SIR

See also:

• DAVID
• DAVID (a Hebrew name meaning probably beloved 1)
• DAVID, FELICIEN (1810—1876)
• DAVID, GERARD [GHEERAERT DAVIT], (?=1523)
• DAVID, PIERRE JEAN (1789–1856)
• DAVID, ST (Dewi, Sant)

DAVID

See also:

• BAIRD, HENRY MARTYN (1832—1906)
• BAIRD, JAMES (1802—1876)
• SIR DAVID BAIRD (1757—1829)
• BAIRD, SPENCER FULLERTON (1823--1887)

BAIRD (1757—1829)  , British general, was born at Newbyth in Aberdeenshire in December 1757 . He entered the British army in 1773, and was sent to India in 1779 with the 73rd (afterwards 71st) Highlanders, in which he was a captain . Immediately on his arrival, Baird was attached to the force commanded by Sir Hector Munro, which was sent forward to assist the detachment of Colonel Baillie, threatened by Hyder Ali . In the action which followed the whole force was destroyed, and Baird, severely wounded, fell into the hands of the Mysore chief . The prisoners, who were most barbarously treated, remained captive for over four years . Baird's mother, on hearing that her son and other prisoners were in fetters, is said to have remarked, " God help the chiel chained to oor Davie." The bullet was not extracted from Baird's wound until his release . He became major in 1787, visited England in 1789, and purchased a lieutenant-colonelcy in 1790, returning to India in the following year . He held a brigade command in the war against Tippoo, and served under Cornwallis in the Seringapatam operations of 1792, being promoted colonel in 1795 . Baird served also at the Cape of Good Hope as a brigadier-general, and he returned to India as a major-general in 1798 . In the last war against Tippoo in 1799 Baird was appointed to the senior brigade command in the army . At the successful assaultof Seringapatam Baird led the storming party, and was soon a master of the stronghold in which he had long been a prisoner . He had been disappointed that the command of the large contingent of the nizam was given to Colonel Arthur Wellesley; and when after the capture of the fortress the same officer obtained the governorship, Baird judged himself to have been treated with injustice and disrespect .

He afterwards received the thanks of

parliament and of the East India Company for his gallant bearing on that important day, and a pension was offered to him by the Company, which he declined, apparently from the hope of receiving the order of the Bath from the government . General Baird commanded the Indian army which was sent in 18o1 to co-operate with Abercromby in the expulsion of the French from Egypt . Wellesley was appointed second in command, but owing to ill-health did not accompany the expedition . Baird landed at Kosseir, conducted his army across the desert to Kena on the Nile, and thence to Cairo . He arrived before Alexandria in time for the final operations . On his return to India in 1802, he was employed against Sindhia, but being irritated at another appointment given to Wellesley he relinquished his command and returned to Europe . In 1804 he was knighted, and in 18o5—18o6, being by now a lieutenant-general, he commanded the expedition against the Cape of Good Hope with complete success, capturing Cape Town and forcing the Dutch general Janssens to surrender . But here again his usual ill luck attended him . Commodore Sir Home Popham persuaded Sir David to lend him troops for an expedition against Buenos Aires; the successive- failures of operations against this place involved the recall of Baird, though on his return home he was quickly re-employed as a divisional general in the Copenhagen expedition of 1807 . During the bombardment of Copenhagen Baird was wounded . Shortly after his return, he was sent out to the Peninsular War in command of a considerable forcewhich was sent to Spain to co-operate with Sir John Moore, to whom he was appointed second in command . It was Baird's misfortune that he was junior by a few days both to Moore and to Lord Cavan, under whom he had served at Alexandria, and thus never had an opportunity of a Chief command in the field .

At the

battle of Corunna he succeeded to the supreme command after Moore's fall, but shortly afterwards his left arm was shattered, and the command passed to Sir John Hope . He again obtained the thanks of parliament for his gallant services, and was made a K.B. and a baronet . Sir David married Miss Campbell-Preston, a Perthshire heiress, in 1810 . He was not employed again in the field, and personal and political enmities caused him to be neglected and repeatedly passed over . He was not given the full rank of general until 1814, and his governor-ship of Kinsale was given five years later . In 1820. he was appointed commander-in-chief in Ireland, but the command was soon reduced, and he resigned in 1822 . He died on the 18th of August 1829 . See Theodore Hook's L, fe of Sir David Baird .