Richard Baker

1676 to 24 May 1749

Surgeon

 

 

 

 

 

 

BAK00060

 

 

 

  

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General Sir Martin Farndale KCB

 

Headlines of Richard Baker’s life are in brown.

Dates are in red.

Hyperlinks to other pages are in dark blue.

References and citations are in turquoise.

Context and local history are in purple.

 

1676

 

Richard Baker was the son of John and Margaret (nee Claiton or Leighton) Baker (BAK00050). He was baptised at St Dunstan, Stepney, Middlesex on 28 May 1676.

 

Summary

 

In his earlier days, he seems to have shifted occupation, being at first recorded as a gilder and button-maker and later as a 'sea surgeon'.

 

He later worked as a surgeon at Leominster, Herefordshire.

 

Research by Nicholas Kingsley:

 

Richard Baker (1676-1749), was a surgeon who moved from London to Leominster in Herefordshire. Burke's Landed Gentry says that his father was John Baker, the younger son of Sampson Baker of Norwich and London, merchant, who was 'believed to be a younger son of Sir Richard Baker MP of Middle Aston, Oxon and St Bride's, London, the historian... who died in Fleet debtors' prison 18 February 1644/5'. As far as the connection with Sir Richard Baker (and thus with the Bakers of Sissinghurst) is concerned, this seems to be a specious fantasy (Sir Richard did not marry until c.1621, and his children are all accounted for), and it is far from clear how much reliance should be put on the rest.

 

[Note – this seems right that Sir Richard Baker MP was not in this direct family line – see below.]

 

Richard Baker was baptised at Stepney (Middx) in 1676, his parents were John and Margaret, as Burke's suggests. But no marriage of a John Baker and Margaret Leighton is to be found, and nor is a baptism for a John, son of Sampson Baker. It may, however, be relevant to note that Burke's gives John a brother, Sampson Baker, gent., of Market Bosworth (Leics) and Rugby (Warks), born about 1643, and it is possible to find baptisms for both 'Samson', son of William & Susanna Baker in 1637 and his brother John in 1642 in the parish registers of Market Bosworth. William Baker of Market Bosworth was born in 1608 and was in turn the son of Sampson Baker of Market Bosworth and his wife Millicent Gooddale, who were married in 1605. It seems very possible that they are the true antecedents of this family.

 

Very little is known about Richard Baker (1675-1749) of Leominster, surgeon. He married at St Bride, Fleet St., London, in 1698, and his older children were born there. He appears to have moved to Leominster between 1705 and 1708 and he was still described as 'of Leominster' when his will was proved in 1750. His eldest surviving son and executor was William Baker (1705-71), about whom much more is known.

 

1698

 

Richard married Mary, daughter of W. Smith, at St Bride, Fleet Street, London on 9 October 1698.

 

They had eight children.

 

  A screenshot of a computer

Description automatically generated

Jane Baker’s father in law Richard and his wife Mary. Beneath them

is a 17th century dresser

 

1699

 

Mary Baker (1699 to 1790)(BAK00065) who later married Captain Thorley was born in 1699.

 

On 6 August 1699, Richard Baker was a gilder and lived at King’s Road Court, London.

 

1701

 

On 20 March 1700 or 1701 Richard Baker was a gilder and lived at Maiden Road, King’s Road Court House, London.

 

Elizabeth Baker (b 1701) (BAK00066) who later married Thomas Nash, also a surgeon, was born in 1701.

 

1702

 

On 20 February 1702 or 1703 Richard Baker was a button maker in Dorset.

 

Richard Baker (1702 to 1750) (BAK00067) who did not marry, was born in 1702.

 

1705

 

On 14 September 1705 Richard Baker was a surgeon at Wheatsheaf, ?.

 

On 26 December 1705 he lived at Leominster, Herefordshire.

 

William Baker (1705 to 1774) (BAK00068), later a famous architect, who married Elizabeth Eykyn and later Jane Dod, was born in 1705.

 

1708

 

James Baker (1708 to 1744) (BAK00069) who later married Martha Adams, was born in 1708.

 

1710

 

Anne Baker (BAK00070) was born in 1710.

 

1714

 

Susanna Baker (b 1714) (BAK00071) was in in 1714.

 

1715?

 

Henry Baker (BAK00072) was born in perhaps about 1715.

 

1736

 

On 21 September 1736, Richard Baker was a churchwarden at St James the Great, Audlem, Cheshire.

 

1749

 

Richard died on 24 May 1749. He was buried at Leominster on 26 May 1749.

 

1750

 

His will was proved at Hereford on 7 August 1750.

 

In his accounts books, Richard’s son William Baker later recorded some notes about his father. He recorded his father’s death on 24 May 1749 and that “he married Mary Smith and both she and my father were born in London, as was myself, in St Bride’s parish.” The place of his father’s burial was recorded as “In the covered Isle of Leominster Church near the row of pillars and about the middle.”