baird (d. c.1775) of Woodhead, Old Monkland, and his wife Jean Baillie, born 12 May 1765. Educated at Old Monkland parish school. He became a tenant farmer on a steadily increasing scale, leasing land from several different proprietors, and he was also a miller for some years, leasing a corn mill at Mill of Langloan. From 1816 he began to lease coal mines for his sons to operate, taking on Rochsolloch, Airdrie, 1816-20; Merryston, 1820-26 and Gartsherrie from 1826. In 1828 he also leased the iron mines near Gartsherrie in partnership with his sons and a piece of land on which to built blast furnaces, but he retired in 1830. He was one of those who formed the Langloan Company of Volunteers, c.1818. He married, August 1794, 'a woman of extraordinary energy', Jean (d. 1851), daughter of James Moffat of Airdrie, and had issue:
(1) Janet Baird (1794-1880), born at Woodhead, 6 December 1794; as a girl assisted her mother with the family and farm; married 1st, 15 December 1821 at Old Monkland, Alexander Whitelaw (d. 1826), son of Thomas Whitelaw, farmer, and had issue two sons and two daughters; after his death, managed their farm alone until she married 2nd, 2 December 1834, John Weir (d. 1885), and had further issue one son and one daughter (twins); her children played a large part in the later management of William Baird & Co. and the Eglinton Ironworks; died at Dumbeth House, Old Monkland, 9 December 1880; will confirmed 11 January 1881 (estate £12,333);
(2) William Baird (1796-1864) [see below, Baird of Elie House and Wellwood House];
(3) John Baird (1798-1870) (q.v.);
(4) Alexander Baird (1799-1862) (q.v.);
(5) James Baird (1802-76) (q.v.);
(6) Jane Baird (1804-82), born at Kirkwood, 24 August 1804; educated at Old Monkland and in Glasgow; married, 6 December 1831, Thomas Jackson (d. 1863) of Coats (Lanarks) and had issue three sons and six daughters; died 6 October 1882; will confirmed 8 January 1883 (estate £8,419);
(7) Robert Baird (1806-56) of Auchmedden, born at Kirkwood, 16 April 1806; educated at Glasgow University (MA 1828); apprenticed to James Taylor, WS, of Glasgow; set up in practice as a solicitor at Glasgow, but subsequently joined the office staff of William Baird & Co. (partner from 1840); managed Thankerton Colliery; a deputy governor of the Forth & Clyde Canal; a Conservative in politics; Dean of Guild of Glasgow at the time of his death; lived at Cadder House; bought the Auchmedden estate (Aberdeens.) in 1854; died unmarried and without issue at Cadder House, 7 August 1856 and was buried at the Glasgow Necropolis;
(8) Douglas Baird (1808-54), born at Kirkwood, 31 March 1808; educated at Old Monkland school and in Glasgow; a partner in George Baird & Co.; he managed the office at Gartsherrie and the Thankerton colliery; purchased the Closeburn Hall (Dumfriess.) estate, 1848, and retired from direct involvement in the family firm; married, 28 July 1851 at St George, Hanover Sq., London, Charlotte (c.1815-68), daughter of Capt. Henry Acton of 12th Lancers, and had issue two daughters; died suddenly, 7 December 1854, and was buried at Closeburn; will confirmed 21 December 1855 (estate £224,864);
(9) George Baird (1810-70), born at High Cross, 28 July 1810; educated at Old Monkland School; suffered an accident in childhood and afterwards was subject to epileptic fits for ten or twelve years; an officer in the Lanarkshire Yeomanry Cavalry (Capt.); from the 1830s, became a partner in William Baird & Co., and managed the colleries at Gartsherrie and from 1846 the Eglinton ironworks in Ayrshire; purchased the Strichen estate (Aberdeens.) in 1855 and succeeded his brother David at Stichill (Roxburghs) in 1860; DL for Berwickshire (form 1866); married, 15 November 1858 at St George, Hanover Sq., London, Cecilia (c.1827-95), daughter of Vice-Adm. Villiers Francis Hatton MP of Clonard (Wexford), and had issue one son; died at Strichen, 24 August 1870, and was buried at Stichill; will confirmed 8 October 1870 (estate under £1,000,000);
(10) David Buchanan Baird (1816-60), born at High Cross, 18 November 1816; educated at Old Monkland and Langloan schools and after his father's death at Edinburgh and in Paris (France); entered William Baird & Co. and became a partner in 1840; hunted with the Glasgow Hunt; purchased the Stichill estate (Roxburghs.) in 1853; suffered from mental illness from 1857 and died unmarried and without issue at Highgate Hall (Essex), 18 October 1860; he was buried with his parents at Old Monkland/Coatbridge; will confirmed 29 March 1861 (estate £156,434).
He lived as a tenant farmer at Woodhead, 1785-98, Kirkwood, 1798-1808 and High Cross, 1808-25, until he purchased Lochwood House, Old Monkland (Lanarks) in 1825.
He died at Newmains Farm, 23 December 1833 and was buried at Old Monkland/Coatbridge; his will was confirmed 25 July 1835 (effects £886). His widow died 8 July 1851 and was buried in the same place; her will was confirmed 18 August 1851 (effects £1,272).
Baird, James (1802-76). Fourth son of Alexander Baird (1765-1833) and his wife Jean Moffat, born at Kirkwood, Old Monkland, 5 December 1802. Educated at Old Monkland parish school, but left at the age of 12 for a career in farming, and afterwards educated himself. From 1820, farmer at Newmains Farm, and from 1822 joined his brothers in managing the adjoining Merryston colliery. From 1826 he became principally involved in the management of the Gartsherrie coal and ironworks, and from his mechanical skill and inventiveness, he became the superintendent of the works, leaving the book-keeping to his brother William and the sales operation in Glasgow to his brother Alexander. Throughout his life he acquired land in Lanarkshire, Ayrshire and Fife, all primarily for mining purposes. In 1826 his father, two brothers and himself leased coalfields at Gartsherrie and in the vicinity, and in 1828 iron mines near by. After his father retired in 1830, the family's large ironworking interests were reorganised as William Baird & Co, with James in overall control. His improvements in machinery largely increased the output of his blast furnaces, which by 1864 had grown in number to nearly fifty, producing 300,000 tons annually and employing 10,000 hands. He was also a director of the Forth & Clyde Canal and invested heavily in railways, both in the UK and North America. He was Conservative MP for Falkirk Burghs, 1851-57; DL (from 1868) and JP for Ayrshire and DL for Inverness-shire (from 1859). He was for many years a member of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, and invested some of his profits in public benefactions, founding schools to educate his workers, the Baird Lectures for the defence of orthodox theology, and the Baird Trust, which he endowed in 1873 with £500,000 to help the Established Church of Scotland to expand its mission. From 1844 he suffered from rheumatism, and in 1846 he travelled on the Continent in search of a cure. He married 1st, 10 February 1852 at Old Monkland, Charlotte (d. 1857), daughter of Robert Lockhart of Castlehill (Lanarks) and 2nd, 8 December 1859, Isabella Agnew (d. 1904), daughter of Adm. James Hay of Belton (East Lothian), but had no issue.
He bought the Greenfield estate (Ayrs.) in about 1853, built a new house there and named it Cambusdoon. In 1857 he bought , Knoydart (Inverness) as a retreat. He also bought Auchendrane (Ayrs.) in 1862, Muirkirk in 1863, and Drumellan in 1864. On the death of his brother Robert in 1856 he succeeded to Auchmedden (Aberdeens.).
He died 20 June 1876; his will was confirmed 31 August 1876 (estate £1,190,868). His first wife died in Nice (France), 29 December 1857. His widow died at Cambusdoon, 7 December 1904; her will was confirmed 18 February 1904 (estate £42,668).
Baird, Alexander (1799-1862). Third son of Alexander Baird (1765-1833) and his wife Jean Moffat, born at Kirkwood, 29 December 1799. Educated at Old Monkland and Langloan schools. Soon after his brother William began managing a coalfield at Airdrie, he was established a Glasgow as a coal merchant to build the market for the firm's coal, and he later also undertook the same function in marketing the iron produced by William Baird & Co. He was a man of strongly Conservative opinions, and took a keen interest in politics. He was noted for his shrewdness in business and for his witty and sarcastic sayings. He was unmarried and without issue.
He purchased Ury House in 1854 and built a new house there in 1855. At his death the estate passed to his elder brother, John Baird.
He died in London, 2 March 1862, and was buried at Ury; his will was confirmed 19 March 1862 (estate £694,630).
