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William Baker III of Fenton 25 November 1771 (baptised) to
1833
BAK00106
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Headlines of William Baker III’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.
1771
William Baker was the son of William and Sarah (nee
Bagnall) Baker (FAR00084).
He was born in 1771 and baptised at
Fulford, Staffordshire on 25 November 1771.
William Baker II’s widow Sarah later remarried on 21 December 1793
to Ralph Bourne (d. 1835) of Hilderstone Hall,
Staffordshire, with whom she had a further family. Ralph Bourne was a man of
consequence, who was also a Deputy Lieutenant and a Justice of the Peace, who
lived at Hilderstone Hall. Ralph’s father, James
Bourne had come to the area to join the pottery industry. Ralph Bourne was a
potter and a philanthropist. Ralph became partners with his step
son, the third William Baker and they traded as Bourne and Baker. The
business made staple products and exported them on a considerable scale. It was
later said that unglazed clayware was exported to
Africa. The business flourished and by 1829, they had expanded to a second
factory and acquired a flint mill. A History of Stoke on
Trent by Ward referred to very extensive earthenware
manufactories, which for many years were carried on by the firm of Bourne,
Baker and Bourne (Ralph’s brother John had also joined the business) and raised
the proprietors to the first rank among the preeminent and opulent potters who
flourished during the by-gone portion of the [nineteenth] century.
William Baker III, with his step father, Ralph Bourne, built themselves houses
near to the new factories. Simeon Shaw in
Staffordshire Potteries refers to them as spacious mansions which were square
houses with hipped roofs. “Mr Baker’s was spacious and commodious surrounded
with gardens and pleasure grounds and enjoying a tolerably extensive prospect.”
It became known as Fenton House and
continued to be occupied by the family until the end of the nineteenth century.
The house still existed in 1960, but has since been
demolished.
William Baker III was described as being
of Doveridge Woodhouse in Derbyshire and Moorville, Caverswall, as well as
Fenton House. These were probably retreats away from
the Fenton factories.
1794
William Baker III, a potter, married Molly Bourne (born 1773), the youngest sister of his stepfather, on 12 October
1794. They had ten children.
1798
William III was appointed to be a Deputy Lord Lieutenant and JP and in 1798, he joined the Staffordshire Volunteer Cavalry. The unit had been formed by Josiah Spode when Napoleon
threatened to invade Britain, and William was a
Cornet, or fifth commissioned officer.
1833
William Baker II died in 1833, and
his partner, John Bourne, died the same year.