39
BAKER.
BAKER. (Commander, 1821. f-p., 22; h-p., 29.)
John Popham Baker entered the Navy, 13 March, 1796, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Venus 32, Capt. Thos. Graves, off Newfoundland; and from July, 1799, until July, 1802, during which period he assisted in subduing an alarming insurrection of the 8th West India regiment in the island of Dominica, served as Midshipman and Master’s Mate on board the Magnificent 74, Capts. Edw. Bowater, Peter Turner Bover, and John Giffard. Being confirmed to a Lieutenancy, 18 Oct. following, in the Venus, he continued attached to that frigate, commanded on the West India and Irish stations by Capts. T. Graves and Henry Matson, until July, 1805; after which, until Feb. 1816, he served, on the Mediterranean and Home stations, chiefly as First Lieutenant, in the Dragon 74, Capts. Edw. Griffith and Matthew Henry Scott, Sultan 74, Capts. E. Griffith and John West, Ville de Paris 110, flag-ship of Lord Collingwood, Success 32, Capt. John Ayscough, Queen 74, Capt. Lord Colville, Barham 74, Capt. John Wm. Spranger, Rippon 74, Capt. Sir Christ. Cole, Prince, Royal Sovereign, and Tonnant, flag-ships of Sir R. Bickerton and Sir Benj. Hallowell, Spencer 74, Capt. Wm. Robt. Broughton, and Leander 60, Capt. Wm. Skipsey. In 1809, while in the Sultan, Mr. Baker suffered a rupture from over-fatigue in the execution of his duty; and, when next in the Rippon, he assisted at the capture, 21 Oct. 1813, of the French 44-gun frigate Le Weser. After an employment of nearly two years in the Newcastle 60, flag-ship of Rear-Admiral E. Griffith, on the Halifax station, he was made Acting-Commander, 16 Oct. 1820, of the Bellette 16. He was superseded on being officially promoted, 29 Jan. 1821; and on 7 July, 1829, was admitted to the out-pension of Greenwich Hospital. Agents – Messrs. Halford and Co.
BAKER. (Lieutenant, 1828.)
John Robinett Baker entered the Navy 8 April, 1814; passed his examination in 1820; and obtained his commission 26 Aug. 1828. He was subsequently appointed – 27 Aug. 1832, to the Coast Guard – 10 Oct. following, to the Spartiate 76, Capt. Robt. Tait, on the South American station – 25 Nov. 1833, to the Canopus 84, Capt. Hon. Josceline Percy, in the Mediterranean – 13 Aug. 1835, to the Coast Guard again – 10 Aug. 1838, to the command of the Hornet Revenue-vessel – 13 May, 1840, as First Lieutenant, to the Rodney 92, Capt. Robt. Maunsell, under whom he visited the Mediterranean, and in 1843 escorted a body of troops to the Cape of Good Hope – and, 27 June, 1844, as Admiralty-Agent, to a Contract Mail Steam-vessel. He has been on half-pay since the early part of 1846.
He married, 26 Jan. 1838, Catherine, eldest daughter of Thos. Oxley, Esq., of Killiney, co. Dublin.
BAKER. (Lieutenant, 1828. f-p., 33; h-p., 4.)
Joseph Francis Baker, born 31 July, 1798, at Baldock, co. Herts, is second son of the late Rich. Baker, Esq., by Catharine, only daughter of Wm. Richards, Esq., M.D.; and brother of the present Rich. Westbrook Baker, Esq., of Cottesmore and Langham, co. Rutland, a distinguished agriculturist.
