James Baird (British Army officer)

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Lieutenant-General Sir James Parlane Baird, KBE CStJ (12 May 1915 – 26 May 2007) was a British Army officer and doctor. He served as Director General Army Medical Services from 1973 to 1977.[1][2]

Early life[edit]

Baird was born on 12 May 1915 in Morayshire, Scotland. His father, the Rev David Baird, was a minister of the United Free Church of Scotland.[3] He was educated at Bathgate Academy, a school in Bathgate, West Lothian.[3] He studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh.[4] He graduated in 1937 Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MB ChB).[3]

Military career[edit]

Baird had originally hoped to join the Royal Navy (RN) but with the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939 he joined the British Army instead.[3] He was commissioned into the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) on 12 December 1939 with the rank of lieutenant,[5] with his service number being 115469. He was initially posted to a field ambulance unit in Scotland,[4] and was promoted to captain on 12 December 1940.[5] In 1941, he was posted to the Middle East as a regimental medical officer with No. 11 (Scottish) Commando, part of the Layforce.[3] The unit was disbanded later that year after taking heavy casualties in Lebanon.[4] He then joined the Eighth Army, serving in field medical units during the Western Desert campaign.[3] He transferred from a short service to a regular commission on 12 December 1944.[6] He spent the later part of the war serving in military base hospitals; specifically in Suez, Cairo and Malta.[3]

Following the war he specialised in tropical medicine.[3] He became a Member of the Royal College of Physicians of London in 1946 and a Member of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh in 1947.[2] He was promoted to major on 12 December 1947.[7] From 1947 to 1948, he was Officer-in-Charge of the medical division of Cambridge Military Hospital, Aldershot Garrison.[8] He served in Austria from 1948 to 1949 and in 1950 he was on exchange to the Medical Corps of the US Army based in Texas.[8] In 1952, he was elected Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.[2] On 4 September 1958, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel.[9] He completed his Doctor of Medicine (MD) degree from the University of Edinburgh in 1958.[2][10] In 1959, he was elected Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of London.[2] He was promoted to colonel on 12 December 1962.[11]

He was appointed Professor of Military Medicine at the Royal Army Medical College in 1965.[1] From 1967 to 1969, he was based in West Germany as a consultant physician with the British Army of the Rhine.[1] He was granted the acting rank of major-general on 7 January 1969.[12] He served as Director of Medicine from 1969 to 1971.[1] He returned to the Royal Army Medical College on 9 July 1971 as Commandant and Director of Studies.[1][13] On 5 April 1973, he was appointed Director General Army Medical Services and granted the acting rank of lieutenant-general.[14] He was promoted to lieutenant-general on 29 May 1973.[15]

He retired from the British Army on 30 March 1977.[16]

Later life[edit]

Following his retirement from the military, Baird continued his involvement in postgraduate medical education. He was a medical adviser to the Council for Postgraduate Medical Education and deputy director of the British Postgraduate Medical Centre. He retired in 1984.[3]

He died on 26 May 2007.[2] His funeral was held at St Stephen's Church, South Dulwich, London on 6 June 2007.[17]

He is survived by his daughter, Fiona, and his son, Alastair. His grandson, named James after him, is also a doctor.

Honours and decorations[edit]

Baird was mentioned in dispatches on 13 January 1944 'in recognition of gallant and distinguished services in the Middle East'.[18]

In June 1966, he was appointed Officer of the Venerable Order of Saint John (OStJ).[19] In April 1972, he was promoted to Commander of the Venerable Order of Saint John (CStJ).[20] In the 1973 Queen's Birthday Honours, he was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE).[21]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e "BAIRD, Sir James (Parlane) (born 1915), Lieutenant General". Survey of the Papers of Senior UK Defence Personnel, 1900–1975. King's College London – Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives. Retrieved 2 February 2014.
  2. ^ a b c d e f "Lieut General Sir James Parlane Baird FRCP Edin". Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. Retrieved 2 February 2014.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Lieutenant-General Sir James Baird". The Times. 6 June 2007. Retrieved 3 February 2014.
  4. ^ a b c "Obituary – Lt Gen Sir James Baird KBE". The Dulwich Society. 11 August 2008. Retrieved 3 February 2014.
  5. ^ a b "No. 36786". The London Gazette (Supplement). 7 November 1944. pp. 5135–5136.
  6. ^ "No. 37041". The London Gazette (Supplement). 17 April 1945. p. 2084.
  7. ^ "No. 38146". The London Gazette (Supplement). 12 December 1947. p. 5909.
  8. ^ a b "Baird James Parlane". RAMC Officers of the Malta Garrison. Malta RAMC. Retrieved 8 February 2014.
  9. ^ "No. 41580". The London Gazette (Supplement). 19 December 1958. p. 7843.
  10. ^ Baird, J. P. (1958). "Ankylosing spondylitis". M.D. hdl:1842/26194.
  11. ^ "No. 42855". The London Gazette (Supplement). 11 December 1962. p. 9713.
  12. ^ "No. 44760". The London Gazette (Supplement). 3 January 1969. p. 199.
  13. ^ "No. 45444". The London Gazette (Supplement). 9 August 1971. p. 8618.
  14. ^ "No. 45949". The London Gazette (Supplement). 9 April 1973. p. 4605.
  15. ^ "No. 46002". The London Gazette (Supplement). 11 June 1973. p. 7260.
  16. ^ "No. 47189". The London Gazette. 4 April 1977. p. 4639.
  17. ^ "Telegraph announcements – Baird". The Telegraph. Retrieved 3 February 2014.
  18. ^ "No. 36327". The London Gazette. 11 January 1944. pp. 258–269.
  19. ^ "No. 44028". The London Gazette. 21 June 1966. pp. 7097–7098.
  20. ^ "No. 45656". The London Gazette. 25 April 1972. p. 4913.
  21. ^ "No. 45984". The London Gazette (Supplement). 22 May 1973. p. 6477.
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