Bairds of Peebleshire

Bairds of Posso

The first established branch of the Baird family in the Borders of Scotland are the Bairds of Posso, located between five and six miles south-west of Peebles. They are of ancient lineage, the first on record being Thomas de Bard, who was sheriff of Peebles, in 1296, and who, with other Scottish nobles, obtained restoration of his lands after swearing fealty to Edward of England. His son Thomas received a charter from Robert III, King of the Scots [1390-1406] for the lands of Posso.
Sir Laurence Bard married, about 1364, the 2nd daughter of Sir Thomas Somerville and Elizabeth, daughter of Sir James Douglas, of Lothian. He was born before 1343, and died in Posso, co. Peebles.

Then in 1487 August 6. William de Baird, de Posso, is witness to a charter upon the lands of Manorhope, in the shire of Peebles, by John lnglis to his son. ¹ And in 1490 Gilbert Baird of Posso along with William Fraser of Fuird and Alexander Veitch of Dawick witnesses a charter by Margaret Inglis, sister to --Inglis of Murdiston, and widow to John Burnet for the lands of Barns and Burnet Land.

The one most known is Sir Gilbert Baird of Posso, his son Andrew Baird of Lavoroklaw was born 1475 and married Bessie Learmonth of Balcomy Fife. In 1534 he bought the Auchmedden estate from Stewart Earl of Buchan, and began the Auchmedden line of Bairds, he died on the l0th Feb 1543.
see Auchmedden for more on this line.

His other son John of Posso married Janet Scott. It is recorded that on the 7th August 1520 a 'Title Instrument of sasine propriis manibus of John Barde of Posso, in favour of Jonet Scot, of the liferent of the lands of Posso, Langhaucht and Kyrkhope, in the sheriffdom of Peblis'.²
Their father Gilbert fell at Flodden in 1513. John and Janet had a daughter Janet who married William Geddes and another daughter Elizabeth who married Sir Michael Naesmyth in 1544, at Edinburgh. Naesmyth, obtained half the lands of Posso and Glenrathnes, by right of his wife, being, the elder daughter and the absence of male descendants. Michael was Chamberlain to John Hamilton Archbishop of St Andrews. In 1574, the lands of Posso and Glenrathnes were granted to John Hay, 3rd of Smithfield.

During the intestine troubles in Scotland, in the reign of Mary, Sir Michael Naesmyth espoused the cause of the unfortunate Queen. He fought under her banner at Langside in 1568. He was banished, and his estates were seized by the Regent Moray. But after the restoration of peace, the Naesmyths regained their property. Sir Michael died at an advanced age. He had many sons. The eldest, Thomas, married Joana, daughter of William Veitch or Le Veitch of Dawick. By this marriage the lands of Dawick came into the family. He predeceased his father, and was succeeded by his son James, 2nd of Posso, the Royal Falconer. Sir Michael's second surviving son, John, was chief surgeon to James VI. of Scotland, afterwards James I. of England, and to Henry, Prince of Wales. He died in London in 1614, and in his testament he leaves "his herb to his young master, the Prince's grace." Charles I., in his instructions to the President of the Court of Session, enjoins "that you take special notice of the children of John Naesmyth, so often recommended by our late dear father and us." Two of Sir Michael's other sons, Michael and John, were killed at Edinburgh in 1588, in a deadly feud between the Scotts and the Naesmyths. In those days a sort of Corsican vendetta was carried on between these families involving ownership of the lands of Posso and adjacent property.

Bairds of the Kirklands of Stobo

These lands would lie in the vicinity of the parish church, but there is very little information about them. There is record of a contract in 1556 between James Baird, son of the deceased Alexander Baird of Hallmanor, and James Tweedie of Fruid, whereby Baird renounced his right to the Kirklands, which were then in the occupation of James Stewart. The previous occupier was Robert Crichton, tacksman of the vicar, and after him the said Alexander Baird. James Stewart continued to occupy the lands, along with Margaret Weir, wife of the said James Tweedie of Fruid, and in 1562, her husband being then dead, she assigned her right to her natural son John Tweedie. Thereafter, in 1580, Robert Douglas, the vicar of Stobo, with consent of the Archbishop of Glasgow, granted a charter of the Kirklands, for a feu duty of 40s. to John Tweedie, tutor of Drumelzier, from whom they passed to his daughter Marion in 1606. In 1635, they were granted by Crown charter to Sir David Murray of Stanhope and his son John, and are there described as the 'terras vicarie de Stobo' with the pasturage of 24 soums, lying on the east of the lands of Stobo, in the parish of Stobo. They appear again in 1654 in the service of William Murray of Stanhope, and they have since then remained a part of the Stobo estate.³

