John Baird, Lord Newbyth

Who was John Baird, Lord Newbyth?

Sir John Baird of Newbyth, Lord Newbyth, was a Scottish advocate, judge, politician and diplomat. He served as Commissioner for Aberdeenshire in the Parliament of Scotland.

Baird was the son of James Baird of Byth in the same county, advocate, and for some time commissary of Edinburgh, and Bathia, daughter of Sir John Dempster of Pitliver, was admitted advocate on 3 June 1647. It must have been about the same year that he married Margaret, daughter of Sir William Hay of Linplum, by whom he had four children, three sons and one daughter, viz. John, born on 4 Oct 1648; Margaret, born on 23 Dec 1649; John, born on 23 Sep 1652; and William, born on 12 Nov 1654.

Baird appears to have been knighted by Charles II on his accession to the throne of Scotland in 1651, In the correspondence of the Earls of Ancram and Lothian we find him referred to as Sir .John, under date 1653. Thenceforward his name occurs with some frequency in that correspondence, and usually in such a connection as to suggest that he was regarded as a person of some weight and sagacity.