George Alexander Baird

George Alexander Baird (30 September 1861 – 18 March 1893) was a wealthy British race horse owner, breeder and the most successful amateur jockey (gentleman rider) of his day, who rode under the assumed name of Mr. Abington. He was a controversial figure, at times in conflict with the establishment, "warned off" for his aggressive riding behaviour, implicated in a prize fight fixing scandal. and named as co-respondent in two divorce cases. He had a relationship with Lillie Langtry, noted actress and former mistress of the Prince of Wales (King Edward VII). Baird died at age thirty-three of pneumonia in a hotel room in New Orleans, Louisiana, after traveling there for prize fights with men he sponsored.

The Baird family wealth came from the industry of grandfather Alexander Baird (1765–1833) and seven of his sons who worked numerous coal and mineral leases in Scotland from 1816. They built ironworks that within 15 years developed as the largest in the country, and in 1830, formed William Baird and Company. The industrial revolution and the expansion of the railways brought the family the wealth that they used to buy land and property in Scotland. Baird's inheritance included that of his father plus two of his wealthy uncles who had died childless.

Baird was nine years old when his father died in 1870. His inheritance was held in trust until he became of age. The funds released by the trustees during his minority were insufficient for his education, so his mother (successfully) petitioned the courts for the release of additional money.

He attended the private school St Michael's, Aldin House, Slough before going to Eton, where he lasted but one year (1875). He later attended Magdalene College, Cambridge from 1879 to 1881, and never graduated.

His mother was unable or unwilling to discipline Baird after his father's death, and was said to have indulged him. She was Cecilia, eldest daughter of Vice Admiral Villiers Francis Hatton who had married Baird's father in 1858 when she was 35 and he was 48. Their only child George Alexander Baird was born to them three years later. He grew up with older parents and no siblings for company. His fondness for horses and riding out, plus "amusement in the groom's room," provided escape and distraction for the young boy.

In his book Turf Memories of Sixty Years, Alexander Scott writes that he met the teenage Baird and subsequently followed the career of "this great horseman". He wrote, "Love of horses was his bond of friendship, and he would extend that to everyone irrespective of social standing. He would have discussed horses with a dustman".

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