Birth & early life
[Born 6 Jan 1830 — CHECK.] Son of Samuel Baker and his first wife, Mary, daughter of Thomas Dobson of Enfield.
According to his brother Valentine's biographer, writing in the DNB in 2004, the family were living in Enfield in 1827, and later moved to Lypiatt. Samuel White biographer says they also lived in Highnam Court.
[Most?] of the children were born at Enfield, and spent their early years there. Around 1833, the family rented a house from Sir John Guise, at Highnam Court, about 2 miles from Gloucester.The family also lived at Lypiatt Park, Stroud, Gloucestershire (1841 — 1846).
Lypiatt Park, Gloucestershire. The Baker family lived here in the 1840s.
(Click on image to enlarge)
After Mary's death [date?], Samuel remarried and moved to his new wife's home, Thorngrove, near Worcester.
The Bakers also had a London home: 38, Beaumont Street, Portland Square, London.
The couple had seven surviving children: Samuel White, John Garland, Valentine, James, Mary, Ellen, Anna Eliza. The first born, a son, died young.
The family's wealth had been established by the first Valentine Baker, a privateer during the American War of Independence and owner of sugar plantations in Jamaica and Mauritius. Samuel Baker inherited the plantations and was also a successful businessman, shipowner, director of the Great Western Railway, and chairman of the Gloucester Bank. He was unusual in his regard for education, and his close-knit family of seven surviving children attended local schools, including the College School, Gloucester, were tutored at home, and studied abroad.
[Source: DNB, 2004.]
According to his Wikipedia entry, JB was "educated at the Collegiate School, Gloucester and at Cambridge University. He entered the Indian Navy [?] in 1845, taking part in a survey of the Arabian coast and the suppression of the slave trade."
Given the origin of his family's wealth, it is interesting to note his (and his brother Samuel's) involvement in the suppression of the slave trade in Africa.
In 1855, James Baker married Sarah Louise White. [A relative? Notice his brother Samuel's midddle name is White.]
- DNB: Baker, Sir Samuel White (1821-1893)
Many of Samuel White Baker's books are available online.
- Wikipedia: Valentine Baker
- Encyclopedia Britannica (1911): Valentine Baker
- DNB (1901): Valentine Baker
http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/1142 DNB (2007): Valentine Baker
- Dorothy Anderson, Baker Pasha: Misconduct and Mischance, Michael Russell Publishing Ltd, 1999. [Not seen.]
Samuel Baker, dates [father]
[CP/PB]
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/20517
Samuel White Baker, John Garland, Valentine, James, Mary, Ellen, Anna Eliza
Samuel White Baker, 1821-1893 [brother]
James Baker's eldest brother Samuel White Baker, traveller & explorer, led a most remarkable life. See e.g. Wikipedia: Samuel Baker:
Sir Samuel White Baker, KCB, FRS, FRGS (8 June 1821 — 30 December 1893) was a British explorer, officer, naturalist, big game hunter, engineer, writer and abolitionist. He also held the titles of Pasha and Major-General in the Ottoman Empire and Egypt. He served as the Governor-General of the Equatorial Nile Basin (today's South Sudan and Northern Uganda) between Apr. 1869 — Aug. 1873, which he established as the Province of Equatoria.
He is mostly remembered as the discoverer of Lake Albert, as an explorer of the Nile and interior of central Africa, and for his exploits as a big game hunter in Asia, Africa, Europe and North America.
[Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Baker (accessed 16 May 2015).]
Valentine Baker (aka "Baker Pasha"), 1827-1887 [brother]
[Summarise his career.]
According to the DNB 2004:
On 17 June 1875 Baker travelled to London with an appointment to dine with the duke of Cambridge. In a first-class compartment he talked with a young lady, Miss Dickinson, the sister of a Royal Engineers officer, and, it was alleged, tried to rape her. He was arrested; evidence against him was given by two gentlemen in the next compartment in addition to the detailed account of Miss Dickinson.
There was public outcry against him, much moral indignation, and crowds gathered at the trial, which began on 30 July at Croydon assizes. The judge, Mr Justice Brett, spoke of the incident as 'a sudden outbreak of wickedness' and hoped that at some future time Baker might redeem himself 'by some brilliant service' (The Times, 3 Aug 1875, 10). On 2 August he was acquitted of attempted rape, convicted on the lesser charge of indecent assault, fined £500, and sentenced to a year's imprisonment.
Baker was cashiered, 'Her Majesty having no further occasion for his services' (Annual Register, 1875, 55). This was the queen's decision. She thought his brother Samuel Baker unprincipled, and was convinced that Valentine was like him, and a disgrace to the British army. Baker's wife, family, and friends, including the prince of Wales, stood by him. They, and his regiment, and most of the army believed, and continued to believe, that there had been mitigating circumstances, evidence not revealed, and that it had not been a fair trial.
After a remarkable career in [?], in June 1887, the year of her jubilee, the queen wrote to the Prince of Wales proposing that Baker be reinstated. However administrative delays meant the news only arrived after Valentine's death from a heart attack in November that year. However a telegram from the Duke of Cambridge gave instructions that he was to be buried with full military honours.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raped_on_the_Railway
The crime that led to Baker's conviction and military discharge may have inspired the 1894 pornographic novel Raped on the Railway: a True Story of a Lady who was first ravished and then flagellated on the Scotch Express.
Elements of the same incident are suggested by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in his Sherlock Holmes short story The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans.