James Baird was a Scottish industrialist.

He was the fourth of the eight sons (and two daughters) of Alexander Baird and Jean Moffat.

Baird was active in the iron processing industry. He was also the founder of the Baird Lectureship, in vindication of Scottish orthodoxy.

From 1851 to 1857, he was an elected Tory

Tory

Toryism is a traditionalist and conservative political philosophy which grew out of the Cavalier faction in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. It is a prominent ideology in the politics of the United Kingdom, but also features in parts of The Commonwealth, particularly in Canada...

 Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 (MP) for the Falkirk Burghs

Falkirk Burghs (UK Parliament constituency)

Falkirk Burghs was a district of burghs constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1832 to 1918. The constituency comprised the burghs of Falkirk, Airdrie, Hamilton, Lanark and Linlithgow, lying in Stirlingshire, Lanarkshire and Linlithgowshire.In 1918,...

. His brother William

William Baird (MP)

William Baird , was the Tory Member of Parliament for Falkirk Burghs. He was first elected at the 1841 general election, and held the seat until he resigned from Parliament on 2 May 1846, by the procedural device of becoming Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds.The resulting by-election in Falkirk was...

 had had this seat just four years before.

Baird was, while anti-union

Trade union

A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...

, very interested to give his workers education. He also donated £500,000 to support churches.

External links

• Biography at Glasgow Digital Library (visited September 28, 2009)
• Baird Trust website