Lady May Baird
1901 - 1983
Matilda Deans (May) Baird graduated in medicine from Glasgow University in 1924. She and her husband moved to Aberdeen on his appointment to the chair of Midwifery in 1937. The next year she was elected to the town council and was soon made Chairman of its Public Health Committee.
In 1947 she was appointed Chairman of the North Eastern Regional Hospital Board, the first woman to gain such a post, which she held for 18 years. She also served as a member of the Maternity Services Review Committee of the Department of Health, and was a Governor of the BBC from 1966 - 70.
She was made CBE in 1962 and she and her husband were granted Freedom of the City of Aberdeen in 1965 for their contribution to medical science and health in the city and beyond. She is commemorated by a plaque at 38 Albyn Place.