| Authorised form of name | Baker; Henry (1698 - 1774); naturalist and poet |
| Dates | 1698 - 1774 |
| Nationality | British |
| Place of birth | Quality Court, Chancery Lane, London, England |
| Date of birth | 08 May 1698 |
| Place of death | The Strand, London, England |
| Date of death | 25 November 1774 |
| DatesAndPlaces | Burial:
Churchyard of St Mary-le-Strand? |
| Occupation | Bookseller; editor; therapist for deaf children |
| Research field | Education |
| Morphology |
| Microscopy |
| Deafness |
| Activity | Career:
Apprenticed to John Parker, a bookseller of Pall Mall, whose business was later bought by Robert Dodsley, who printed Baker's books on microscopy (1713-1720); went to Enfield on a visit to John Forster, a relative and an attorney, whose eight-year-old daughter had been born deaf, and undertook the task of teaching this child, as well as her sister and younger brother, also born deaf, to speak and read, with such success that this became his chosen career; met Daniel Defoe and his family, and began to court Defoe's youngest daughter Sophia (1724); engaged to Sophia (1726); established The Universal Spectator and Weekly Journal (1728);
Memberships:
FAS |
| Membership category | Fellow |
| Date of election | 12/03/1741 |
| Age at election | 43 |
| Proposer | James Theobald |
| John Machin |
| Martin Folkes |
| Cromwell Mortimer |
| Alexander Stuart |
| Sir Hans Sloane |
| RSActivity | Medals and prizes:
Copley Medal 1744; founder of the Bakerian lecture (bequeathed to the Royal Society £100 to establish a lecture bearing his name). |
| Relationships | Parents: William Baker, clerk in chancery, and Mary, daughter of Aaron Pengry, comptroller of the petty bag office.
Spouse: (m. 30 April 1729) Sophia Defoe (1701–1762), Daniel Defoe's youngest daughter.
Children: David Lionel Erskine Baker (1730–1767?), theatre historianr, and Henry Baker (1734–1766), a lawyer. |
| PublishedWorks | A Short History of Speech (1723), The Microscope made Easy (1743), Employment for the Microscope (1753), The Universe, a Poem intended to restrain the Pride of Man (1727)
RCN 26114
RCN 26808
RCN 26115
RCN 26116
RCN 21232
RCN 26117 |
| OtherInfo | Made important observation under the microscope of crystal morphology.
Repeated the experiments on freshwater polyps (Hydra viridis) of Abraham Trembley. In association with Martin Folkes FRS 1714, examined the creatures with the microscope, and, with due acknowledgement to Trembley, published in November 1743 An Attempt towards a Natural History of the Polype.
Examined and made measurements on the twenty-six bead microscopes bequeathed to the Royal Society by the Dutch microscopical pioneer Antoni van Leeuwenhoek FRS 1680.
The book that established his name as a scientific writer was The Microscope Made Easy 1742.
Employment, written for a popular audience, described Baker's own microscopical discoveries, which had been presented to the Royal Society.