Baird, John (1798-1870). Second son of Alexander Baird (1765-1833) and his wife Jean Moffat, born at Woodhead, 19 February 1798. Educated at Old Monkland, Langloan and New Monkland schools and at Glasgow University, where he did not complete his studies. Farmer at High Cross, Old Monkland, from 1830. A member of the Lanarkshire Yeomanry Cavalry, 1819-20. He was the only one of the Baird brothers who stuck to farming and did not join the family firm of ironmasters. DL for Kincardineshire; JP for Kincardineshire and Lanarkshire. He was described as 'a man of contented and joyous disposition..., great wit and readiness of repartee... good temper and kindliness'. In the 1860s, his health gave way and he was obliged to spend the winters on the Continent. He married, 5 December 1848, Margaret (1790-1883), daughter of John Findlay of Springhill (Lanarks), and had issue:
(1) Sir Alexander Baird (1849-1920), 1st bt. (q.v.);
(2) John Baird (1852-1900) of Lochwood, born 17 February 1852; educated at Harrow and Christ Church, Oxford; inherited Lochwood House from his father in 1870 and the Knoydart estate from his uncle James Baird in 1876, which he later sold; Unionist MP for NW Lanarkshire, 1885-86; DL and JP for Inverness-shire; married, 23 April 1878 at Henbury (Glos), Constance Emelia (c.1854-1914), second son of John Harford Battersby Harford of Blaise Castle (Glos) and had issue two sons and two daughters; died 8 July 1900 and was buried at Old Monkland; his will was confirmed 27 October 1900 (estate £63,560);
(3) Janet Findlay Baird (1861-1928), born 12 November 1861; married, 9 January 1884 at St George, Hanover Sq., London, Col. George Chalmer (d. 1895) of Tuchdairnie; died 21 April 1928 and was buried at Dean Cemetery, Edinburgh; will confirmed in Scotland, 7 June 1928 (estate £21,461) and sealed in London, 15 June and 30 August 1928.
He was gifted Lochwood by his brother in 1839 but did not move there until 1847. He purchased the adjoining Easterhouse estate in 1861. He inherited Ury House and Rickarton from his younger brother in 1862. At his death, Ury House passed to his elder son and Lochwood and Easterhouse to his younger son.
He died in Naples (Italy), 29 January 1870, but was buried at Ury; his will was confirmed 31 March 1870. His widow died 14 July 1883; her will was confirmed 20 October 1883 (estate £11,833).
Baird, Sir Alexander (1849-1920), 1st bt. Elder son of John Baird (1798-1870) and his wife Margaret, daughter of John Findlay of Springhill (Lanarks), born 22 October 1849. Educated at Harrow. As a boy his health was not robust and he first went abroad almost immediately after leaving school, and thereafter usually spent the winters abroad. He spent a large portion of his life in the Middle East, and especially in Egypt, where he later served as president of the Permanent Arbitration Board. He spoke fluent Arabic and was heavily involved in philanthropic projects in that country. Lord Lieutenant of Kincardineshire, 1889-1918. President of Kincardineshire Territorial Forces Association; DL for Aberdeenshire and Inverness-shire; JP for Inverness-shire. He was created a baronet, 8 March 1897 and appointed GBE, 1920, and also held the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Nile. He married, 16 July 1873, the Hon. Annette Maria (1851-84), daughter of Sir Lawrence Palk, 4th bt. and later 1st Baron Haldon, and had issue:
(1) Sir John Lawrence Baird (1874-1941), 2nd bt. & 1st Viscount Stonehaven (q.v.);
(2) Evelyn Margaret Baird (1875-1944), born 25 April 1875; JP for Wiltshire; married, 5 December 1907 at St George, Hanover Sq., London,, Lt-Col. Albert Edward Stanley Clarke DSO MVO (1879-1926), Scots Guards, only son of Maj-Gen. Sir Stanley Astel de Calvert Clarke GCVO and had issue one son and one daughter; died 12 October 1944; will proved 3 May 1945 (estate £16,648);
(3) Brig-Gen. Alexander Walter Frederick Baird (1876-1931), born 2 October 1876; educated at Eton and New College, Oxford; an officer in the Gordon Highlanders (2nd Lt., 1897; Capt., 1902; Lt-Col., 1914; Brig-Gen., 1916), who served in South Africa, 1899-1902 (despatches four times; DSO, 1902) and First World War, 1914-18 (despatches nine times; commanded 100th Infantry Brigade, 1916-19); appointed CB, CMG and a commander of the Legion d'honneur; as well as holding several other foreign orders; head of British military mission in Bulgaria, 1919; military attaché in Madrid, 1920 and at Constantinople and Sofia, 1921-24; secretary of the Carlton Club, London; married, 16 February 1907 (sep. c. 1920), Maud Constance (d. 1952), daughter of Charles William Waylen and formerly wife of Francis Carbutt Bell, and had issue one son; died as the result of a head-on collision between his MG and a bus, in which a passenger was also killed, 20 February 1931, and for which the bus company was later required to pay damages of £9,000 in a civil case; his will was proved 23 July 1931 (estate £6,089);
(4) Janet Norah Baird (1878-1943), born 7 January and baptised at St Saviour, Chelsea, 6 February 1878; married, 1 October 1902 at St Peter, Eaton Sq., London, Lt-Col. Sir Arthur George Ferguson CBE (1862-1935), HM Inspector of Constabulary in Scotland, son of Col. George Arthur Ferguson of Pitfour (Aberdeens) and had issue four sons and one daughter; died in Aberdeen, 15 October 1943; will proved 4 February 1944 (estate £3,811);
(5) Edith Annette Baird (1880-81), born in Cairo, 6 January 1880; died in infancy, 20 October 1881, and was buried at Ury;
(6) Nina Isabel Baird (1882-1919), born 20 March 1882; travelled extensively with her father in the Middle East and worked to improve the conditions of Bedouin women in Egypt; died unmarried of typhoid at Alexandria (Egypt), 10 August 1919; will confirmed 3 December 1919 (estate £14,540);
(7) Muriel Jane Baird (1884-1968), born 4 April 1884; married, 17 July 1909, Byron Vyner Basil Noel (1880-1959) of Brown's Hill, Instead (Norfk), but had no issue; died 31 December 1967; will confirmed in Scotland and sealed in London, 2 May 1968.
He inherited Ury House and Rickarton House from his father in 1870, and extended Ury House in 1883-84.
He died at Matarieh, Cairo (Egypt), 20 June 1920; his will was confirmed 1 March 1921 (estate £285,805). His wife died 21 May 1884 and was buried at Ury; administration of her goods was granted, 6 March 1886 (effects £1,285).
Baird, Sir John Lawrence (1874-1941), 2nd bt. & 1st Baron and 1st Viscount Stonehaven. Elder son of Sir Alexander Baird (1849-1920), 1st bt. and his wife, the Hon. Annette Maria, daughter of Sir Lawrence Palk, 4th bt., 1st Baron Haldon, born 27 April 1874. An officer in the Diplomatic Corps, 1896-1908; MP for Rugby, 1910-22 and for Ayr, 1922-25. He was Parliamentary Private Secretary to Rt. Hon. Andrew Bonar Law, 1911-16; Under-Secretary of State for Air, 1916-18 and at the Home Office, 1919-22; First Commissioner of Works and Public Buildings and Minister of Transport, 1922-24; Governor-General of Australia, 1925-30 and Chairman of the Conservative Party, 1931-36. He served in the First World War as a Staff Captain in the Intelligence Corps (mentioned in despatches). DL for Kincardineshire; JP for Kincardineshire and Warwickshire. He was awarded the CMG, 1904; DSO 1915; and GCMG, 1925; and the Croix de Guerre and the Legion d'honneur (France), the orders of Leopold of Belgium, St Stanislaus of Russia; and of the Crown of Italy. He succeeded his father as 2nd baronet, 20 June 1920, and was appointed to the Privy Council, 1922; he was raised to the peerage as 1st Baron Stonehaven, 12 June 1925 and subsequently advanced to a viscountcy, 27 June 1938. He was awarded honorary degrees by the Universities of Aberdeen and Sydney (Australia), 1930. Major in the Scottish Horse (TF). and hon. Air Commodore No. 602 (City of Glasgow) Squadron, RAF, 1936. He married, 15 February 1905, Lady Ethel Sydney Keith-Falconer (1874-1974) (who succeeded her brother as 11th Countess of Kintore in 1966), elder daughter of Algernon Hawkins Thomond Keith-Falconer, 9th Earl of Kintore, and had issue:
(1) Hon. Annette Sydney Helen Mary Baird (1905-50), born 19 November 1905; married, 17 August 1925 at Fetteresso (Kincardines.), Lt-Cdr. Michael Henry Mason DL (1900-82), only son of James Mason of Eynsham Hall (Oxon), but had no issue; died 1 February 1950 and was buried at Ury; will proved 1 February 1951 (estate £16,603);
(2) James Ian Baird (later Keith-Falconer) (1908-89), 2nd Viscount Stonehaven and later 12th Earl of Kintore (q.v.);
(3) S/Ldr. Hon. Robert Alexander Greville Baird (1910-43), born 15 April 1910; educated at Eton and Royal Military College, Sandhurst; an officer in the Gordon Highlanders (Lt.) and later in the Royal Air Force (Pilot Officer, 1939; Fl. Lt., 1941; S/Ldr, 1942); acted as ADC to Governor-General of Australia, 1933; married, 30 March 1939, Dorviegelda Malvina (who m2, 15 November 1947, S/Ldr. Algernon Ivan Toby Sladen DSO (d. 1976), only son of Maj. Algernon Ryder Lambert Sladen of Virginia Water (Surrey) and died 1997), daughter of Alexander Ronald MacGregor of Cardney, Dunkeld (Perths) and had issue two sons and one daughter; killed in action at the Battle of the Ruhr, 14 July 1943 and buried at Les Hayons churchyard, Luxembourg; will confirmed in Scotland and sealed in London, 7 October 1943;
(4) Lady Ariel Olivia Winifred Baird CVO (1916-2003), born 16 August 1916; appointed a Lady in Waiting to HRH Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone, 1940; appointed CVO, 1980; married, 25 April 1946 at St Mark, North Audley St., London (div., 1958), as his first wife, Lt-Col. Sir Kenneth Alexander Keith (created a life peer as Lord Keith of Castleacre, 1980) (1916-2004), elder son of Edward Charles Keith of Swanton Morley House (Norfk), and had issue one son and one daughter (twins); died 29 April 2003; will proved 24 July 2003;
(5) Lady Hilda Ava Fiona Nancy Baird (1919-2001), born 20 April 1919; married, 12 June 1945 in London, Lt-Col. Ronald Fulton Lucas Chance MC (1911-96) of Hill House, Twyford (Berks), eldest son of Walter Lucas Chance of Millgreen House, Wargrave (Berks), and had issue one son and one daughter; died 18 April 2001; will proved 24 September 2001.
