North Africa, He concluded a treaty with Tripoli and Tunis, and inflicted punishment on some of the Sallee cruisers. He had just been relieved by Rear-admiral Charles Cornwall, when he died at Port Mahon, 10 Nov. 1716. A monument to his memory has been erected in Westminster Abbey, for, though his is not one of the great historic names of the navy, he was, in the words of his epitaph, 'a brave, judicious, and experienced officer, a sincere friend, and a true lover of his country.' His nephew, Hercules Baker, a captain in the navy, and who was serving in the Mediterranean at the time of the vice-admiral's death, became, in 1736, treasurer of Greenwich Hospital, and held that office till his death in 1744.
[Charnock's Biog. Nav. ii. 379; Official Letters in the Public Record Office.]
BAKER, JOHN, D.D. (d. 1745), vice-master of Trinity College, Cambridge, was admitted to Westminster School, on the foundation, in 1691, and thence elected to Trinity College in 1695 (B.A. 1698, M.A. 1702, B.D. 1709, D.D. comitiis regiis 1717). He was elected a minor fellow of Trinity 2 Oct. 1701, and a major fellow 17 April 1702 (Addit. MS. 5846 f. 123 b). In 1722 he was appointed vice-master of the college, and in 1731 rector of Dickleburgh in Norfolk. He also held the perpetual curacy of St. Mary's, Cambridge. Baker was the unscrupulous supporter of Dr. Hichard Bentley in all his measures, and rendered the master of Trinity great service by obtaining signatures in favour of the compromise between Bentley and Serjeant Miller in 1719. His subserviency to Bentley is ridiculed, in 'The Trinity College Triumph:'—
But Baker alone to the lodge was admitted.
Where he bow'd and he cring'd, and he smil'd and he prated.
He died 30 Oct, 1745, in Neville's Court in Trinity College, where, owing to pecuniary misfortunes, he had ceased to be vice-master, and was buried at All Saints' Church, Cambridge, according to directions given by him a few days before his death. His living of Dickleburgh had been sequestrated for the payment of his debts. 'He had been a great beau,' says Cole, the Cambridge antiquary, 'but latterly was as much the reverse of it, wearing four or five nightcaps under his wig and square cap, and a black cloak over his cloath gown and cassock, under which were various waistcoats, in the hottest weather' (Addit. MS. 5804, f. 81).
[Addit. MS. 5846, f. 118 b, 5863, f. 208; Graduati Cantabrigienses(1787), 18; Monk's Life of Bentley (1830), 401, 403; Blomefield's Norfolk (1805). i. 196; Gent. Mag. xlix. 640; Welch's Alumni Westmon. (Phillimore), 216, 229.]
BAKER, JOHN, R.A. (d. 1771), flowerpainter, is said to have been mainly employed in the decoration of coaches. His biographer, Mr. Edward Edwards, remarks sententiously upon the caprice of fashion in this modest department of art, and tells us that Baker's floral enrichments were thought in their day to be of the first order. On the foundation of the Royal Academy John Baker was elected a member. He died in 1771.
[Edwards's Anecdotes of Painters; Bryan's Dict, of Artists; Redgrave's Artists of the Eng. School.]
BAKER, JOHN WYNN (d. 1775), agricultural and rural economist, was from 1764 until the time of his death officially connected with the Dublin Society, of which he had previously been an honorary member. His enlightened schemes for the improvement of agriculture received liberal support from the society. Under its patronage he was enabled to establish at Laughlinstown, in the county of Kildare, a factory for making all kinds of implements of husbandiy, to maintain apprentices, and to open classes for practical instruction in the science. His 'Experiments in Agriculture,' published at intervals from 1766 to 1773, gained for their author a wide reputation. Baker died at Wynn's Field, co. Kildare, on 24 Aug. 1775. In his short life he probably did more for the advancement of agriculture in Ireland than any of his predecessors. The Royal Society had recogmsed his merits by electing him a fellow in 1771.
Baker also published: 1. 'Considerations upon the Exportation of Corn' (which was written at the request of the Dublin Society), 8vo, Dublin, 1771. 2. 'A Short Description and List, with the Prices, of the Instruments of Husbandry made in the Factory at Laughlinstown,' 8vo, Dublin, 1767 (3rd ed. 1769).
[Proceedings of the Dublin Society, vols, i.-vii.. xii.; Hibernian Magazine, v. 566; Donaldson's Agricultural Biography, p. 54.]
BAKER, PACIFICUS (1695–1774), Franciscan friar, discharged with credit the offices of procurator and definitor of his order, and was twice elected provincial of the English province, first in 1761 and secondly in 1770. He appears to have been attached to the Sardinian chapel in Lincoln's Inn Fields, and he certainly attended at the execution of Lord Lovat, 9 April 1747. His death occurred in London 16 March 1774.
