Matthew Barr Baird was born on 15^th March 1845 and ‘Baptised at Tollcrofs’ on the 24^th, as entered in the Old Monkland Parish Register. The 1871 census supplies his place of birth more precisely as the Clyde Iron Works.

At the time of the 1851 census, Matthew appears as a scholar, aged six, born in Old Monkland, living in the family home in Clyde Ironworks.

In the 1861 census, Matthew Baird was a scholar, 15, and was staying with his uncle and aunt, John Baird and Margaret Baird MS Muirhead, in Clyde Cottage, Clyde Ironworks, Old Monkland.

In the 1871 census, Matthew was entered as an engineer’s ironmonger, aged 26, living in the family home in Hamilton with his widowed father, cousin Alison Aitken and a domestic servant named Mary Clark.

Matthew Barr Baird, ironmonger, bachelor, 29, married Margaret Archibald, on 4^th August 1874 at Leslie, Fife, After Banns according to the Forms of the United Presbyterian Church. He was usually resident in Hamilton. The Register was signed by Benjamin Martin, Minister, and by witnesses D. A. MacKenzie and Agnes Archibald.

When his daughter, Agnes Wallace Baird, was born in 1876; when his son, Archibald, was born in 1878; when his son Henry Archibald Baird was born in 1880; when his son Matthew Barr Baird junior was born in 1882; when his son John was born in 1883 and again when Archibald died in 1884, Matthew senior was designated as an ironmonger (master). The first sign of a career progression came when his son William Archibald was born in 1887; on this occasion, Matthew was designated as an ironmonger and steel manufacturer.

There is a clear pattern at work here. Matthew invariably acted as informant on birth and death certificates pertaining to his children but only after a considerable interval, suggesting that he was frequently away on business, or otherwise preoccupied.

In the 1881 census, Matthew B. Baird appears living in Charleville, on the ‘Ham & Glas’ (Hamilton and Glasgow) Road, in the village of Uddingston, Civil Parish of Bothwell, premises having seven rooms with one or more windows. The full entry runs:

Matthew B. Baird, 36, ironmonger and steel manufacturer (manager), born Lanarkshire, Old Monkland Margaret Baird, 36, born Fifeshire, Leslie Agnes Wallace Baird, daughter, 4, born Lanarkshire, Bothwell Archibald Baird, son, 2, born Lanarkshire, Bothwell Henry Archibald Baird, son, six months, born Lanarkshire, Bothwell Jane Paterson, domestic servant, unmarried, born Lanarkshire, Hamilton

The Mining Institute of Scotland, Transactions Volume XI, 1889-1890, published online by the Durham Mining Museum, lists ‘Baird, Matthew B., Charleville, Uddingston’ as an Ordinary Member.

Matthew B. Baird appears again at Charleville in the 1891 census, premises having seven rooms with one or more windows. The full record runs:

Matthew B. Baird, 46, ironmonger and steel manufacturer, born Lanarkshire, Old Monkland Margaret Baird, wife, 46, born Fife, Leslie Henry A. Baird, son, 10, scholar, born Lanarkshire, Uddingston Matthew B. Baird, son, 9, scholar, born Lanarkshire, Uddingston John Baird, son, 7, scholar, born Lanarkshire, Uddingston William A. Baird, son, 3, scholar, born Lanarkshire, Uddingston Margaret Dewar, unmarried, 22, general domestic servant, born England

The Sheffield & Rotherham Independent, Monday, 25^th April 1892, in the Patent Intelligence column, listed:

No. 7302, Andrew Turner and Matthew Barr Baird, Glasgow - improvements in the manufacture of iron and steel

‘M. B. Baird’ acted as informant on the death certificate of his uncle, John Baird, in 1893. He was designated a steel manufacturer when his daughter, Agnes Wallace Baird, married John Tennant in 1898. He again acted as informant, this time on the death of his father, Archibald Baird, in 1899. On both occasions on which he acted as informant, his address was given as Hillside, Hamilton. The former of these sources supplies the detail that this property was on Auchingramont Road. Agnes’s usual address was similarly entered on her marriage certificate.

By the time of the 1901 census, Matthew Barr Baird had moved to West House, Bothwell, premises having fourteen rooms with one or more windows. The full entry runs:

Matthew B. Baird, 56, steel manufacturer, employer, born Lanarkshire, Tollcross Margaret Baird, wife, 56, born Fifeshire, Leslie Harry Archibald, son, single, 20, metallurgist, worker, born Lanarkshire, Bothwell Matthew Barr Baird Jnr, son, single, 19, electrical mechanical engineer, worker, born Lanarkshire, Bothwell John Baird, son, single, 17, accountant, worker, born Lanarkshire, Bothwell William Archibald Baird, son, single, 13, scholar, born Lanarkshire, Bothwell Harry Ritchie, visitor, single, 27, ironmonger, worker, born Fifeshire, Leslie Agnes Watson, servant, single, 25, cook (domestic), worker, born Lanarkshire, Lemington (probably referring to Flemington) Janet Stobie, servant, single, 19, housemaid (domestic), worker, born Fifeshire, Townhill

At the time of the 1911 census, Matthew Barr Baird was still living at West House, 96, Silverwells Crescent, Bothwell, a dwelling having sixteen rooms with one or more windows. The full entry runs:

Matthew Barr Baird, 66, widower, iron & steel manufacturer, employer, born Tollcross Harry Archibald Baird, son, 30, single, iron & steel manufacturer, employer, born Uddingston John Baird, son, 27, single, iron & steel manufacturer, employer, born Uddingston Jeanie Rankin, 28, single, general servant (domestic), born Perthshire, Crianlarich Martha Robertson Higgins, 23, single, general servant (domestic), born Lanark, Hamilton

A hardcover work by Matthew Barr Baird is listed by Amazon.co.uk, under the title Original Patent Application Number 3282 for Improvements in Apparatus for Lubricating the Axles of Hutches or Corves (Peacock Cross, Hamilton, 1902).

At the time of his son Matthew Barr Baird junior’s marriage to Helen Eva Stuart Brown in 1911, Matthew Barr Baird was entered a an iron & steel manufacturer.

Matthew Barr Baird, steel manufacturer, widow of Margaret Archibald, died on 16^th December 1916 at 8^h 15^m am, at 16, Belhaven Terrace, Glasgow. He was entered as 72 years of age. The cause of death was certified as ‘pelvic abdominal tumour’ from which he had been suffering for about five years, ‘malignant latterly’. The informant was the deceased’s son, Harry A. Baird, of Ashfield House, Glasgow.

Father of Matthew Barr Baird