Achieved success with a poem published in 1727 entitled The Universe: a Philosophical Poem Intended to Restrain the Pride of Man. |
| Related images | Discover a selection of related images in our picture library |
| Source | Sources:
Bulloch's Roll; DNB; DSB
References:
Marta Cavazza, 'The Institute of Science of Bologna and the Royal Society in the eighteenth century' in NR 2002 vol 56 pp 3-25, plate
W Johnson, 'Richard Jack and Henry Baker, FRS, in the Late Summer of 1746' in NR 1993 vol 47 pp 225-231
G L E Turner, 'Henry Baker, FRS: Founder of the Bakerian Lecture' in NR 1974-5 vol 29 pp 53-79, plate |
| Code | NA6218 |
| RefNo | Title | Date |
| L&P/2/131 | Letter, 'Of earthquakes on 4 May & 1 Jul 1747' from Henry Baker to Martin Folkes | 10 May 1750 |
| L&P/1/234 | Paper, 'On a ploype dried' by Henry Baker | 1743 |
| L&P/1/318 | Letter, 'Of certain strata near Norwich' from William Anderson to Henry Baker | 20 September 1744 |
| L&P/2/17 | Letter, 'Natural history observations' from William Arderon to Henry Baker | 17 November 1749 |
| MM/3/13 | Certificates from James Parsons and Henry Baker to the Royal Society | 18-19 December 1767 |
| MM/11/48 | Extract from the Will of Henry Baker | 1774 |
| IM/000193 | Baker, Henry | nd |
| IM/000194 | Baker, Henry | 1994 |
| IM/000192 | Baker, Henry | nd |
| L&P/1/208 | Letter, 'Of a book on reading in Dublin' from Thomas Walls to Henry Baker | 4 August 1743 |
| L&P/4/317 | Paper, 'Report on de Torre's miscroscope-glasses' by Henry Baker | 17 April 1766 |
| L&P/1/469 | Letter, 'Of a case where waxed ticken escaped burning with other clothes destroyed' from R Lowell Badcock to Henry Baker | 17 March 1746 |
| L&P/1/464 | Letter, 'Of a needle removed from the arm' from William Arderon to Henry Baker | 9 January 1746 |
| L&P/2/577 | Letter, 'Of Dr Roger's meteorological observations' from Henry Miles to Henry Baker | 19 February 1755 |
| L&P/1/433/1 | Letter, 'Of the weaver's alarum [alarm]' from William Arderon to Henry Baker | 1745 |
| L&P/3/246 | Note, 'Concerning two specimens of silk-paper, now first made in England - one ream of each kind, by the desire of the Society of Arts' by Henry Baker | 12 May 1757 |
| L&P/4/80 | Letter, 'Of corals' from John Stevens to Henry Baker | 2 May 1761 |
| L&P/2/80 | Letter, 'Of the same meteor' from Henry Baker to Martin Folkes | 12 December 1750 |
| L&P/2/172 | Letter, 'Of the same earthquake' from P Doddridge to Henry Baker | 17 October 1750 |
| L&P/1/279 | Paper, 'An examination of the fetahered inola of a hen, shewn by Dr Stocke' by Henry Baker | 16 April 1744 |
| L&P/1/444 | Letter, 'On electricity' from Henry Miles to Henry Baker | 22 January 1746 |
| L&P/1/471 | Letter, 'Electrical observations' from Henry Miles to Henry Baker | 20 March 1746 |
| L&P/1/306 | Paper, 'On the configuration of saline bodies' by Henry Baker | 1744 |
| L&P/3/326 | Letter, 'Experiments on a piece of iron 88 years on the spire of Norwich Cathedral in a vertical position not magnetic; of a sub-lingual concretion; of a solar halo and mock Sun' from William Arderon to Henry Baker | 25 March 1758 |
| L&P/2/143 | Letter, 'Of a Dutch dwarf' from Henry Baker to Martin Folkes | 13 June 1750 |
| L&P/1/234/1 | Paper, 'On a ploype dried' by Henry Baker | 1743 |
| L&P/1/264/1 | Paper, 'Of the eye sucker' by Henry Baker | 1744 |
| L&P/1/476/1 | Letter, 'Of the improvement of the weather-cord' from William Arderon to Henry Baker | 21 December 1745 |
| L&P/1/276/1 | Letter, 'Of a press for taking off medals' from Henry Baker to the Royal Society | 1744 |
| L&P/1/459 | Letter, 'On the water of bitter almonds' from Henry Baker to Martin Folkes | 6 March 1746 |
