Born and baptised 26 April 1842 in Aberdeen, he was the son of Thomas Baird and Catherine Imray.
[3] In India he was appointed special assistant engineer of the Bombay harbour defence works, and was responsible for ordering the buildings of the batteries at Oyster Rock and Middle Ground.
After serving as assistant field engineer in the Abyssinian expedition of 1868 under Sir Robert Napier, in December 1869 Baird was assistant superintendent of the trigonometrical survey of India, and conducted extensive tidal observations at the Gulf of Cutch.
He was appointed a colonel on 9 April 1896, and retired from the mint the following year, making his home at Palmers Cross, near Elgin, Moray.
[5] He died on 2nd April 1908 and was buried on the eastern side of Highgate Cemetery.