# Jane Baird

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{{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](/source/List_of_Esperanto_speakers). 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](/source/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](/source/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](/source/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](/source/1912_World_Esperanto_Congress) in [Kraków](/source/Krak%C3%B3w), 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](/source/John_Mabon_Warden) [<nowiki/>[pl](/source/%3Apl%3AJohn_Mabon_Warden)] 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}}
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{{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

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Jane Baird](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Baird) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Baird?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.