Clan Baird

☀☀ Officially registered clan, without a Clan Chief, registered with the Lord Lyon Court.

Tradition states that a Baird rescued King William the Lion from being savaged by a wild boar and was rewarded with extensive grants of lands.

Comprehensive Genealogical Collections - a "must consult" for anyone researching this family.

The Bairds of Auchmeddon and Strichen, Aberdeenshire by John Malcolm Bulloch - 1934

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• Crest/Badge A gryphon's head erased, Proper
• Gaelic Name: Mac a'bhaird
• Motto: Dominus fecit (The Lord made)
• Origin of Tartan:
• Name Variations: Bard, Barde, Beard, Byrd, and Bayard - also Bard and Bardt, and Baort.
• Lands Auchmeddan, Aberdeenshire

Origins of the name

Placename, Lanarkshire

The Baird name seems to reflect the geographical location of lands held by the family in Lanarkshire near the village of Biggar in the thirteenth century. Early in the fourteenth century King Robert Bruce bestowed the lands at Meikle and Little Kyp, also in Lanarkshire, to Richard Baird.

As written by William Baird about 1770 or earlier:

"The Sirname of BAIRD is originally of the South of France, where there were several Families of it in the reign of Louis IV, and it is said are still, but the first of the name mentioned in Britain came from Normandy to England with William the Conqueror. And from the time when it first appears in Scotland, there is reason to believe that some of that name came here with King William the Lyon, when he returned from his captivity in England, anno 1174, as it is agreed by all our historians, several English gentlemen did. For it is certain that in less than sixty years after that period, they possessed fine estates, and had made good alliances in the South and South West counties of Scotland."

Historical references

• 1066 Le Seigneur de Barde, mentioned as one of William Duke of Normandy's followers to the conquest of England. (A large old History of Normandy in the Advocates Library, and Hollingshed's Chronicle, who calls him the Seigneur de Beart.) Library at Glasgow.
• 1178 Henry de Barde, Mariscallus apud Strivelin, witness to a charter granted by King William the Lion to the Bishop of Glasgow, upon some lands in the town of Stirling, The Chartulary of Glasgow, sent lately from the Scotch College at Paris.
• 1292 And following years, in the Ragman's Roll or Submission, sworn and subscribed by the nobility and principal gentry of the Scotch nation, to King Edward 1 of England, the following three gentlemen are found, l. Fergus de Baird, of Meikle and Little Kyp according to Mr. Nisbet, who says it was a great and very considerable family. 2. John Baird, of Evandale, as the same author thinks. 3. Robert Baird. Mr. Nisbet thinks that this was Baird of Cambusnethan, and says that estate went to Sir Alexander Stuart, afterwards of Darnley, by marrying the heiress, Jean Baird, about 1360, and that in 1390 he gave it with his daughter to Sir Thomas Somerville of Carnwath, Lord Somerville's ancestor, upon their marriage.

See more historical mentions at http://www.bairdnet.com/auchmedden/will3.html

• 1202-28 when Henry de Barde witnessed a charter by Thomas de Haya to the House of Soltre.
• In 1296 there were four men of this name among those bearing homage to King Edward I.
• A charter was granted to Richard Baird of Meikle and Little Kyp in Lanarkshire in the 13th century and King Robert the Bruce granted the barony of Cambusnethan to a Robert Baird.

Baird People

• General Sir David Baird was noted for his exploits in India and in the expedition to recapture the Cape of Good Hope from the Dutch in 1807. He lost an arm at the battle of Corunna in 1809 but assumed command of the army. Before he died in 1829 he had received many honours for his bravery.
• James Baird of Blyth was created Baron Deveron by Charles I but he died before the patent passed the Great Seal. His second son was created Sir Robert Baird of Saughton Hall and his eldest son, John Baird Lord Newbyth, was a Lord of Justiciary.
• John Logie Baird (1888-1946), the television pioneer was born in Helensburgh in 1888.

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References, Sources and Further Reading

• http://www.bairdnet.com/genindex.html
• http://www.electricscotland.com/webclans/clanmenu.htm
• http://www.electricscotland.com/webclans/atoc/baird.html
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baird_baronets
• Dominus Fecit - Genealogical Collections Concerning the Sir-Name of Baird, and the Families of Auchmedden, Newbyth and Sauchton Hall.