This officer entered the Navy, 13 July, 1810, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Macedonian, of 48 guns and 254 men, Capts. Lord Wm. Fitzroy, Hon. Wm. Waldegrave, and John Surman Garden, and was for some time very actively engaged with the batteries on the coast of France. On 25 Oct. 1812, he was present and wounded in the brilliant action of two hours and ten minutes which rendered the Macedonian, after losing 36 men killed and 68 wounded, a shattered prize to the American frigate United States, of 56 guns and 474 men, 12 of whom only appear to have been killed and wounded. Mr. Baker next, in June, 1813, joined the Maidstone 36, Capt. Geo. Burdett, on the North America station; and on 24 Dec. following became Midshipman of the Shelburne schooner 12, Lieut.-Commanders David Hope and Wm. Hamilton, in which vessel he assisted at the capture, 20 April, 1814, of the Frolic American sloop, of 22 guns and 171 men, and also took part in the expedition to New Orleans, and the destruction of the enemy’s forts at Pensacola. He was subsequently employed, between Jan. 1815, and Aug. 1817, in the Plantagenet 74, Capt. Robt. Lloyd, Furieuse 36, Capt. Wm. Mounsey, and Pandora 18, Capts. Hon. Fred. Noel and Geo. Matthew Jones, on the America, Channel, and Irish stations; passed his examination 13 Dec. 1817; served on the Coast Blockade, as Admiralty Midshipman of the Severn, Capt. Wm. M‘Culloch, from Oct. 1818, to April, 1822; then joined the Racehorse 18, Capt. Wm. Benj. Suckling, under whom he was wrecked in Douglas Bay, Isle of Man, towards the close of the same year; and, until advanced to his present rank, 22 May, 1828, oificiated as Admiralty Midshipman and Mate, on the Home, East India, and Africa stations, of the Vigilant 12, Lieut.-Commander Nich. Colthurst, Windsor Castle 78, Capt. Edw. Dumford King, Java, Boadicea, and Britannia, flag-ships of Admirals Wm. Hall Gage and the Earl of Northesk, Onyx 10, Lieut.-Commander Wm. John Cole, and Sybille 48, Capt. Fras. Augustus Collier. Lieut. Baker, who served for some months subsequently to his promotion in the North Star 28, Capt. Septimus Arabin, has been in the Coast Guard since 22 April, 1831. While in the Coast Blockade at Standgate Creek in 1820, he was on one occasion, with only one man to support him, overwhelmed by a band of 300 armed smugglers, and so desperately wounded as to be left apparently lifeless on the spot.
He married Miss Elizabeth S. Middlecourt, and has issue several children. Agents – Messrs. Halford and Co.
BAKER. (Lieutenant, 1823. f-p., 18; h-p., 22.)
Samuel Baker entered the Navy, 18 Nov. 1807, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Valiant 74, Capts. Jas. Young, Alex. Robt. Kerr, John Bligh, Thos. Geo. Shortland, and Robt. Dudley Oliver. During the three years of his attachment to that ship he witnessed the destruction, in April, 1809, of the French shipping in Basque Roads; was in continual boat service at the subsequent siege of Flushing; assisted, in June, 1810, in capturing and spiking the guns of a strong battery between Rochefort and Rochelle, and in bringing out several vessels anchored for protection under its walls; and for several months afterwards was in constant collision with the enemy’s row-boats while endeavouring to destroy their trade along that part of the coast of France. In Nov. 1810, he joined the Lynx 18, Capt. Thos. Percival, on the North Sea station, but was soon transferred to the Edinburgh 74, Capt. Robt. RoUes, with whom, on arriving in the Mediterranean, he removed to the Union 98, in which ship he passed his examination, 4 Jan. 1814, and assisted at the ensuing reduction of Genoa. After a further attachment of 12 months to the Swiftsure 74, Capt. Wm. Henry Webley, on the West India and Home stations, Mr. Baker was appointed, 5 Dec. 1815, Admiralty Midshipman of the Towey 24, Capts. Hew Stewart and Wm. Hill, with whom we find him employed in the East Indies and Persian Gulf until his return home in April, 1819; from which period until 24 March, 1823, he continued to serve, in the same capacity, on board the Bulwark 74, bearing the flag at Chatham of Sir John Gore, Tartar 36, Commodore Sir Geo. Ralph Collier, on the coast of Africa, Bulwark again, and Gloucester 74, flag-ships of Sir Benj. Hallowell at Chatham, and Owen Glendower 86, Commodore Sir Robt. Mends. In the boats of the latter frigate, as of the Tartar, he was actively engaged in suppressing the slave-traffic up the different rivers between Sierra Leone and Cape Coast Castle. On the date last mentioned he became Acting-Lieutenant
