John Baird, Lord Newbyth

Sir John Baird, Lord Newbyth (1620 – 1698), was a Scottish advocate, judge, politician and diplomat. He served as Commissioner for Aberdeenshire in the Parliament of Scotland.

Baird was the son of James Baird of Byth, advocate and commissary of Edinburgh, and Bathia, daughter of Sir John Dempster of Pitliver.

John was admitted advocate on 3 June 1647.

Baird appears to have been knighted by Charles II on his accession to the throne of Scotland in 1651, In the correspondence of the Earls of Ancram and Lothian (1616–67), Baird is referred to as Sir John, under date 1653. Thenceforward his name occurs with some frequency in that correspondence, and usually in such a connection as to suggest that he was regarded as a person of some weight and sagacity.

On his father’s death, he moved from Byth in Aberdeenshire to Newbyth in East Lothian.

Like his father, he belonged to the covenanting party, and was considered of sufficient consequence to be excluded from the operation of the Act of Indemnity passed by the parliament of Scotland in 1662, being then mulcted in the sum of 2,400l. His eminence at the bar, however, could not be ignored, and in 1664 he was created an ordinary lord of session, assuming the title of Lord Newbyth.

In the Scottish parliaments of 1665 and 1667 he represented Aberdeenshire.

John married Margaret, daughter of Sir William Hay of Linplum, by whom he had four children, three sons and one daughter;

John, born on 4 October 1648; Margaret, born on 23 December 1649; John, born on 23 September 1652; William, born on 12 November 1654.

His son, Sir William Baird (1654-1737) was created Baronet of Newbyth; William’s son Sir John Baird (1686-1745) inherited the baronetcy and was an MP for Midlothian. When he died, the first Newbyth baronetcy became extinct.

In 1809, the title was recreated and his distant relative David Baird (1757-1829) became 1st baronet of Newbyth.