He inherited Ury House and Rickarton House from his father in 1920.
He died of a heart attack, 20 August 1941; his will was confirmed in Scotland and sealed in London, 12 August 1942. His widow died aged 100, 21 September 1974; her will was proved 19 November 1974 (estate £19,110).
Baird (later Keith), James Ian (1908-89), 2nd Viscount Stonehaven & 12th Earl of Kintore. Elder son of Sir John Lawrence Baird (1874-1941), 1st Viscount Stonehaven, and his wife, Lady Ethel Sydney Keith-Falconer (who succeeded her brother as 11th Countess of Kintore in 1966), elder daughter of Algernon Hawkins Thomond Keith-Falconer, 9th Earl of Kintore, born 25 July 1908. Educated at Eton and Royal School of Mines. An officer in the Royal Mechanical Engineers (Maj.) who served in Second World War; member of the Royal Company of Archers. Associate of the Royal Institution of Structural Engineers. He succeeded his father as a baronet and 2nd Viscount Stonehaven, 20 August 1941. After the Second World War he emigrated to South Africa, where he was a partner in an engineering firm in Johannesburg, returning in 1952. He changed his name to Keith in 1967 after he became heir apparent to the Earldom of Kintore, and succeeded his mother as 12th Earl of Kintore, 21 September 1974. Served as a British delegate to Council of Europe and Western European Union, 1955-58, 1961-65. Member of Kincardineshire County Council, 1954-75 (Vice-Convenor, 1967-73 and Convenor, 1973-75) and of Grampian Council, 1974-78. DL for Kincardineshire from 1959 (Vice-Lieutenant, 1965-76). He married, 5 March 1935, Delia Virginia (1915-2007), daughter of William Lewis Brownlow Loyd of Upper House, Shamley Green, Guildford (Surrey) and had issue:
(1) Lady Diana Elizabeth Virginia Sydney Baird (b. 1937) (q.v.);
(2) Michael Canning William John Baird (later Keith) (1939-2004), 13th Earl of Kintore [of whom an account will be given in a future post on the Keith-Falconer family, Earls of Kintore];
(3) The Hon. Alexander David Baird (later Keith) (b. 1946) of Banchory (Kincardines.), born 21 April 1946; educated at Tabley House School, Knutsford (Cheshire).
He inherited Ury House and Rickarton House from his father in 1941, but sold the Ury estate to meet death duties in 1944. On his return to England in 1952 he became the manager of the Ury estate. He inherited Keith Hall (Aberdeens.) from his maternal uncle in 1966, but sold it in 1984 to Kit Martin, who divided it into apartments. He lived subsequently in the former stables. The Rickarton House estate was occupied by his mother until 1974 and then sold to his son-in-law.
He died 1 October 1989. His widow died aged 91 at Inchmarlo House (Aberdeens.), 10 January 2007.
Baird, Lady Diana Elizabeth Virginia Sydney (b. 1937). Only daughter of James Ian Baird (later Keith), 2nd Viscount Stonehaven and later 12th Earl of Kintore, and his wife Delia, daughter of William Lewis Brownlow Loyd of Upper House, Shamley Green (Surrey), born 22 June 1937. She married, 20 July 1957, John Francis Holman OBE (1924-2015), farmer, eldest son of Alexander McArthur Holman of Springland, Millbrook (Jersey), and had issue:
(1) Richard Ian Holman (later Holman-Baird) (b. 1958) (q.v.);
(2) Edward Alexander Holman (b. 1960), born 15 February 1960; educated at Gordonstoun; entrepreneur; resident at Cuenca (Ecuador);
(3) Georgina Mary Holman (b. 1962), born 4 October 1962; married, 1989, Jeremy Charles Hayward Stirrup (b. 1961), son of John Stirrup, and had issue two sons and one daughter;
(4) Emma Charlotte Holman (b. 1966), born 11 April 1966; teacher; married, 1990, Benjamin Charles Cole (b. 1963), son of Anthony Brian Cole, and had issue one son and one daughter.
Her husband bought Rickarton House from her father in 1974.
Now living. Her husband died 3 February 2015.
Holman-Baird, Richard Ian (b. 1958). Elder son of John Francis Holman OBE (1924-2015) and his wife Lady Diane, daughter of James Ian Baird (later Keith), 2nd Viscount Stonehaven and 12th Earl of Kintore, born 2 September 1958. Educated at Gordonstoun. Took the additional name of Baird. Farmer and landowner; huntsman for the Kincardineshire Hunt. He married 1st, Apr-Jun 1985, Saragh Evelyn (1959-87), daughter of Maj. Robert Wood of Glassonby (Cumbld), and 2nd, Apr-Jun 1996, Polly Sophia (b. 1958), daughter of Angus Thomson of London, and had issue:
(1.1) Louise Saragh Holman-Baird (b. 1986), born 21 December 1986; educated at Newcastle University; tour operator specialising in safaris in Africa;
(2.1) Angus John Holman-Baird (b. 1997), born 14 January 1997;
(2.2) Amelia Jo Holman-Baird (b. 1998), born 29 December 1998.
He inherited Rickarton House from his father in 2015.
Now living. His first wife died 7 May 1987 and was buried at Banchory (Aberdeens.). His second wife is now living.
Baird, William (1796-1864). Eldest son of Alexander Baird (1765-1833) and his wife Jean Moffat, born at Woodhead, 23 April 1796 and baptised at Old Monkland/Coatbridge the following day. Educated at Old Monkland parish school, and was then sent to Berwickshire to learn the rudiments of farming, but he did not take to farming as a career. In 1816, therefore, his father rented a coalfield (Rochsolloch) near Airdrie, which he was sent to manage, and the scale of the operation was increased after they took Merryston (1820-26) and Gartsherrie (from 1826), where he rapidly expanded the works. After his father retired in 1830, he and his brothers formed William Baird & Co., with himself as senior partner. In about 1846 the firm's Ayrshire operations were transferred to a separate firm, the Eglinton Ironworks Co., which developed ironworks at Eglinton (from 1844), Muirkirk and Lugar (from 1856), and of which he also became the senior partner. He was a member of the Council of the Forth & Clyde Navigation and Chairman of the Caledonian Railway Co. He was described by his obituarist as 'a shrewd businessman, [with] great insight into character and the faculty of managing men and making them work well'. Conservative MP for Falkirk Burghs, 1841-46. DL for Ayrshire (from 1863). He married, 14 July 1840 at Scotch National Church, St Peter's Sq., Manchester, Janet (d. 1886), daughter of Thomas Johnston of Prestwich (Lancs) and Gartcloss, coal merchant, and had issue:
(1) Jane Baird (1842-1916), born in London, 6 February 1842; inherited Rosemount after the death of her mother; married, 17 June 1862 at St James, Piccadilly, London, Capt. James George Hay (1826-1913) of Belton (E. Lothian), eldest son of Rear-Adm. James Hay of Belton, but had no issue; died 26 June 1916; will confirmed, 28 November 1916 (estate £18,053);
(2) Alexander Baird (1846-50), born 24 February and baptised at New Monkland/Airdrie, 17 March 1846; died young, 17 August 1850 and was buried with his grandparents at Old Monkland/Coatbridge;
(3) William Baird (1848-1918) (q.v.);
(4) Janet Ann Baird (1850-68), born 5 July and baptised at Symington, 5 September 1850; died unmarried at Rosemount, 14 February 1868;
(5) Charlotte Baird (1852-1923), born 24 March and baptised at Symington, 6 May 1852; married, 25 October 1882 at St George, Hanover Sq., London, Capt. William George [k/a Bay] Middleton (1846-92), son of George Middleton of Barony (Lanarks), and had issue one daughter; died 30 September 1923; will proved 1923 (estate £85,546);
(6) John George Alexander Baird (1854-1917) (q.v.);
(7) James Douglas Baird (1856-1909), born at Rosemount, Symington (Ayrs.), 13 May 1856; an officer in the militia, 1877-78 and the army (2nd Lt., 1878; Lt., 1879; resigned 1884); died at Cap Martin, Mentone (France), 17 February 1909; died intestate; administration of goods granted to his brother, William, 27 July 1909 (estate £120,571);
(8) Mary Elizabeth Baird (1858-1943), born 26 March 1858; married, 30 June 1880, Col. Frederick Gordon Blair CB CMG (1853-1943) of Blair (Ayrs.), and had issue one daughter; died 23 October 1943;
(9) Cecilia Margaret Baird (1859-1940), born 20 September 1859; married, 6 July 1886, Henry Burn-Callander (1862-1928), of Westertown and Preston Hall, Dalkeith, and had issue two sons and one daughter; died 11 May 1940; will confirmed in Scotland and sealed in London, 11 January 1941.
