Page:Men of Kent and Kentishmen.djvu/23

 SIR RICHARD BAKER,

Was the grandson of the preceding Sir John Baker, and was born in 1568, probably at the family seat at Sissinghurst. His mother was Catherine, daughter of Reginald Scott, of Ashford. Richard became a commoner at Hart Hall, Oxford, where he shared his rooms with another Kentish man, Sir Henry Wotton. He left Oxford without graduating and studied the law, but the University subsequently conferred the degree of M.A. upon him, honoris causâ. In 1603 he was knighted by James I. In 1620 he was High Sheriff of Oxfordshire and owned the manor of Middle Aston; but he subsequently met with pecuniary misfortunes, and he died a debtor in the Fleet Prison 18th February, 1644-5. It was during Baker's residence in the Fleet that he began his literary work. His publications were numerous, but his chief work was his well-known "Chronicle of the Kings of England from the time of the Romans' Government unto the death of King James, 1642." This work was long the most popular history of England in existence. It went through many editions, and was continued by subsequent writers to the close of the reign of George I.

[For full particulars of his life and writings, see "Wood's Athenæ Oxon.," by Bliss; "Granger's Historical Biography"]