James Baird

Who was James Baird?

James Baird was Scottish born and came to Newfoundland at 16 and soon established himself as a prominent merchant. Baird, a brother, and later a nephew built up a business which included a large array of general merchandise and eventually branched into the fishery supply business. He was an early steam yacht owner: GRIFFIN was built in 1865 for him by Aitken & Mansel, Whiteinch, Glasgow, Scotland. By the mid-1880s, they had entered the fish export trade and survived both the St. John’s fire in 1892 and the banking collapse a few years later. He was highly important in the founding and supporting of many industries.

Baird, despite his high profile and important business career, is best known in Newfoundland history for the famous Baird et al. v. Walker case. It was a dispute over the location and operation of a lobster factory on land deemed to be assigned to the French. Baird won a settlement in the Supreme Court of Newfoundland. In 1898 he was appointed to the Legislative Council of Newfoundland, a position he held for the remainder of his life.