(10) Henry Robert Baird (1861-1929) of Durris (Kincardines.), born at Rosemount, Symington (Ayrs.), 8 January 1861; an officer in the army (2nd Lt., 1880; Capt., 1884); one of the promoters of the Glasgow District Subway network, 1889; DL (from 1892), JP and County Councillor for Kincardineshire; President of the Deeside Agricultural Assoc., 1904; married, 31 August 1893 at Holy Trinity, Ayr, Florence Katherine, daughter of Frederick Villiers of Ayr and Chelsea (Middx), and had issue three sons; died 12 February 1929 and was buried at Symington (Ayrs.); will confirmed in Scotland, 25 February 1929 (estate £125,569) and sealed in London, 11 March and 31 May 1929;
(11) Brig-Gen. Edward William David Baird CBE (1864-1956), born 29 June 1864; educated at Eton and Royal Military College, Sandhurst; an officer in the army, 1885-92, 1896-1901, 1914-18 (Lt., 1885; Capt., 1891; Maj., 1896; Lt-Col., 1901; Col., 1906; Brig-Gen., 1915) who served in the Boer War (mentioned in despatches) and the First World War, when he commanded 179th Brigade; hon. Col. of Suffolk Hussars Imperial Yeomanry; appointed CBE, 1919; having been captain of his regimental polo team, in the intervals of his military career he was a successful racehorse trainer, winning the Grand National in 1888 and the St. Leger in 1907; he was a member of the Jockey Club for sixty-two years (steward, 1904-06); DL for Caithness (from 1920); JP for Caithness and Kincardineshire; he had houses at Kelloe, Edrom (Berwicks), at Forse, (Caithness), and Exning House (Suffk); married 1st, 17 October 1893, Millicent Bessie (d. 1936), second daughter of Maj-Gen. Sir Stanley Clarke GCVO CMG, and had issue four sons and three daughters; married 2nd, 28 April 1939, Helen Cicely (fl. 1967), daughter of Charles William Rudolph Kerr and widow of Maj. Archibald Edward Butter CMG of Faskally (Perths.); died aged 92, 8 August 1956; will confirmed in Scotland and sealed in London, 5 March 1957.
He leased Rosemount (Ayrs.) from 1845 and bought the freehold in 1853. In the same year he purchased Elie House (Fife) and with it the Barony of Pittenweem.
He died in Edinburgh, 8/15 March 1864 and was buried at Symington (Ayrs.); his will was confirmed 31 March 1864 and sealed in London, 19 April 1864; he was said to have left a fortune of £2m. His widow died 15 November 1886; her will was confirmed 29 December 1886 (estate £38,722).
Baird, William (1848-1918). Eldest surviving son of William Baird (1796-1864) of Elie House and his wife Jane, daughter of Thomas Johnstone, born 2 September 1848. Educated at Harrow School. His ruling passion was hunting to foxhounds, and he was Master of the Cottesmore Hunt, 1880-1900. JP for Ayrshire, Fife and Rutland and DL for Fife; High Sheriff of Rutland, 1894. An officer of Fife Artillery, 1889-96 (Lt-Col. and hon. Col.). In 1903 his wife founded Oakham Cottage Hospital with the primary aim of treating those injured while hunting, although it was open to the general population as well. He married, 19 July 1883 at St George, Hanover Sq., London, Caroline Muriel (1861-1932), only daughter of John Alexander Burn-Callandar of Preston Hall (Midlothian), and had issue:
(1) Ethel Mary Baird (1884-1969), born 31 December 1884; lived latterly at Windrush Manor (Glos); married, 27 February 1908, Lt-Col. James Huntley Dutton (1873-1949), 6th Baron Sherborne, of Sherborne Park (Glos) and later Lodge Park, Aldsworth (Glos), and had issue two sons and one daughter; died 30 September 1969; will proved 20 August 1970 (estate £6,285);
(2) Janet Muriel Baird (1891-1960), born Jan-Mar 1891; married, 7 August 1926, Capt. Henry Cecil Noel (1868-1931) of Catmose, Oakham (Rutland), second son of Rt. Hon. Gerald James Noel, but had no issue; lived latterly at Croft House, Fairford (Glos); died 15 July and was buried at Fairford, 18 July 1960; will confirmed in Scotland and sealed in London, 12 October 1960;
(3) William James Baird (1893-1961) (q.v.).
He inherited Elie House and the Barony of Pittenweem from his father in 1864 and Cambusdoon (Ayrs.) from his uncle James Baird in 1876. However, he seems to have lived chiefly at Dean's Croft, Oakham (Rutland).
He died 29 June 1918; will confirmed 17 January 1919 (estate £654,461). His widow died at Forbes House, Ham (Surrey), 17 December 1932; her will was confirmed 22 February 1933 (estate £7,217).
Baird, William James (1893-1961). Only son of William Baird (1848-1918) of Elie House and Cambusdoon, and his wife Caroline Muriel, only daughter of John Alexander Burn-Callandar of Preston Hall (Midlothian), born 8 November 1893. Educated at Harrow and Royal Military College, Sandhurst. An officer in the 12th Lancers (2nd Lt., by 1914; Lt, 1915; retired 1920), who served in the First World War as an Aide de Camp. High Sheriff of Rutland, 1925. Member of Rutland County Council, 1931-45. Master of the Cottesmore Hunt, 1921-31 (jt, 1928-30). He married 1st, 28 May 1918 (div. 1936), Audrey Josephine Helen (1887-1952), younger daughter of John Porter Porter of Belle Isle (Fermanagh) and 2nd, 26 January 1937, Hon. Barbara Vernon OBE (1905-61), youngest daughter of Lewis Harcourt, 1st Viscount Harcourt and formerly wife of Capt. Robert Charles Horace Jenkinson, and had issue:
(1.1) Lavinia Enid Muriel Baird (1923-2004), born 26 March 1923; County Superintendent of St John's Ambulance Brigade, 1955-57; Staff Officer to Superintendent-in-Chief, 1959-60; appointed OStJ, 1956; succeeded her father in the barony of Pittenweem, 1961, but sold it to William Ronald Crawford Miller WS in 1978; died unmarried, 26 October 2004, and was buried at Great Durnford (Wilts).
He inherited Elie House and the Barony of Pittenweem from his father in 1918 but sold the House in 1928. He also owned Ranksborough Hall, Oakham (Rutland) and Langston House, Chadlington (Oxon).
He died 2 February 1961; his will was proved in Scotland and sealed in London, 15 May 1961. His first wife died 22 February 1952; her will was proved 24 June 1952 (estate £3,825). His widow committed suicide, 19 May 1961; her will was proved 9 October 1961 (estate £204,454).
Baird, John George Alexander (1854-1917). Second surviving son of William Baird (1796-1864) of Elie House and his wife Jane, daughter of Thomas Johnstone, born 31 May 1854. Educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford (matriculated 1873). An officer in the Army, 1877-82 (Lt.) and the Ayrshire Imperial Yeomanry (Lt-Col.). Unionist MP for Glasgow Central, 1886-1906. DL for Ayrshire and JP for Ayrshire and City of Glasgow. Editor of The private letters of the Marquess of Dalhousie, 1910. He married, 10 November 1880 at Mahableshewar, Bombay (India), Susan Georgiana JP (1860-1951), daughter of Sir James Fergusson, 6th bt., of Kilkerran (Ayrs.) and his wife, Edith Christian, younger daughter of James Andrew Ramsay of Colstoun (East Lothian), and had issue:
(1) Edith Christian Broun Baird (1893-1981), born 13 June 1893; inherited freehold of Colstoun (East Lothian) in 1898 and was given the remaining life-rent by her mother in 1930; appointed OBE, 1965; married, 26 July 1921 at St Peter, Eaton Sq., London, Maj. Sir Humphrey George Maurice Lindsay (later Broun-Lindsay) DSO MP (1888-1964), son of Alfred Lindsay, and had issue one son; died 4 April 1981;
(2) Mary Janet Baird (1895-1930), born 18 May 1895; married, 24 January 1925, Maj. Richard Alexis Downing Fullerton (1893-1965) of Hambleton Place (Oxon), younger son of George Frederick Downing Fullerton of Ballintoy (Antrim), Alveston (Glos) and Purley Park (Berks), and had issue one son; died 16 February 1930 and was buried at Purley (Berks); will confirmed in Scotland, 20 June 1930 (estate £3,816) and proved in England, 28 August 1930 (estate £6,080).
