| Alice Baird | |
| Birth Name: | Alice Anne Baird |
| Birth Date: | 6 October 1871 |
| Birth Place: | London, England |
| Death Place: | Worcester, England |
| Occupation: | School founder Girl Guide executive |
| Nationality: | British |
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]
Baird was of Scottish parentage. She was one of twins born 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]
In 1896, together with her twin sister, Katrine, Baird established St James' School for girls, initially in Southbourne-on-Sea. The school moved to Crowborough in 1900, then, having grown to one hundred pupils, to West Malvern in 1902.[12] [13] Baird was headmistress for 52 years, retiring in 1948.[14] After retirement she remained on the school's council[15] and moved into the Junior House.[16] In 1956 she worked with former pupils to publish I Was There, St. James's West Malvern, a book about the school's first 60 years.[17]
Baird was a close friend of Lord and Lady Baden-Powell. They met when the couple visited Malvern to watch a Scout display.[18] Baird would visit them at their home, Pax Hill, and in 1929, when recovering from an operation, she joined them on a cruise around West Africa.[19] The Baden-Powells' two daughters, Heather (1915-1986) and Betty (1917-2004) attended St James' and the Baden-Powells would visit frequently. Lord Baden-Powell was one of St James' School original council members[20] and, in 1934, he opened a new wing at the school.[21]
Together with Allison Cargill and Winifred Lander, Baird established a Guide company at St James' School in 1911, with Baird as the company's captain. She attended the movement's first Commissioners' conference in 1916 and was pivotal in forming a cadet branch in the same year.[22]
Between 1917[23] and 1946, Baird was on the Girl Guide council and was county commissioner for Worcestershire from 1917 to 1925.[24] In the 1920s she was head of schools companies and cadet corps.[25]
She was subsequently assistant county commissioner until at least 1941.[26] Baird received the Silver Fish Award in 1922. From 1925 until 1952 she was assistant county commissioner for Worcestershire. She was a vice president of the Girl Guide Association from 1942 to 1959.[27] [28]