| L&P/2/371 | Paper, 'Of an inscription newly found at Bath' from Henry Baker | 4 July 1753 |
| L&P/3/398 | Letter, 'Of the late comet' from Alexander Garden to Henry Baker | 10 May 1759 |
| L&P/2/460 | Letter, 'Of a supposed worm from the urethra' from Charles Morton to Henry Baker | 4 October 1753 |
| L&P/2/473 | Paper, 'An account of Charles de Geer's memoirs towards a history of insects' by Henry Baker | 24 January 1754 |
| L&P/2/362 | Paper, 'Of Cornish gold' by Henry Baker | 20 June 1753 |
| L&P/1/390 | Letter, 'Of a looped belt found at Reepham, Norfolk and of a Roman inscribed tripod found 14 miles from Turin owned byJ L Bruni' from Henry Baker to Martin Folkes | 8 May 1745 |
| L&P/1/458 | Letter, 'Electrical observations' from Henry Miles to Henry Baker | 4 March 1746 |
| L&P/3/108 | Paper, 'Of recent earthquakes' from Guiseppe Lorenzo Bruni to Henry Baker | 19 February 1756 |
| L&P/2/235 | Letter, 'Of a dwarf' from John Browning to Henry Baker | 12 September 1751 |
| L&P/2/560 | Paper, 'Of a distempered skin' by Henry Baker | 1754 |
| L&P/2/117 | Letter, 'A specimen of Orbis piscis echinatus' from Henry Baker to Martin Folkes | 26 April 1750 |
| L&P/3/320 | Letter, 'Of the productions of South Carolina' from Alexander Garden to Henry Baker | 5 April 1758 |
| L&P/2/583 | Letter, 'Of the smallpox' from Johannes Grashius to Henry Baker | 1755 |
| L&P/2/497 | Letter, 'On Job Baster's meteorological observations for 1752 and 1753' from Henry Miles to Henry Baker | 21 March 1754 |
| L&P/3/259 | Letter, 'Reasons why the dropsy is frequently incurable' from Johannes Grashius to Henry Baker | 1757 |
| L&P/4/122 | Letter, 'Of an inundation' from William Arderon to Henry Baker | 9 November 1762 |
| L&P/4/64/1 | Letter, 'Of certain undescribed worms' from Henry Baker to the Royal Society | 2 April 1761 |
| L&P/3/381 | Paper, 'Of fossil starfish in 'granate' from Antigua' by Henry Baker | 3 May 1759 |
| L&P/3/91 | Letter, 'Earthquake of Nov 1, as observed at Greenock' from James Miller to Henry Baker | 8 January 1756 |
| L&P/2/529 | Letter, 'On Pieter Gabry's meteorological tables' from Henry Miles to Henry Baker | 15 May 1754 |
| L&P/3/361 | Letter, 'Of the thunderstorm at Norwich on 13 July 1758' from William Arderon to Henry Baker | 3 August 1758 |
| L&P/4/116 | Paper, 'Of the laid wheat eaten by the sufferers in the Wrathisham case' by Henry Baker and James Bones | 16 May 1762 |
| L&P/3/204 | Letter, 'Earthquake at Norwich, 10 Jan 1757' from William Anderson to Henry Baker | 13 January 1757 |
| L&P/4/64 | Paper, 'Of certain undescribed worms' by Henry Baker | 2 April 1761 |
| L&P/4/209 | Letter, 'Of inscriptions on marble brought from the coast of Barbary' from John Wilkinson to Henry Baker | 29 March 1764 |
| L&P/4/198 | Letter, 'Of Polish cochineal' from N M Wolfe to Henry Baker | 1764 |
| L&P/4/69 | Letter, 'On corals' from William Stukeley to Henry Baker | 15 April 1761 |
| L&P/4/241 | Memorandum, 'Henry Baker presents a monstrous Siberian lamb to the Royal Society' | 1765 |
| L&P/4/414 | Letter, 'Of medicines for canine madness' from N M Wolfe to Henry Baker | 26 September 1767 |
| L&P/4/374 | Letter, 'Of three cures by electricity' from John Wyatt to Henry Baker | 1767 |
| L&P/4/55 | Letter, 'Thermometric observations' from Comte de Saluces [Giuseppe Angelo Saluzzo] to Henry Baker | 17 September 1760 |
| L&P/4/237 | Paper, 'A leaf of the true rhubarb, raised from seed in Siberia' by Henry Baker | 13 December 1764 |
| L&P/2/363 | Letter, 'Of a basaltes specimen of the Giant's Causeway' from Henry Baker to the Royal Society | 21 June 1753 |
| L&P/2/36 | Letter, 'Of the earthquake felt in London' from Henry Baker to Martin Folkes | 8 February 1750 |
