# A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Baker, Thomas

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​BAKER, K.C.B., K.W.N. (Vice-Admiral of the Red, 1837. f-p., 28; h-p., 36)
Sir Thomas Baker 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 Lieut. Chas. Hougham Baker, R.N.
This officer entered the Navy, 23 Aug. 1781, as Midshipman, on board the Dromedary 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 Kite sloop, Carnatic 74, Hermione 32, Brisk sloop, Royal Sovereign 100, Dictator 64, Winchelsea frigate, and Minerva 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 Swan sloop, Capt. Lawrence Wm. Halsted, and on his return to England, towards the close of 1793, was successively invested with the command of the Lion cutter and Valiant 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 Fairy sloop, on the Downs station, Capt. Baker was made Post, 13 June, 1797, into the Princess Royal 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 Nemesis 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 Phoebe 36, on the Irish station, where he continued until May, 1802. In April, 1803, he joined the Phoenix, 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 Didon, the ship he had so nobly won – 19 May, 1806, to the Tribune 38, in which frigate he destroyed, when in company with the Ibis, 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 Vanguard 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 Cumberland 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 Warspite 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.
* ↑ Sir Thos. Baker was descended of a very ancient naval family, long seated in the co. of Kent. As a tribute to the professional celebrity of one of his ancestors – many of whom lie interred in Westminster Abbey – Queen Anne granted the family the honorable crest of a naval crown and trident.
* ↑ Vide Gaz. 1805, pp. 1091, 1115.
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