He inherited the Muirkirk estate from his uncle James Baird of Auchmedden in 1876 and built Wellwood House there. He purchased the life-rent of Colstoun from his wife's aunt's second husband. His widow sold Wellwood in 1925 and it was demolished in 1928 or 1936. She lived subsequently at Colstoun until 1930 when she made over the remainder of the life-rent to her elder daughter.
He died 6 April 1917; his will was confirmed in Scotland, 9 April 1918 (estate £157,668) and sealed in London, 17 April 1918. His widow died from injuries received in a fall, 13 July 1951; her will was confirmed in Scotland and sealed in London, 30 October 1951.
Burke's Peerage & Baronetage, 1967, pp. 2377-78; Burke's Peerage & Baronetage, 2003, pp. 2194-97; Burke's Landed Gentry, 1898, i, p. 56; Burke's Landed Gentry, 1952, p. 1527; Burke's Landed Gentry, 1965, p. 33; "A. M." [Andrew McGeorge], The Bairds of Gartsherrie, 1875; J.M. Bullock, The Bairds of Auchmedden and Strichen, 1934; M.C. Davis, The castles and manors of Ayrshire, 1991, pp. 195, 399-400; J. Sharples, D.W. Walker & M. Woodworth, The buildings of Scotland: Aberdeenshire - South and Aberdeen, 2015, pp. 708, 760.
Baird family of Elie House: muniments, 1172-20th cent. [National Records of Scotland, GD147]
Baird family of Knoydart: estate papers, 1890-20th cent. [Highland Archives, Lochaber: L/D235]
Baird family of Ury and Rickarton, Viscounts Stonehaven: estate and legal papers and personal and business correspondence, 1824-20th century [Private collection: for access contact National Register of Archives, Scotland]
William Baird & Co. Ltd., iron and coal masters: company records, 1824-1971 [Glasgow University Archives UGD 164/1; Strathclyde University Archives T-BA and acc. 1485; North Lanarkshire Archives U8]
Baird of Elie: Per pale, gules and or, a boar passant counterchanged.
Baird of Ury: Per pale engrailed, gules and or, a boar passant counterchanged.
Descent: built c.1853-54 for James Baird (1802-76); to nephew, William Baird (1848-1918); to son, William James Baird (1893-1961); who sold 1926 for use as a prep school; sold 1968 to Ayr Council; burnt 1970 and demolished 1976.
Ury House, Kincardineshire
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| Ury House: the 17th century house shown in an early 19th century engraving. |
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| Ury House: proposal by James Playfair for remodelling, 1788. The elements in yellow wash indicate the form and extent of the old house. Image: Soane Museum |
The new house was in the neo-Jacobean style made popular by William Burn in the 1820s, and was distinctly old-fashioned by the standards of 1855. The house was generally of two and three storeys, but had a tall square off-centre entrance tower with a big porte-cochere. The windows were a characteristically varied mix of mullioned and canted or oriel windows, many of them with hood moulds. An enormous mullioned and transomed window to the right of the tower probably lit a great hall. The gabled dormer heads reach above eaves, and bays set forward from main wall-planes are also gabled. The double-gabled, return elevation to right is almost villa-like.
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| Ury House: the garden front as built in 1855. |
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| Ury House: the entrance front as extended in 1883-84, from an old postcard. |
In 1882-84 the house was extended at the left-hand end of the main front by the addition of a huge east wing with a second tower rising to pair of crow-stepped gables designed by Alexander Ross for Sir Alexander Baird, 1st bt. The house seems to have remained in use until the 1940s when it was abandoned, and in 1959 it was deliberately unroofed to avoid property taxes. The solidity of construction was such, however, that the shell of the building survived decades of neglect.
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| Ury House: the ruined shell in 2007. Image: Brideshead via Wikipedia |
In 1990 Ury Estates Ltd. made an application to demolish the ruin, which was refused; instead a Building Preservation Notice was served on the owners and the house was listed (at Grade B). The house was subsequently sold in 2002 to developers with a view to restoration and conversion to hotel use, but more than a decade of further decay lay ahead before a commercially viable scheme was finally agreed. Since 2015 repair and reconstruction work has been underway to turn the house into the centrepiece of a new golf club and resort complex, which is due to open in 2020. A great deal of 'enabling development' will also place within the estate to make the development a commercial proposition.
Descent: sold 1647 to Col. David Barclay (1610-86); to son, Robert Barclay (1648-90); to son, Robert Barclay (1672-1747); to son, Robert Barclay (1699-1760); to son, Robert Barclay (later Barclay-Allardice) (1731-97); to son, Capt. Robert Barclay-Allardice (1779-1854); sold after his death to Alexander Baird (1799-1862), who rebuilt the house; to brother, John Baird (1798-1870); to son, Sir Alexander Baird (1849-1920), 1st bt.; to son, Sir John Lawrence Baird (1874-1941), 2nd bt. and 1st Viscount Stonehaven; to son, Sir James Ian Baird (later Keith) (1908-89), 2nd Viscount Stonehaven and later 12th Earl of Kintore; sold 1944 to Earl of Mansfield; sold 1947 to John Bisset & Sons Ltd. of Aberdeen for the timber, much of which was felled; sold to Ury Estates Ltd.; sold 2002 to FM Developments; sold by administrators 2012 to FM Group.
Rickarton House, Kincardineshire
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| Rickarton House: entrance front, 2006. Image: Alan Thomson. Some rights reserved. |
The house was begun as a small gable-ended villa built in about 1804 for Col. Hepburn, and was given its present wider front entrance range by John Smith of Aberdeen in 1829-32. This has a plain five bay, two-storey front with a minimally advanced centre and floor-length windows on the ground floor. The overhanging roof gives the house a faintly Italianate air and may have been altered later. Smith's porch was removed in 1975 and now stands detached, like a folly, on the lawn south-east of the house. A better image of the house can be found here.
Descent: built for Col. William Rickart Hepburn (d. 1807); to son, Robert Rickart Hepburn (c.1803-37) ... sold c.1854 to Alexander Baird (1765-1833); to son, John Baird (1798-1870); to son, Sir Alexander Baird (1849-1920), 1st bt.; to son, Sir John Lawrence Baird (1874-1941), 2nd bt. and 1st Viscount Stonehaven; to son, James Ian Baird (later Keith) (1908-89), 2nd Viscount Stonehaven and later 12th Earl of Kintore; sold to son-in-law, John Francis Holman OBE (1924-2015); to son, Richard Ian Holman-Baird (b. 1958).
Elie House, Fife
An account of this house will be found in my previous post on the Carmichael-Anstruther family of Elie House and Carmichael House, baronets.
Wellwood House, Muirkirk, Ayrshire
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| Wellwood House, Muirkirk. Image: reproduced with permission from Jimmy Taylor's Ayrshire History. |
A large but rather plain Victorian mansion built by an unknown architect in 1878 for John Baird of Muirkirk on the site of a much smaller earlier house of the Campbell family, which reputedly bore the date 1600. The new house was L-shaped and built of stone, and was of three storeys, with a projecting four-storey tower at the angle between the two main ranges. The gables of the tower and a subsidiary gable to its left were crow-stepped. A lower service wing projected at the rear. The house was demolished in 1928 or 1936.
Descent: built for John Baird (1854-1917); to widow, Susan Georgiana Baird (1861-1951), who sold 1925; demolished 1928 or 1936.
