John Baird

Who was John Baird?

John Baird was a Scottish Unionist politician.

Baird was the son of John Baird of Ury and his wife Margaret Findlay. He was educated at Harrow School and Christ Church, Oxford. He was Deputy Lieutenant and J.P. for Inverness-shire.

At the 1885 general election Baird was elected as the Member of Parliament for North West Lanarkshire. He lost the seat at the 1886 general election to the socialist Robert Cunninghame-Graham, who stood as a Liberal-Labour candidate and became Britain's first socialist MP.

Baird had residences Knoydart, the Isle of Ornsay and Lochwood, Lanarkshire. He died at the age of 48.

Baird married Constance Amelia Harford, daughter of John Harford Battersby Harford, on 23 April 1878 and had two daughters and two sons. Baird's brother Sir Alexander Baird, 1st Baronet was Lord Lieutenant of Kincardineshire from 1889 to 1918.