The Sons of the Farmer

In the closing decades of the nineteenth century, John and Flora Baird set up their home in Ayrshire, Scotland, and built a thriving farm and a successful family. But the story didn't end there. Each of the Baird sons carried on the legacy of their father, meeting the challenges and opportunities of the new century in their own way.

This is the story of John, who grew a burgeoning farming business and was known as a man 'with golden hands', and of Andrew, who took his inherited farm and bred a coveted, world-famous herd of cows and bulls. It is also the story of Hugh, who followed the promises of a land of 'milk and honey' in Canada, and set up his own roots there and of Gilbert, who enlisted to fight in the First World War and saw its horrors first-hand.

The Sons of the Farmer is an intricately researched, warmly told narrative of the Baird family as they grew and established their own legacies in Scotland, England, and Canada, set against the tumultuous backdrop of early twentieth century history.