General Sir Harry Beauchamp Douglas Baird KCB CMG CIE DSO (4 April 1877 – 2 July 1963) was a British officer in the British Indian Army.[1]
Baird was born in Kensington, London, the son of Scottish Colonel Andrew Wilson Baird and Margaret Elizabeth Davidson. He was educated at Clifton College and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst.[1]
Baird was commissioned on the unattached list of the Indian Army on 20 January 1897.[2]
In March 1912 he was appointed as an aide-de-camp to Lieutenant General Sir Douglas Haig.[3]
He served on the Western Front in World War I becoming commanding officer of the 1st/8th Battalion the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders in 1916 and then, after a promotion to brevet lieutenant colonel in January 1917,[4] as a general staff officer, grade 2 (GSO2) first with 51st (Highland) Division[5] and then with the Cavalry Corps before becoming commander of the 75th Infantry Brigade in 1916.[6]
After the war Baird became a General Staff Officer at 4th Indian Infantry Division in India, Brigadier-General on the General Staff with the Baluchistan Force and then commanding officer of the 28th Punjabis.[6] He then became Commander of the Zhob Brigade in November 1920,[7] Colonel on the Staff at Army Headquarters, India in 1923 and Commandant of the Senior Officers' School, Belgaum in 1924.[6]
Baird went on to be Deputy Adjutant and Quartermaster-General in India in July 1929 and General Officer Commanding the Kohat District in December 1930.[8] Then he became General Officer Commanding the Deccan District in 1932 and General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Eastern Command in April 1936 before retiring in April 1940.[8]