John Baird

22 men were tried at Stirling on the 13th & 14th of July for High Treason. All received the death sentence on the 4th of August. Hardie and Baird pleaded guilty at trial.

After hanging half an hour their bodies were cut down and placed in their coffins. Their heads were then cut off and shown to the crowd. Andrew Hardie and John Baird (both weavers) were the leaders the “1820 Rising”, a group of radicals campaigning for universal male suffrage, better working conditions and a Scottish parliament. They had attempted to seize Carron Ironworks, near Falkirk but were captured by the British army at Bonnymuirtried. They were all tried and convicted of high treason and sedition. On the gallows, Hardie told the spectators, 'I die a martyr to the cause of truth and injustice'.

The other 20 were reprieved, being : Thomas M’Culloch, Benjamin Moir, Alex Latimer, Alex Johnstone, Andrew White, David Thomson, James Wright, William Clackson, Thomas Pink, Alex Hart, John Barr, William Smith, Thomas M’Farlane, John Anderson, John M’Millan, Andrew Dawson, Allen Murchie, Robert Gray, William Crawford & James Cleland.