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BAKER. of the 18, Capt. Percy Grace; and, shortly after his confirmation, which took place on 21 Aug. in the same year, he returned to England. He was subsequently, from 22 Sept. 1825, until Jan. 1828, employed on the Coast Blockade as Supernumerary-Lieutenant of the 42, Capt. Wm. Jas. Mingaye, but has since been on halfpay.

Lieut. Baker married, 21 Sept. 1830, Margaret, daughter of the late S. Burnet, Esq., of Lloyd’s Coffee-House. – Messrs. Stilwell.

 BAKER, K.C.B., K.W.N.

died 26 Jan. 1845. He was younger brother of the late Capt. John Baker, R.N.; brother-in-law of the late Admirals Sir Rich. Lee and John Bazely, by the marriage of his two sisters to those gallant officers; and uncle of the present

This officer entered the Navy, 23 Aug. 1781, as Midshipman, on board the store-ship, Capt. Stone, and (with the exception of an interval, from Oct. 1785, to March, 1788) was afterwards employed, until promoted to the rank of Lieutenant, 13 Oct. 1792, on board the  sloop,  74,  32,  sloop,  100,  64,  frigate, and  44, commanded, on the Home, Halifax, and East India stations, by Capts. Peyton, Stone, Sandys, Edw. Buller, Hon. Hen. Curzon, Pisher, Wm. Bligh, and Hon. Wm. Comwallis. He then joined the sloop, Capt. Lawrence Wm. Halsted, and on his return to England, towards the close of 1793, was successively invested with the command of the cutter and  lugger; for the celerity he exhibited in the latter of which vessels in conveying despatches to the West Indies, he was advanced to the rank of Commander, 24 Nov. 1795. After a subsequent cruize of seven months in the sloop, on the Downs station, Capt. Baker was made Post, 13 June, 1797, into the  98, bearing the flag at Portsmouth of Sir John Orde, with whom, however, he continued but a few weeks. Assuming command, in Jan. 1799, of the 28, he succeeded in making prize, 12 Jan. 1800, of Le Renard French privateer, of 14 guns and 65 men; and, on 25 July following, while in charge of a small squadron in the North Sea, he intercepted, in pursuance of his instructions, a Danish convoy under protection of a frigate, the Freija, with whom, in consequence of the resistance offered to an attempt made by the British to search the merchantmen, a sharp conflict of 25 minutes ensued, terminating in the capture of the whole. As a reward for his coolness, firmness, and judgment on the latter occasion, Capt. Baker was appointed to command, 1 Jan. 1801, the 36, on the Irish station, where he continued until May, 1802. In April, 1803, he joined the, of 42 guns and 245 men, attached to the fleet in the Channel under Admiral Cornwallis, by whom he appears to have been intrusted for some time with the direction of the inshore squadron of frigates. On 10 Aug. 1805, being in lat. 43° 16' N. and long. 12° 14' W., Capt. Baker had the good fortune, after a memorably furious engagement of three hours and a half, in which the British lost 12 killed and 28 wounded, and the enemy 27 killed and 44 wounded, to capture La Didon, of 46 guns and 330 men, a remarkably fine frigate, and the fastest sailer in the French navy. Subsequently to that event he fell in with the four French line-of-battle ships that had effected their escape after the battle of Trafalgar, and through his zealous energy in conveying the intelligence to Sir Rich. Strachan; and his skill in leading that gallant officer’s squadron into action, proved the great instrument of the defeat and capture of the enemy. Capt. Baker’s next appointments were, on the Home and Baltic stations – 17 Nov. 1805, to the, the ship he had so nobly won – 19 May, 1806, to the 38, in which frigate he destroyed, when in company with the , the greater part of a convoy of 30 vessels passing from Ferrol to Bilboa under the protection of several gun-boats, 29 April, 1807, and afterwards commanded a squadron off Bordeaux – and, 21 May, 1808, to the  74, bearing the flag for some time of Rear-Admiral Thos. Bertie. While in that ship he was usefully engaged in affording security, during their passage through the Sound, to various British and Swedish convoys; was in almost daily collision with the Danes, either in destroying their trade or in chasing their gun-boats; and on one occasion repelled, with considerable loss to the enemy, the attack of a large flotilla. From 22 Nov. 1811, until 2 Aug. 1815, Capt. Baker, after two years’ leave of absence in Sweden, further commanded the 74, and during that period was employed in the discharge of many arduous duties. He sailed for the West Indies, in Dec. 1812, with a convoy of 70 vessels; escorted in safety home, in May, 1813, a fleet of 220 sail, and was presented by the Masters of the London ships with a service of plate as a mark of their gratitude; served next on the coast of Holland, where, in Nov. of the same year, having been apprised of the change in the fortunes of Buonaparte, he landed a body of marines for the protection of the Hague, a service which the Prince of Orange subsequently acknowledged by conferring on him the Order of Wilhelm of the Netherlands; in June, 1814, proceeded to the Cape with a convoy of vessels destined for the East Indies; and, in April, 1815, returned to England with another, for his protection of which the East India Company presented him with the sum of 300l. Capt. Baker was nominated a C.B. 4 June, 1815; was made Colonel of Marines 12 Aug. 1819; became a Rear-Admiral 19 July, 1821; held the chief command in South America, with his flag on board the 76, from 6 March, 1829, to 3 March, 1833; was created a K.C.B. 8 Jan. 1831; attained the rank of Vice-Admiral 10 Jan. 1837; and was awarded a good-service pension of 300l. per annum 19 Feb. 1842.

Sir Thos. Baker married the daughter of His Excellency Count Routh, a member of one of the most ancient and noble families in Sweden, and by that lady has left several children, of whom the second son, Horace Mann, is a Lieutenant, R.N.

 BAKER. 

(a) entered the Navy, 6 Feb. 1805, as Third-cl. Boy, on board the, Lieut.Commander Woodger, lying at Spithead; removed, in Feb. 1808, to the 50, Capt. Edw. Galwey, with whom he cruized for some time in the Mediterranean and off St. Helena; attained the rating of Midshipman 6 Jan. 1810; and continued to serve in the same ship, under Vice-Admiral John Holloway, Admiral Sir John Thos. Duckworth, and Capt. Sam. Butcher, off Newfoundland, and in the Baltic, West Scheldt, and North America, till Oct. 1814. In March of the latter year the, while endeavouring to force the Hondt passage, grounded abreast of Flushing, where she lay exposed for 48 hours to an incessant discharge of shells from the batteries, until at length got off through the most extraordinary exertions. Mr. Baker afterwards served, on the Canadian lakes, in the 98, bearing the broad pendant successively of Commodores Sir Jas. Lucas Yeo and Sir Edw. W. C. R. Owen; was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant 6 Feb. 1815; and since the following April, when he invalided home, has been on half-pay. – J. Hinxman.

