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William and James Baird (1796-1864) Painting of William Baird. William and James Baird were the eldest and fourth of the eight sons (and two daughters) of Alexander Baird and Jean Moffat, from the Monklands area of Lanarkshire. The family moved from farming to coal mining and iron smelting, with the first Gartsherrie furnace opening on 4 May 1830.
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Baird of Auchmedden coat of arms, part of the large stone...
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Clans were groupings of people for mutual protection and...
- Clan Baird Facts
The majority of these (78.6%) were in a band across Scotland...
- Gartsherrie
2a WILLIAM BAIRD, see below. WILLIAM BAIRD, of Elie, Fife,...
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- Farming Origins
- ‘Blowing-In’
- The ‘Hot Blast Affair’
- Feeding The Furnaces
- The Iron Burgh
- Expansion Into Ayrshire
- New Challenges & A New Start
William Baird was just one remarkable member of the family whose firm bore his name. In fact, his father Alexander and brother James were at least as significant in the Baird success story. Alexander Baird Senior was born at Woodhead farmhouse, Old Monkland on 12 May 1765, the eldest of four children. His childhood combined hard labour on the famil...
On 4 May 1830 the first Gartsherrie furnace was lit, the start of a whole new business for the Bairds. At this time James Baird took over active management of the business from his elder brother William. Like his brother James had difficulty finding staff with suitable experience, later modestly recalling: In 1828 James Beaumont Neilson patented hi...
The first Gartsherrie furnace which was blown-in in 1830 was the very first to be purpose-built to use Neilson’s Hot Blast Process. In fact the decision to use Neilson’s new process seems to have been made after construction had already started which perhaps explains the furnace’s traditional form. The furnace was shaped like a pyramid, a design th...
William Baird and Co had been mining coal for years before they built an ironworks but now they needed a steady supply of not just coal but iron ore and limestone to feed the furnaces. William Cameron was appointed Underground Manager in 1816, the year that Alexander Baird had leased the coal field at Rochsolloch. Cameron’s job was to plan and mana...
By 1840 the Gartsherrie Works had reached its maximum size with the eight new furnaces of the ‘New Side’ completed. When added to the ‘Old Side’ this brought the total to 16. It took some time to bring all of the new furnaces into production probably due to the severe economic depression of 1842, but by 1843 annual production reached 100,000 tons m...
By 1845 there were some 60-odd blast furnaces in the wider Coatbridge area, all consuming the raw materials in the vicinity. This led James Baird to look further afield to the rich mineral deposits of the Ayrshire coalfield. The company established new furnaces at Kilwinning, the Eglinton Iron Works and created a subsidiary, the Eglinton Iron Co to...
After a boost from war demand during the First World War the iron industry went into steep decline. Steel was now the dominant production material and the new industry had its centre further south in Motherwell. By the late 1930s all of the Coatbridge pig iron works had closed with the exceptions of Gartsherrie and Woodside. Gartsherrie’s saviour c...
James Baird 1802-1876. William and James Baird were the eldest and fourth of the eight sons (and two daughters) of Alexander Baird and Jean Moffat, from the Monklands area of Lanarkshire. The family moved from farming to coal mining and iron smelting, with the first Gartsherrie furnace opening on 4 May 1830.
Apr 21, 2018 · William's son, William Baird (1848-1918) and grandson William James Baird (1893-1961) were both addicted to foxhunting, and moved to Rutland, where they both served as masters of the Cottesmore hunt. Cambusdoon and Elie House, which they held, were sold in 1926 and 1928 respectively.
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James Baird followed his two brothers, William and Alexander, into the coal industry, and the firm took it’s name from William, William Baird and Company. Later the whole family set up the iron works, Bairds of Gartsherrie, which employed thousands. James Baird was able, in time, to buy more land in Lanarkshire, Ayrshire and Fife.
Sir James Baird of Auchmedden, 1620-1691, had properly registered those Arms in accordance with the Act of 1672. Those Arms would have successively matriculated down to his great-grandson William Baird of Auchmedden, 1701-1775. William Baird of Auchmedden was locally regarded as Chief but the Lyon Court does not recognize him as having that title.
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In 1830 , William and James took over all the coal leases and formed the partnership William Baird & Co. In around 1843, William and James Baird were involved in the establishment of the Eglinton Iron Company that managed the Gartsherrie Ironworks, building furnaces at Kilwinning, North Ayrshire, Scotland, and purchasing those at Blair and ...
