{{Short description|Scottish Esperantist (1875–1960)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2025}}{{Use British English|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox person | image = Baird Jane 127 VIII. Universala Kongreso Esperantista – Albumo (cropped).jpg | caption = Baird at the 1912 World Esperanto Congress in Kraków, Poland | birth_date = 6 May 1875 | birth_place = Edinburgh, Scotland, U.K. | death_date = 25 March 1960 (aged 84) | death_place = Edinburgh, Scotland, U.K. | occupation = Educator, Esperantist | employer = North Fort Street School }}
'''Jane Baird''' (6 May 1875 – 25 March 1960) was a Scottish educator and Esperantist. She was one of the three compilers of the ''Edinburgh Esperanto'' ''Pocket Dictionary'' (1915).
== Biography == Baird was born in Edinburgh, the daughter of William Baird and Jane King Mitchell Baird.<ref>1881, 1891, and 1901 Scotland Censuses, via Ancestry.</ref> She was an educator who taught at North Fort Street School in Edinburgh.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Scottish_Educational_Journal/HPbdw8lmAfwC?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=jane+baird+esperanto&dq=jane+baird+esperanto&printsec=frontcover |title=The Scottish Educational Journal |date=1 April 1960 |publisher=Educational Institute of Scotland |volume=43 |pages=268 |language=en}}</ref> Later, she taught Esperanto at Leith's Technical College.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Oliver_and_Boyd_s_New_Edinburgh_Almanac/m_c0AAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22Jane+Baird%22+Esperanto&pg=PA1102&printsec=frontcover |title=Oliver and Boyd's New Edinburgh Almanac and National Repository |date=1920 |pages=1102 |language=en}}</ref>
Baird learned the International auxiliary language Esperanto. She joined the Edinburgh Esperanto Society in 1909,<ref name=":0" /> and later served as vice-president.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/British_Esperantist/dLNYAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=jane+baird+edinburgh&pg=RA4-PA84&printsec=frontcover |title=British Esperantist |date=1912 |publisher=British Esperanto Association |volume=8 |page=14 |language=eo}}</ref> She attended the 1912 World Esperanto Congress in Kraków, Poland, with fellow society members. She organised a monthly contest that ran for six years until the end 1922,<ref>{{Cite journal |date=December 1922 |title=Month by Month |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/British_Esperantist/bbRYAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22Jane%20Baird%22%20&pg=RA5-PA114&printsec=frontcover |journal=The British Esperantist |volume=18 |issue=213 |pages=114}}</ref> inviting children to send her postcards with their answers to Esperanto questions.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=June 1920 |title=Competition for Boys and Girls Conducted by Miss Jane Baird |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/British_Esperantist/bbRYAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22Jane%20Baird%22%20Esperanto&pg=PA85&printsec=frontcover |journal=The British Esperantist |volume=16 |issue=186 |pages=85}}</ref> She was on the organising committee of the 1926 World Esperanto Congress in Edinburgh.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=December 1925 |title=Universala Kongreso de Esperanto |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/International_Language_a_Monthly_Magazin/0ot0WuVbvG0C?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22Jane+Baird%22+Esperanto&pg=PA298&printsec=frontcover |journal=International Language |volume=2 |issue=12 |pages=298}}</ref> thumb|1928 copy of the ''Edinburgh Esperanto Pocket Dictionary'' Baird was one of the three compilers of the ''Edinburgh Esperanto'' ''Pocket Dictionary'', working along with John Mabon Warden [<nowiki/>pl] and William Harvey. It was first published in 1915.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=May-June 1916 |title=The Edinburgh Vortareto |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/American_Esperanto_Magazine/ZJlJAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22Jane%20Baird%22%20Esperanto&pg=RA5-PA30&printsec=frontcover |journal=Amerika Esperantisto |volume=18 |issue=6 |pages=30}}</ref> By the time of her death over a hundred thousand copies of the Dictionary had been sold in English-speaking countries.
Baird died in 1960, aged 84, at a nursing home in Edinburgh.<ref name=":0" /><ref>England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1995 for Jane Baird; via Ancestry.</ref>
== Publications ==
* "Notes for an Object Lesson" (1915, ''The Esperanto Monthly'')<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Baird |first=Jane |date=March-April 1915 |title=Notes for an Object Lesson |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Esperanto_Monthly/qz9AAQAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Baird&pg=RA3-PA52&printsec=frontcover |journal=The Esperanto Monthly |volume=3 |issue=27 |pages=52}}</ref>
== References == {{reflist}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baird, Jane}} Category:1875 births Category:1960 deaths Category:Scottish Esperantists Category:Scottish translators
{{Esperanto-stub}} Category:Scottish educators Category:People from Edinburgh Category:Translators to Esperanto