Baird family of Lochwood, Cambusdoon, Ury and Rickarton, Viscounts Stonehaven
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| Alexander Baird (1765-1833) |
(1) Janet Baird (1794-1880), born at Woodhead, 6 December 1794; as a girl assisted her mother with the family and farm; married 1st, 15 December 1821 at Old Monkland, Alexander Whitelaw (d. 1826), son of Thomas Whitelaw, farmer, and had issue two sons and two daughters; after his death, managed their farm alone until she married 2nd, 2 December 1834, John Weir (d. 1885), and had further issue one son and one daughter (twins); her children played a large part in the later management of William Baird & Co. and the Eglinton Ironworks; died at Dumbeth House, Old Monkland, 9 December 1880; will confirmed 11 January 1881 (estate £12,333);
(2) William Baird (1796-1864) [see below, Baird of Elie House and Wellwood House];
(3) John Baird (1798-1870) (q.v.);
(4) Alexander Baird (1799-1862) (q.v.);
(5) James Baird (1802-76) (q.v.);
(6) Jane Baird (1804-82), born at Kirkwood, 24 August 1804; educated at Old Monkland and in Glasgow; married, 6 December 1831, Thomas Jackson (d. 1863) of Coats (Lanarks) and had issue three sons and six daughters; died 6 October 1882; will confirmed 8 January 1883 (estate £8,419);
(7) Robert Baird (1806-56) of Auchmedden, born at Kirkwood, 16 April 1806; educated at Glasgow University (MA 1828); apprenticed to James Taylor, WS, of Glasgow; set up in practice as a solicitor at Glasgow, but subsequently joined the office staff of William Baird & Co. (partner from 1840); managed Thankerton Colliery; a deputy governor of the Forth & Clyde Canal; a Conservative in politics; Dean of Guild of Glasgow at the time of his death; lived at Cadder House; bought the Auchmedden estate (Aberdeens.) in 1854; died unmarried and without issue at Cadder House, 7 August 1856 and was buried at the Glasgow Necropolis;
(8) Douglas Baird (1808-54), born at Kirkwood, 31 March 1808; educated at Old Monkland school and in Glasgow; a partner in George Baird & Co.; he managed the office at Gartsherrie and the Thankerton colliery; purchased the Closeburn Hall (Dumfriess.) estate, 1848, and retired from direct involvement in the family firm; married, 28 July 1851 at St George, Hanover Sq., London, Charlotte (c.1815-68), daughter of Capt. Henry Acton of 12th Lancers, and had issue two daughters; died suddenly, 7 December 1854, and was buried at Closeburn; will confirmed 21 December 1855 (estate £224,864);
(9) George Baird (1810-70), born at High Cross, 28 July 1810; educated at Old Monkland School; suffered an accident in childhood and afterwards was subject to epileptic fits for ten or twelve years; an officer in the Lanarkshire Yeomanry Cavalry (Capt.); from the 1830s, became a partner in William Baird & Co., and managed the colleries at Gartsherrie and from 1846 the Eglinton ironworks in Ayrshire; purchased the Strichen estate (Aberdeens.) in 1855 and succeeded his brother David at Stichill (Roxburghs) in 1860; DL for Berwickshire (form 1866); married, 15 November 1858 at St George, Hanover Sq., London, Cecilia (c.1827-95), daughter of Vice-Adm. Villiers Francis Hatton MP of Clonard (Wexford), and had issue one son; died at Strichen, 24 August 1870, and was buried at Stichill; will confirmed 8 October 1870 (estate under £1,000,000);
(10) David Buchanan Baird (1816-60), born at High Cross, 18 November 1816; educated at Old Monkland and Langloan schools and after his father's death at Edinburgh and in Paris (France); entered William Baird & Co. and became a partner in 1840; hunted with the Glasgow Hunt; purchased the Stichill estate (Roxburghs.) in 1853; suffered from mental illness from 1857 and died unmarried and without issue at Highgate Hall (Essex), 18 October 1860; he was buried with his parents at Old Monkland/Coatbridge; will confirmed 29 March 1861 (estate £156,434).
He lived as a tenant farmer at Woodhead, 1785-98, Kirkwood, 1798-1808 and High Cross, 1808-25, until he purchased Lochwood House, Old Monkland (Lanarks) in 1825.
He died at Newmains Farm, 23 December 1833 and was buried at Old Monkland/Coatbridge; his will was confirmed 25 July 1835 (effects £886). His widow died 8 July 1851 and was buried in the same place; her will was confirmed 18 August 1851 (effects £1,272).
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| James Baird (1802-76) |
He bought the Greenfield estate (Ayrs.) in about 1853, built a new house there and named it Cambusdoon. In 1857 he bought , Knoydart (Inverness) as a retreat. He also bought Auchendrane (Ayrs.) in 1862, Muirkirk in 1863, and Drumellan in 1864. On the death of his brother Robert in 1856 he succeeded to Auchmedden (Aberdeens.).
He died 20 June 1876; his will was confirmed 31 August 1876 (estate £1,190,868). His first wife died in Nice (France), 29 December 1857. His widow died at Cambusdoon, 7 December 1904; her will was confirmed 18 February 1904 (estate £42,668).
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| Alexander Baird (1799-1862) |
He purchased Ury House in 1854 and built a new house there in 1855. At his death the estate passed to his elder brother, John Baird.
He died in London, 2 March 1862, and was buried at Ury; his will was confirmed 19 March 1862 (estate £694,630).
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| John Baird (1798-1870) |
(1) Sir Alexander Baird (1849-1920), 1st bt. (q.v.);
(2) John Baird (1852-1900) of Lochwood, born 17 February 1852; educated at Harrow and Christ Church, Oxford; inherited Lochwood House from his father in 1870 and the Knoydart estate from his uncle James Baird in 1876, which he later sold; Unionist MP for NW Lanarkshire, 1885-86; DL and JP for Inverness-shire; married, 23 April 1878 at Henbury (Glos), Constance Emelia (c.1854-1914), second son of John Harford Battersby Harford of Blaise Castle (Glos) and had issue two sons and two daughters; died 8 July 1900 and was buried at Old Monkland; his will was confirmed 27 October 1900 (estate £63,560);
(3) Janet Findlay Baird (1861-1928), born 12 November 1861; married, 9 January 1884 at St George, Hanover Sq., London, Col. George Chalmer (d. 1895) of Tuchdairnie; died 21 April 1928 and was buried at Dean Cemetery, Edinburgh; will confirmed in Scotland, 7 June 1928 (estate £21,461) and sealed in London, 15 June and 30 August 1928.
He was gifted Lochwood by his brother in 1839 but did not move there until 1847. He purchased the adjoining Easterhouse estate in 1861. He inherited Ury House and Rickarton from his younger brother in 1862. At his death, Ury House passed to his elder son and Lochwood and Easterhouse to his younger son.
He died in Naples (Italy), 29 January 1870, but was buried at Ury; his will was confirmed 31 March 1870. His widow died 14 July 1883; her will was confirmed 20 October 1883 (estate £11,833).
Baird, Sir Alexander (1849-1920), 1st bt. Elder son of John Baird (1798-1870) and his wife Margaret, daughter of John Findlay of Springhill (Lanarks), born 22 October 1849. Educated at Harrow. As a boy his health was not robust and he first went abroad almost immediately after leaving school, and thereafter usually spent the winters abroad. He spent a large portion of his life in the Middle East, and especially in Egypt, where he later served as president of the Permanent Arbitration Board. He spoke fluent Arabic and was heavily involved in philanthropic projects in that country. Lord Lieutenant of Kincardineshire, 1889-1918. President of Kincardineshire Territorial Forces Association; DL for Aberdeenshire and Inverness-shire; JP for Inverness-shire. He was created a baronet, 8 March 1897 and appointed GBE, 1920, and also held the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Nile. He married, 16 July 1873, the Hon. Annette Maria (1851-84), daughter of Sir Lawrence Palk, 4th bt. and later 1st Baron Haldon, and had issue:
(1) Sir John Lawrence Baird (1874-1941), 2nd bt. & 1st Viscount Stonehaven (q.v.);
(2) Evelyn Margaret Baird (1875-1944), born 25 April 1875; JP for Wiltshire; married, 5 December 1907 at St George, Hanover Sq., London,, Lt-Col. Albert Edward Stanley Clarke DSO MVO (1879-1926), Scots Guards, only son of Maj-Gen. Sir Stanley Astel de Calvert Clarke GCVO and had issue one son and one daughter; died 12 October 1944; will proved 3 May 1945 (estate £16,648);
(3) Brig-Gen. Alexander Walter Frederick Baird (1876-1931), born 2 October 1876; educated at Eton and New College, Oxford; an officer in the Gordon Highlanders (2nd Lt., 1897; Capt., 1902; Lt-Col., 1914; Brig-Gen., 1916), who served in South Africa, 1899-1902 (despatches four times; DSO, 1902) and First World War, 1914-18 (despatches nine times; commanded 100th Infantry Brigade, 1916-19); appointed CB, CMG and a commander of the Legion d'honneur; as well as holding several other foreign orders; head of British military mission in Bulgaria, 1919; military attaché in Madrid, 1920 and at Constantinople and Sofia, 1921-24; secretary of the Carlton Club, London; married, 16 February 1907 (sep. c. 1920), Maud Constance (d. 1952), daughter of Charles William Waylen and formerly wife of Francis Carbutt Bell, and had issue one son; died as the result of a head-on collision between his MG and a bus, in which a passenger was also killed, 20 February 1931, and for which the bus company was later required to pay damages of £9,000 in a civil case; his will was proved 23 July 1931 (estate £6,089);
(4) Janet Norah Baird (1878-1943), born 7 January and baptised at St Saviour, Chelsea, 6 February 1878; married, 1 October 1902 at St Peter, Eaton Sq., London, Lt-Col. Sir Arthur George Ferguson CBE (1862-1935), HM Inspector of Constabulary in Scotland, son of Col. George Arthur Ferguson of Pitfour (Aberdeens) and had issue four sons and one daughter; died in Aberdeen, 15 October 1943; will proved 4 February 1944 (estate £3,811);
(5) Edith Annette Baird (1880-81), born in Cairo, 6 January 1880; died in infancy, 20 October 1881, and was buried at Ury;
(6) Nina Isabel Baird (1882-1919), born 20 March 1882; travelled extensively with her father in the Middle East and worked to improve the conditions of Bedouin women in Egypt; died unmarried of typhoid at Alexandria (Egypt), 10 August 1919; will confirmed 3 December 1919 (estate £14,540);
(7) Muriel Jane Baird (1884-1968), born 4 April 1884; married, 17 July 1909, Byron Vyner Basil Noel (1880-1959) of Brown's Hill, Instead (Norfk), but had no issue; died 31 December 1967; will confirmed in Scotland and sealed in London, 2 May 1968.
