Nathaniel Hughes John Baird was born in Yetholm in Roxburghshire and was the son of John Baird the minister who is famed for his work in reforming the gypsy population and particularly for the founding of the first 'Ragged Schools'. Baird first studied under his father and then at the Coldstream Academy, Edinburgh, then London and later Paris. He had his first Royal Academy work accepted in 1883 and exhibited at many of the principal galleries from that date including the R.O.I. of which he was elected a member.