| L&P/1/435 | Letter, 'On his election as FRS' from William Arderon to Henry Baker | 16 December 1745 |
| MOB/042 | Compound microscope by William Cary | c.1810 |
| EC/1740/27 | Baker, Henry: certificate of election to the Royal Society | 12 March 1741 |
| L&P/1/330 | Letter, 'Removal of a piece of iron wire 4 inches long from the bladder of a boy of 17, who recovered' from William Arderon to Henry Baker | 12 October 1744 |
| IM/005337 | Baker, Henry | nd |
| L&P/3/203 | Paper, 'Of the strange effects of some effervescent mixtures' from James Mounsey to Henry Baker | 20 September 1756 |
| IM/000191 | Baker, Henry | nd |
| L&P/5/81 | Letter, 'Earthquake at Macao and account of monkeys without tails found in the interior part of Bengal' from Stephen De Visme to Henry Baker | 7 January 1768 |
| L&P/1/456 | Letter, 'Of an improved hygroscope' from William Arderon to Henry Baker | 15 February 1746 |
| L&P/1/15 | Paper, 'An account of Leeuwenhoeck's microscopes' by Henry Baker | [1741] |
| L&P/2/52a | Letter, 'Of the earthquake in London of March 8 1749/50' from Henry Baker to Martin Folkes | 8 March 1750 |
| L&P/1/276 | Paper, 'Of a press for taking off medals' by Henry Baker | 1744 |
| L&P/1/426 | Letter, 'Sinking of the ground at Horseford, Norfolk' from William Arderon to Henry Baker | 1745 |
| L&P/1/376 | Letter, 'Of an extraordinary large elephant's tooth found at Munslet, Norfolk, over 11 lbs in weight' from Henry Baker to Martin Folkes | 26 March 1745 |
| L&P/1/264 | Paper, 'Of the eye sucker' by Henry Baker | 8 March 1744 |
| L&P/1/151 | Paper, 'An account of the generation of seeds by Johann Daniel Schlichting' by Henry Baker | 1742 |
| L&P/2/145 | Letter, 'Of a noise in the air heard in Norwich' from Henry Baker to Martin Folkes | 14 June 1750 |
| L&P/2/156 | Letter, 'Accounts of aurora boreales lately seen' from Henry Baker to Martin Folkes | 18 June 1750 |
| L&P/1/329 | Letter, 'Of two water-insects susceptible, like the fresh-water polype, of mutiplication by section' from William Arderon to Henry Baker | 12 February 1744 |
| L&P/1/437 | Letter, 'Of Philip Williams water-wheel' from William Arderon to Henry Baker | 1745 |
| L&P/1/349 | Letter, 'Concerning the Bologna bottles' from Guiseppe Lorenzo Bruni to Henry Baker | 22 November 1744 |
| L&P/1/422/1 | Letter, 'The ancient Bridewell of Norwich; of an inscribed Roman metal plate found at Menteu, 14 miles from Turin & of a vast bone in Norwich' from Henry Baker to Martin Folkes | 30 October 1745 |
| L&P/1/85 | Letter, 'Concerning the case of the woman who continues to speak without a tongue; the case of Margaret Cutting' from Benjamin Beddington to Henry Baker | 10 April 1742 |
| L&P/4/118 | Letter, 'Of experiments on absorption of air in burning' from Comte de Saluces [Giuseppe Angelo Saluzzo] to Henry Baker | 1 July 1761 |
| L&P/1/441 | Letter, 'The author shows an Italian grain, from J Bruni - Meliga Rossa' from Henry Baker to Martin Folkes | 16 January 1746 |
| L&P/3/257 | Letter, 'Of the effects of prickly pear and of indigo in colouring the juices of living animals' from Alexander Garden to Henry Baker | 23 June 1757 |
| L&P/5/32 | Letter, 'Of the winter in Warsaw' from N M Wolfe to Henry Baker | 15 April 1768 |
| L&P/2/144 | Letter, 'A dwarf and a child compared by David Erskine Baker' from William Arderon to Henry Baker | 11 May 1750 |
| L&P/3/364 | Letter, 'Of meteorological observations by Richard Brooke in Maryland' from Henry Baker to George Parker | 1759 |
| L&P/1/422 | Paper, 'The ancient Bridewell of Norwich; of an inscribed Roman metal plate found at Menteu, 14 miles from Turin & of a vast bone in Norwich' by Henry Baker | 30 October 1745 |