He inherited Ury House and Rickarton House from his father in 1870, and extended Ury House in 1883-84.
He died at Matarieh, Cairo (Egypt), 20 June 1920; his will was confirmed 1 March 1921 (estate £285,805). His wife died 21 May 1884 and was buried at Ury; administration of her goods was granted, 6 March 1886 (effects £1,285).
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| Sir John Baird (1874-1941), 1st Viscount Stonehaven |
(1) Hon. Annette Sydney Helen Mary Baird (1905-50), born 19 November 1905; married, 17 August 1925 at Fetteresso (Kincardines.), Lt-Cdr. Michael Henry Mason DL (1900-82), only son of James Mason of Eynsham Hall (Oxon), but had no issue; died 1 February 1950 and was buried at Ury; will proved 1 February 1951 (estate £16,603);
(2) James Ian Baird (later Keith-Falconer) (1908-89), 2nd Viscount Stonehaven and later 12th Earl of Kintore (q.v.);
(3) S/Ldr. Hon. Robert Alexander Greville Baird (1910-43), born 15 April 1910; educated at Eton and Royal Military College, Sandhurst; an officer in the Gordon Highlanders (Lt.) and later in the Royal Air Force (Pilot Officer, 1939; Fl. Lt., 1941; S/Ldr, 1942); acted as ADC to Governor-General of Australia, 1933; married, 30 March 1939, Dorviegelda Malvina (who m2, 15 November 1947, S/Ldr. Algernon Ivan Toby Sladen DSO (d. 1976), only son of Maj. Algernon Ryder Lambert Sladen of Virginia Water (Surrey) and died 1997), daughter of Alexander Ronald MacGregor of Cardney, Dunkeld (Perths) and had issue two sons and one daughter; killed in action at the Battle of the Ruhr, 14 July 1943 and buried at Les Hayons churchyard, Luxembourg; will confirmed in Scotland and sealed in London, 7 October 1943;
(4) Lady Ariel Olivia Winifred Baird CVO (1916-2003), born 16 August 1916; appointed a Lady in Waiting to HRH Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone, 1940; appointed CVO, 1980; married, 25 April 1946 at St Mark, North Audley St., London (div., 1958), as his first wife, Lt-Col. Sir Kenneth Alexander Keith (created a life peer as Lord Keith of Castleacre, 1980) (1916-2004), elder son of Edward Charles Keith of Swanton Morley House (Norfk), and had issue one son and one daughter (twins); died 29 April 2003; will proved 24 July 2003;
(5) Lady Hilda Ava Fiona Nancy Baird (1919-2001), born 20 April 1919; married, 12 June 1945 in London, Lt-Col. Ronald Fulton Lucas Chance MC (1911-96) of Hill House, Twyford (Berks), eldest son of Walter Lucas Chance of Millgreen House, Wargrave (Berks), and had issue one son and one daughter; died 18 April 2001; will proved 24 September 2001.
He inherited Ury House and Rickarton House from his father in 1920.
He died of a heart attack, 20 August 1941; his will was confirmed in Scotland and sealed in London, 12 August 1942. His widow died aged 100, 21 September 1974; her will was proved 19 November 1974 (estate £19,110).
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| (James) Ian Keith (né Baird) 2nd Viscount Stonehaven & 12th Earl of Kintore |
(1) Lady Diana Elizabeth Virginia Sydney Baird (b. 1937) (q.v.);
(2) Michael Canning William John Baird (later Keith) (1939-2004), 13th Earl of Kintore [of whom an account will be given in a future post on the Keith-Falconer family, Earls of Kintore];
(3) The Hon. Alexander David Baird (later Keith) (b. 1946) of Banchory (Kincardines.), born 21 April 1946; educated at Tabley House School, Knutsford (Cheshire).
He inherited Ury House and Rickarton House from his father in 1941, but sold the Ury estate to meet death duties in 1944. On his return to England in 1952 he became the manager of the Ury estate. He inherited Keith Hall (Aberdeens.) from his maternal uncle in 1966, but sold it in 1984 to Kit Martin, who divided it into apartments. He lived subsequently in the former stables. The Rickarton House estate was occupied by his mother until 1974 and then sold to his son-in-law.
He died 1 October 1989. His widow died aged 91 at Inchmarlo House (Aberdeens.), 10 January 2007.
Baird, Lady Diana Elizabeth Virginia Sydney (b. 1937). Only daughter of James Ian Baird (later Keith), 2nd Viscount Stonehaven and later 12th Earl of Kintore, and his wife Delia, daughter of William Lewis Brownlow Loyd of Upper House, Shamley Green (Surrey), born 22 June 1937. She married, 20 July 1957, John Francis Holman OBE (1924-2015), farmer, eldest son of Alexander McArthur Holman of Springland, Millbrook (Jersey), and had issue:
(1) Richard Ian Holman (later Holman-Baird) (b. 1958) (q.v.);
(2) Edward Alexander Holman (b. 1960), born 15 February 1960; educated at Gordonstoun; entrepreneur; resident at Cuenca (Ecuador);
(3) Georgina Mary Holman (b. 1962), born 4 October 1962; married, 1989, Jeremy Charles Hayward Stirrup (b. 1961), son of John Stirrup, and had issue two sons and one daughter;
(4) Emma Charlotte Holman (b. 1966), born 11 April 1966; teacher; married, 1990, Benjamin Charles Cole (b. 1963), son of Anthony Brian Cole, and had issue one son and one daughter.
Her husband bought Rickarton House from her father in 1974.
Now living. Her husband died 3 February 2015.
Holman-Baird, Richard Ian (b. 1958). Elder son of John Francis Holman OBE (1924-2015) and his wife Lady Diane, daughter of James Ian Baird (later Keith), 2nd Viscount Stonehaven and 12th Earl of Kintore, born 2 September 1958. Educated at Gordonstoun. Took the additional name of Baird. Farmer and landowner; huntsman for the Kincardineshire Hunt. He married 1st, Apr-Jun 1985, Saragh Evelyn (1959-87), daughter of Maj. Robert Wood of Glassonby (Cumbld), and 2nd, Apr-Jun 1996, Polly Sophia (b. 1958), daughter of Angus Thomson of London, and had issue:
(1.1) Louise Saragh Holman-Baird (b. 1986), born 21 December 1986; educated at Newcastle University; tour operator specialising in safaris in Africa;
(2.1) Angus John Holman-Baird (b. 1997), born 14 January 1997;
(2.2) Amelia Jo Holman-Baird (b. 1998), born 29 December 1998.
He inherited Rickarton House from his father in 2015.
Now living. His first wife died 7 May 1987 and was buried at Banchory (Aberdeens.). His second wife is now living.
Baird family of Elie House and Wellwood House
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| William Baird (1796-1864) |
(1) Jane Baird (1842-1916), born in London, 6 February 1842; inherited Rosemount after the death of her mother; married, 17 June 1862 at St James, Piccadilly, London, Capt. James George Hay (1826-1913) of Belton (E. Lothian), eldest son of Rear-Adm. James Hay of Belton, but had no issue; died 26 June 1916; will confirmed, 28 November 1916 (estate £18,053);
(2) Alexander Baird (1846-50), born 24 February and baptised at New Monkland/Airdrie, 17 March 1846; died young, 17 August 1850 and was buried with his grandparents at Old Monkland/Coatbridge;
(3) William Baird (1848-1918) (q.v.);
(4) Janet Ann Baird (1850-68), born 5 July and baptised at Symington, 5 September 1850; died unmarried at Rosemount, 14 February 1868;
(5) Charlotte Baird (1852-1923), born 24 March and baptised at Symington, 6 May 1852; married, 25 October 1882 at St George, Hanover Sq., London, Capt. William George [k/a Bay] Middleton (1846-92), son of George Middleton of Barony (Lanarks), and had issue one daughter; died 30 September 1923; will proved 1923 (estate £85,546);
(6) John George Alexander Baird (1854-1917) (q.v.);
(7) James Douglas Baird (1856-1909), born at Rosemount, Symington (Ayrs.), 13 May 1856; an officer in the militia, 1877-78 and the army (2nd Lt., 1878; Lt., 1879; resigned 1884); died at Cap Martin, Mentone (France), 17 February 1909; died intestate; administration of goods granted to his brother, William, 27 July 1909 (estate £120,571);
(8) Mary Elizabeth Baird (1858-1943), born 26 March 1858; married, 30 June 1880, Col. Frederick Gordon Blair CB CMG (1853-1943) of Blair (Ayrs.), and had issue one daughter; died 23 October 1943;
(9) Cecilia Margaret Baird (1859-1940), born 20 September 1859; married, 6 July 1886, Henry Burn-Callander (1862-1928), of Westertown and Preston Hall, Dalkeith, and had issue two sons and one daughter; died 11 May 1940; will confirmed in Scotland and sealed in London, 11 January 1941.
