ommanded the Indian army
which was sent in 1801 to co-operate with Abercromby in the expulsion of
the French from Egypt. Wellesley was appointed second in command, but owing
to ill-health did not accompany the expedition. Baird landed at Kosseir,
conducted his army across the desert to Kena on the Nile, and thence to
Cairo. He arrived before Alexandria in time for the final operations. On
his return to India in 1802, he was employed against Sindhia, but being
irritated at another appointment given to Wellesley he relinquished his
command and returned to Europe. In 1804 he was knighted, and in 1805-1806,
being by now a lieutenant-general, he commanded the expedition against the
Cape of Good Hope with complete success, capturing Cape Town and forcing
the Dutch general Janssens to surrender. But here again his usual ill luck
attended him. Commodore Sir Home Popham persuaded Sir David to lend him
troops for an expedition against Buenos Aires; the successive failures of
operations against this place involved the recall of Baird, though on his
return home he was quickly re-employed as a divisional general in the
Copenhagen expedition of 1807. During the bombardment of Copenhagen Baird
was wounded. Shortly after his return, he was sent out to the Peninsular
War in command of a considerable force which was sent to Spain to
co-operate with Sir John Moore, to whom he was appointed second in command.
It was Baird's misfortune that he was junior by a few days both to Moore
and to Lord Cavan, under whom he had served at Alexandria, and thus never
had an opportunity of a chief command in the field. At the battle of
Corunna he succeeded to the supreme command after Moore's fall, but shortly
afterwards his left arm was shattered, and the command passed to Sir John
Hope. He again obtained the thanks of parliament for his gallant services,
and was made a K.B. and a baronet. Sir David married Miss Campbell-Preston,
a Perthshire heiress, in 1810. He was not employed again in the field, and
personal and political enmities caused him to be neglected and repeatedly
passed over. He was not given the full rank of general until 1814, and his
governorship of Kinsale was given five years later. In 1820 he was
appointed commander-in-chief in Ireland, but the command was soon reduced,
and he resigned in 1822. He died on the 18th of August 1829.

See Theodore Hook's _Life of Sir David Baird_.

BAIRD, HENRY MARTYN (1832-1906), American historian and ed