The Baird Family

Baird family of Newbyth: 1st Bt.

British military lodges arrived in South Africa with their regiments during the Second British occupation (1806-1814). Truter found a masonic ally in the Commander-in-Chief, Major General David Baird, Colonel of the 24th Regiment (& 71st Reg, previous pages) a member of Canongate Kilwinning No.2, welcoming him to De Goede Hoop as Protector. However the influx of Englishspeaking members into his lodge brought tensions and an inevitable split when English members broke away to form the first permanent English lodge in the Cape, The British Lodge in 1811.

After Sir David's death, a monument to his memory was erected by Lady Baird, the foundation stone of which was laid with Masonic honours in 1832. The 4th of May was selected for the purpose, because on that day General Baird took Seringapatam by storm.

Baird family of Saughtonhall Baird, Lt-Col. Sir James Gardiner (c.1756-1830), 6th bt.

Only son of Capt. Sir William Baird (1721-71), 5th bt., and his wife Frances, daughter of Col. James Gardiner of Bankton, born about 1756.He succeeded his father as 6th baronet, 17 August 1771.An officer in the army (Ensign, 1772; Lt., 1776; Capt., 1777; Lt-Col., 1796; retired 1796) who served in the American War of Independence and in Flanders; and later of the East Lothian Yeomanry Cavalry (Lt-Col. from its formation in 1797). He served as Senior Grand Warden of the Grand Lodge of Scotland, 1810-13. His son, also Sir David, was Substitute Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Scotland in 1841 under the Grand Mastership of Lord Frederick Fitz-Clarence ad Lord Glenlyon Depute GM who would take over from Clarence.

Lodge Marie Stewart No.541 in Crosshill in Glasgow advertising for a Tyler in The Masonic News in 1873. Very often this was a paid job (and in many lodges in England today still is).