BSc Glasgow 1931, MB ChB 1934, MD 1937; DPH Liv 1937; FRFPS Glas 1937; FRCP Glasgow 1965.
Laird was born in Renfrewshire on 22 April 1911 and received his medical education at the University of Glasgow. Laird held junior appointments at the David Lewis Northern Hospital Liverpool, the Royal Hospital for Sick Children Glasgow and Mill Road Infirmary Liverpool. From 1936 to 1938 Laird was assistant VD Officer for the City of Liverpool, and then was VD Officer in Stoke-on-Trent where he also worked at North Staffordshire Royal Infirmary. Laird served in the RAMC and from 1940 to 1945 was a specialist in dermatology and venereology. In 1946 Laird was appointed consultant venereologist and dermatologist at East Suffolk and Ipswich Hospital. He held this position until 1954 when he was appointed consultant in charge of the VD Department at MRI. He was also medical director of St Luke's Clinic Manchester, advisor in venereology to Manchester Regional Health Board, and lecturer in venereal diseases at the University of Manchester. Laird left Manchester in 1965 to take up the position of consultant venereologist for Bournemouth and East and West Dorset. He was later honorary consultant venereologist to Dorset Area Health Authority, before retiring to Alderley Edge, Cheshire, in the 1980s.