John Baird, 1st Viscount Stonehaven

John Lawrence Baird of Urie, 1st Viscount Stonehaven, 1st Baron Stonehaven, 2nd Baronet, 3rd of Ury, GCMG, DSO, PC (27 April 1874 – 20 August 1941) was a British politician who served as the eighth Governor-General of Australia, in office from 1925 to 1930. He had previously been a government minister under David Lloyd George, Bonar Law, and Stanley Baldwin.

Baird was born in London, and attended Eton and Christ Church, Oxford. His father was Sir Alexander Baird, a Scottish-born civil servant who spent much of his life in Egypt. Baird was a member of the Diplomatic Service before winning election to the House of Commons in 1910, representing the Conservative Party. He joined the Intelligence Corps in 1916 and was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) when war broke out. Baird was included to the Lloyd George ministry on 16 June 1916 and held several junior portfolios until 1922, when he was elected Minister of Transport and First Commissary of Works.

In 1925, Baird was appointed Governor-General of Australia on the advice of Stanley Bruce. He was raised to the peerage as Baron Stonehaven, having previously succeeded to his father’s baronetcy in 1920. Lord Stonehaven, the first governor general to reside in Canberra, moved into Yarralumla on 1927 and presided over the opening of the new Parliament House. Stonehaven was the Chairman of Conservative Party between 1931 and 1936 after his return to Britain. He was elevated to the rank of Viscount in 1938 and retired to Aberdeenshire, where he was born.