Alice Baird
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6 October 1871
Girl Guide executive
Alice Baird | |
|---|---|
.png) Baird from a 1951 magazine | |
| Born | Alice Anne Baird 6 October 1871 London, England |
| Died | 10 August 1959 (aged 87) Worcester, England |
| Occupations | School founder Girl Guide executive |
Alice Baird (6 October 1871 – 10 August 1959) was the founder of St James' School for girls in Malvern in 1896, where, in 1919, she established one of the earliest Girl Guide companies. She was a recipient of the Silver Fish Award, the Girl Guiding Association's (GGA) highest adult honour, in 1922.[1]
Alice Ann Baird was of Scottish parentage. She was one of twins, born in London, to Jonathan Peel Baird (1844–1915), manager of the Earl of Home's Lanarkshire estate,[2] and Emily Diana Frances.[3] Baird was one of ten children, including five sisters: Helen, Katherine (known as Katrine, her twin), Mary, Diana and Constance.[4][5] In 1910, Baird covered half the cost of printing The Little People, a book of poetry by Nancy Maude, Baird's cousin.[6] In 1935 she donated £100 towards the extension of West Malvern's playing fields, in order to include a cricket pitch and a football pitch.[7] In 1936 she was invited to launch a 12,000-ton oil tanker called 'British Confidence' at Birkenhead. The ship's owner, Sir John Cadman, had a daughter at St James' School.[8] By 1956, Baird was blind and bedridden.[9] She died in a Worcester nursing home in 1959 after a long illness.[10][11]