(10) Henry Robert Baird (1861-1929) of Durris (Kincardines.), born at Rosemount, Symington (Ayrs.), 8 January 1861; an officer in the army (2nd Lt., 1880; Capt., 1884); one of the promoters of the Glasgow District Subway network, 1889; DL (from 1892), JP and County Councillor for Kincardineshire; President of the Deeside Agricultural Assoc., 1904; married, 31 August 1893 at Holy Trinity, Ayr, Florence Katherine, daughter of Frederick Villiers of Ayr and Chelsea (Middx), and had issue three sons; died 12 February 1929 and was buried at Symington (Ayrs.); will confirmed in Scotland, 25 February 1929 (estate £125,569) and sealed in London, 11 March and 31 May 1929;
(11) Brig-Gen. Edward William David Baird CBE (1864-1956), born 29 June 1864; educated at Eton and Royal Military College, Sandhurst; an officer in the army, 1885-92, 1896-1901, 1914-18 (Lt., 1885; Capt., 1891; Maj., 1896; Lt-Col., 1901; Col., 1906; Brig-Gen., 1915) who served in the Boer War (mentioned in despatches) and the First World War, when he commanded 179th Brigade; hon. Col. of Suffolk Hussars Imperial Yeomanry; appointed CBE, 1919; having been captain of his regimental polo team, in the intervals of his military career he was a successful racehorse trainer, winning the Grand National in 1888 and the St. Leger in 1907; he was a member of the Jockey Club for sixty-two years (steward, 1904-06); DL for Caithness (from 1920); JP for Caithness and Kincardineshire; he had houses at Kelloe, Edrom (Berwicks), at Forse, (Caithness), and Exning House (Suffk); married 1st, 17 October 1893, Millicent Bessie (d. 1936), second daughter of Maj-Gen. Sir Stanley Clarke GCVO CMG, and had issue four sons and three daughters; married 2nd, 28 April 1939, Helen Cicely (fl. 1967), daughter of Charles William Rudolph Kerr and widow of Maj. Archibald Edward Butter CMG of Faskally (Perths.); died aged 92, 8 August 1956; will confirmed in Scotland and sealed in London, 5 March 1957.
He leased Rosemount (Ayrs.) from 1845 and bought the freehold in 1853. In the same year he purchased Elie House (Fife) and with it the Barony of Pittenweem.
He died in Edinburgh, 8/15 March 1864 and was buried at Symington (Ayrs.); his will was confirmed 31 March 1864 and sealed in London, 19 April 1864; he was said to have left a fortune of £2m. His widow died 15 November 1886; her will was confirmed 29 December 1886 (estate £38,722).
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| William Baird (1848-1918) |
(1) Ethel Mary Baird (1884-1969), born 31 December 1884; lived latterly at Windrush Manor (Glos); married, 27 February 1908, Lt-Col. James Huntley Dutton (1873-1949), 6th Baron Sherborne, of Sherborne Park (Glos) and later Lodge Park, Aldsworth (Glos), and had issue two sons and one daughter; died 30 September 1969; will proved 20 August 1970 (estate £6,285);
(2) Janet Muriel Baird (1891-1960), born Jan-Mar 1891; married, 7 August 1926, Capt. Henry Cecil Noel (1868-1931) of Catmose, Oakham (Rutland), second son of Rt. Hon. Gerald James Noel, but had no issue; lived latterly at Croft House, Fairford (Glos); died 15 July and was buried at Fairford, 18 July 1960; will confirmed in Scotland and sealed in London, 12 October 1960;
(3) William James Baird (1893-1961) (q.v.).
He inherited Elie House and the Barony of Pittenweem from his father in 1864 and Cambusdoon (Ayrs.) from his uncle James Baird in 1876. However, he seems to have lived chiefly at Dean's Croft, Oakham (Rutland).
He died 29 June 1918; will confirmed 17 January 1919 (estate £654,461). His widow died at Forbes House, Ham (Surrey), 17 December 1932; her will was confirmed 22 February 1933 (estate £7,217).
Baird, William James (1893-1961). Only son of William Baird (1848-1918) of Elie House and Cambusdoon, and his wife Caroline Muriel, only daughter of John Alexander Burn-Callandar of Preston Hall (Midlothian), born 8 November 1893. Educated at Harrow and Royal Military College, Sandhurst. An officer in the 12th Lancers (2nd Lt., by 1914; Lt, 1915; retired 1920), who served in the First World War as an Aide de Camp. High Sheriff of Rutland, 1925. Member of Rutland County Council, 1931-45. Master of the Cottesmore Hunt, 1921-31 (jt, 1928-30). He married 1st, 28 May 1918 (div. 1936), Audrey Josephine Helen (1887-1952), younger daughter of John Porter Porter of Belle Isle (Fermanagh) and 2nd, 26 January 1937, Hon. Barbara Vernon OBE (1905-61), youngest daughter of Lewis Harcourt, 1st Viscount Harcourt and formerly wife of Capt. Robert Charles Horace Jenkinson, and had issue:
(1.1) Lavinia Enid Muriel Baird (1923-2004), born 26 March 1923; County Superintendent of St John's Ambulance Brigade, 1955-57; Staff Officer to Superintendent-in-Chief, 1959-60; appointed OStJ, 1956; succeeded her father in the barony of Pittenweem, 1961, but sold it to William Ronald Crawford Miller WS in 1978; died unmarried, 26 October 2004, and was buried at Great Durnford (Wilts).
He inherited Elie House and the Barony of Pittenweem from his father in 1918 but sold the House in 1928. He also owned Ranksborough Hall, Oakham (Rutland) and Langston House, Chadlington (Oxon).
He died 2 February 1961; his will was proved in Scotland and sealed in London, 15 May 1961. His first wife died 22 February 1952; her will was proved 24 June 1952 (estate £3,825). His widow committed suicide, 19 May 1961; her will was proved 9 October 1961 (estate £204,454).
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| John George Alexander Baird (1854-1917) by Frederick Sargent. Image: NGS. |
(1) Edith Christian Broun Baird (1893-1981), born 13 June 1893; inherited freehold of Colstoun (East Lothian) in 1898 and was given the remaining life-rent by her mother in 1930; appointed OBE, 1965; married, 26 July 1921 at St Peter, Eaton Sq., London, Maj. Sir Humphrey George Maurice Lindsay (later Broun-Lindsay) DSO MP (1888-1964), son of Alfred Lindsay, and had issue one son; died 4 April 1981;
(2) Mary Janet Baird (1895-1930), born 18 May 1895; married, 24 January 1925, Maj. Richard Alexis Downing Fullerton (1893-1965) of Hambleton Place (Oxon), younger son of George Frederick Downing Fullerton of Ballintoy (Antrim), Alveston (Glos) and Purley Park (Berks), and had issue one son; died 16 February 1930 and was buried at Purley (Berks); will confirmed in Scotland, 20 June 1930 (estate £3,816) and proved in England, 28 August 1930 (estate £6,080).
He inherited the Muirkirk estate from his uncle James Baird of Auchmedden in 1876 and built Wellwood House there. He purchased the life-rent of Colstoun from his wife's aunt's second husband. His widow sold Wellwood in 1925 and it was demolished in 1928 or 1936. She lived subsequently at Colstoun until 1930 when she made over the remainder of the life-rent to her elder daughter.
He died 6 April 1917; his will was confirmed in Scotland, 9 April 1918 (estate £157,668) and sealed in London, 17 April 1918. His widow died from injuries received in a fall, 13 July 1951; her will was confirmed in Scotland and sealed in London, 30 October 1951.
Sources
Burke's Peerage & Baronetage, 1967, pp. 2377-78; Burke's Peerage & Baronetage, 2003, pp. 2194-97; Burke's Landed Gentry, 1898, i, p. 56; Burke's Landed Gentry, 1952, p. 1527; Burke's Landed Gentry, 1965, p. 33; "A. M." [Andrew McGeorge], The Bairds of Gartsherrie, 1875; J.M. Bullock, The Bairds of Auchmedden and Strichen, 1934; M.C. Davis, The castles and manors of Ayrshire, 1991, pp. 195, 399-400; J. Sharples, D.W. Walker & M. Woodworth, The buildings of Scotland: Aberdeenshire - South and Aberdeen, 2015, pp. 708, 760.
Location of archives
Baird family of Elie House: muniments, 1172-20th cent. [National Records of Scotland, GD147]
Baird family of Knoydart: estate papers, 1890-20th cent. [Highland Archives, Lochaber: L/D235]
Baird family of Ury and Rickarton, Viscounts Stonehaven: estate and legal papers and personal and business correspondence, 1824-20th century [Private collection: for access contact National Register of Archives, Scotland]
William Baird & Co. Ltd., iron and coal masters: company records, 1824-1971 [Glasgow University Archives UGD 164/1; Strathclyde University Archives T-BA and acc. 1485; North Lanarkshire Archives U8]
Coat of arms
Baird of Elie: Per pale, gules and or, a boar passant counterchanged.
Baird of Ury: Per pale engrailed, gules and or, a boar passant counterchanged.