Lands of Dawyck

Dawyck originally formed a chapelry of Stobo after the Reformation it became (1598) a parish by itself, but in 1742 part of - Easter Dawyck, the Lour and Dawyck Mill - was annexed to the parish of Stobo, and the remainder to the parish of Drumelzier. The earliest reference is about 1214, when there were present at the adjustment of the marches of Stobo, 'Gylmor hund apud Dauwic' and 'Mihhyn senescallus de Dauwic' By the close of that century, the Veitches were in possession. In 1296 William Le Vache, of the county of Peebles, swore fealty to King Edward I. of England. He was doubtless the laird of Dawyck, and is the first of the name known in the country. Then a few generations on it is recorded, in 1553, William Veitch as grandson and heir of the late William Veitch of Dawyck and son of James, he was infeft by Elizabeth Baird, the superior, in the lands of Over Glenrath on a Crown precept. These, with Horsehoperig, he held on a wadset for 400 merks, which was renewed in 1564. On 6th June, 1556, in view of his marriage to Marion Fleming, daughter of William Fleming of Boghall, he granted to her in liferent the £8 lands of Wester Dawyck. ³

Naesmyth of Dawyck

Dawyck eventually passed into the possession of Mr. James Naesmyth, advocate, who was infeft in it in November, 1691, and obtained on 17th September, 1703, a Crown charter by which it was erected into a Barony, into which were incorporated Naesmyth's other lands of Smellhope and Uriesland in Glenholm, and Wrae in Manor, and Crookston.³ This Mr. James Naesmyth was a grandson of James Naesmyth of Posso, (Elizabeth Baird and Sir Michael Naesmyth son)

Naesmyth of Boughton/ Stirkfield

James Lindsay died without being infeft in the property, and was succeeded by his brother William, who had sasine on 28th October, 1551, as heir of his father, and the same day he gave sasine therein with his own hands to John Hamilton, macer, the ancestor of the Hamiltons of Coldcoat. This was followed by a charter to John Hamilton dated 3rd November and a Crown confirmation on 18th November, 1551. Hamilton may have reconveyed the property to Lindsay, or he may only have held it in security of debt, for on 30th October, 1564, there is a Crown grant, proceeding on Lindsay's resignation, to Michael Naesmyth of Posso and Elizabeth Baird, his wife.

Geddes of Rachan

William Geddes, the eldest son, married before 1543 - Janet Baird, the younger daughter and co-heiress of John Baird of Posso. He was killed in 1558 by the Tweedies, and that was the beginning of a long feud with that family. There is no information about this murder other than an entry in the records of the Privy Council, according to which a respite was granted under the Privy Seal to James Tweedie of Drumelzier, James Tweedie of Fruid, Patrick, William, and John, his brothers, and Thomas Tweedie alias Long Tom, for the cruel slaughter of William Geddes, son and apparent heir of Charles Geddes of 'Cuthilhall.' Besides his eldest son, Charles, William Geddes had other five sons - ³

Dickson's Share

In 1555 Janet Dickson, referred to as lady of one part of the lands of Whitslade (she was also lady of Glenrath), appointed procurators to resign that part, being a 20S. land in the hands of the Crown, for infeftment to her son, Thomas Tait. And on 2nd December, 1560 she and her husband, William Tait, obliged themselves to sell their 15s. lands of Whitslade to Janet Baird and Charles Geddess, her son, for 112 merks, but on 21st December, as the price was not forthcoming, the bargain was cancelled, although James Geddes appeared for Charles and offered a certain sum. In July of the following year Janet Dickson, then designed as spouse of William Tait in Fairnielie, granted a procuration for the resignation of their 15s. lands to Adam Ros, the price to be 140 merks. But this bargain she also cancelled, going to the Cross of Peebles for that purpose. Adam Ros, then styled indweller in Meirburn (Muirburn), in the parish of Stobo, protested, and consigned in the hands of James Tweedie, bailie of Peebles, 125 merks, which he said was the sum due in terms of the contract.³

1. Douglas' Baronage.
2. Moir Bryce collection; reference GD100/206, National archives Scotland.
3. A History of Peeblesshire by J. W. Buchan and Rev. H. Paton, 3; vol, 1925-7 Jackson, Wylie and Co. Glasgow.