Baird, John

BAIRD, John (c1851–1883) was second son of John Baird, of Kirkmuirhill, Lesmahagow, Lanarkshire, Scotland, and Agnes Thomson. John snr was a master tile-maker who in 1861 was running a tile works at Shidlaw, Carham, Northumberland. By 1871 he was operating the Auchenheath Tile Works, Lesmahagow with his third son, James who succeeded him in the business. By then John jnr may have trained as an architect but was working as a ‘house joiner’ possibly already suffering from tuberculosis which prompted his migration to Queensland. By 1879 he was in partnership with HH CAMPBELL, also a recent arrival from Scotland, as BAIRD & CAMPBELL, contractors of Warwick who offered to prepare plans and specifications. The partnership was dissolved in March 1883 when Baird moved to Southport in a vain effort to arrest the disease which resulted in his premature death in July. Earlier that month in Brisbane, he applied for the conditions of the Public Offices (Treasury Building) competition, but not surprisingly, he did not submit an entry.