Near-infrared spectra from the IRTF/SpeX and Blanco/ARCoIRIS telescope/instrument combinations are used for spectroscopic classification, to measure radial velocities, and for the inference of astrophysical properties of 51 Gaia-selected nearby ultracool dwarfs. In this sample, 44 are newly classified in the near infrared. All but one of the UCDs are within 100pc, and 37 lie within 50pc. We find a total of 26 M-types, 24 L-types, and one T-type in our sample. The positions of the majority of the UCDs on colour-magnitude diagrams and with evolutionary cooling track plots indicate that they are largely old and stellar in nature. There are a few UCDs of particular interest which lie away from expected trends, highlighting potential young, binary, and thick disc/subdwarf UCDs. From spectral and kinematic analyses, we identify UCDs of particular interest for further investigation, including seven potentially young UCDs, three thick disc UCDs, one subdwarf, six wide binaries, and six unresolved binaries.