Profile

BAIRD, Robert Stewart
(Service number 3/1821)

Aliases
First Rank Private Last Rank Sergeant

Birth

Date 3 July 1890 Place of Birth Timaru

Enlistment Information

Date Age
Address at Enlistment Craighall, North Street, Timaru
Occupation Ironmonger
Previous Military Experience Field Ambulance - serving; Timaru Rifles - 4 years
Marital Status Single
Next of Kin W. BAIRD (father), Craighall, North Street, Timaru
Religion Presbyterian
Medical Information

Military Service

Served with NZ Armed Forces Served in Army
Military District

Embarkation Information

Body on Embarkation New Zealand Expeditionary Force
Unit, Squadron, or Ship Hospital Ship No 1, Maheno
Date
Transport
Embarked From Destination
Other Units Served With
Last Unit Served With

Military Awards

Campaigns
Service Medals
Military Awards

Award Circumstances and Date

No information

Prisoner of War Information

Date of Capture
Where Captured and by Whom
Actions Prior to Capture
PoW Serial Number
PoW Camps
Days Interned
Liberation Date

Discharge

Date Reason

Hospitals, Wounds, Diseases and Illnesses

Post-war Occupations

Death

Date 10 September 1962 Age 72 years
Place of Death Christchurch
Cause
Notices
Memorial or Cemetery
Memorial Reference
New Zealand Memorials

Biographical Notes

"Robert's great grandson recounts:

"Robert Stewart Baird was born on July 3rd, 1890 in Timaru - the second youngest son of William and Mary Louisa Baird (née Stewart). William Baird was a well known builder, who played a prominent role in the building and planning of Timaru in its early days. William and Mary Louisa had immigrated to Timaru on-board the barque Pleiades in 1874 from Glasgow, Scotland (however, William was an Ulster Scot from Antrim).

Robert - also known as Bob - was working as an insurance agent and ironmonger in Timaru when war broke out. He was sent to Europe on-board the Hospital Ship - the Maheno - in January 1916, at the age of 25. He served for more than two years on-board the Maheno, until he made his way back to New Zealand at the war's close.

Bob married Mary McRae (known as Mac) on April 17th in 1919 at his parents-in law's home "Milladen" 15 Selwyn Street, Timaru. Mary was the daughter of John Stevenson McRae - the owner/proprietor of the Timaru Woollen Mills.

Bob had a successful career in the oil and insurance industries, spending the latter half of his life based in Christchurch.

He had two children: Aileen McRae Baird in 1922 and Ian McRae Baird (my Grandfather) in 1927."

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [21 December 2016]; School Admission Records (South Canterbury Branch NZSG) [17 December 2016]; Timaru Herald, 25 July 1958 (Timaru District Library) [20 December 2016]; NZ BDM Indexes (Department of Internal Affairs) [22 December 2016]; SCroll submission by A Baird, 30 August 2017

External Links

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