Thomas Baker (September 14, 1656,
LanchesterLanchester may refer to:Places*Lanchester, County Durham, village in England*Lanchester Polytechnic, former name of Coventry UniversityPeople*Elsa Lanchester , Oscar-nominated English character actress*Frederick W...
,
DurhamDurham is a city in the North East of England. It is within the County Durham local government district, and is the county town of the larger ceremonial county....
– July 2, 1740), English
antiquarianAn antiquarian or antiquary is an aficionado of antiquities or things of the past. Also, and most often in modern usage, an antiquarian is a person who deals with or collects rare and ancient "antiquarian books"...
, was the grandson of Colonel Baker of Crook, Durham, who won fame in the
English Civil WarThe English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists. The first and second civil wars pitted the supporters of King Charles I against the supporters of the Long Parliament, while the third war saw fighting between supporters of...
by his defence of
Newcastle upon TyneNewcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England...
against the Scots. Thomas was educated at the free school at
DurhamDurham is a city in the North East of England. It is within the County Durham local government district, and is the county town of the larger ceremonial county....
, and went on to
St John's College, CambridgeSt John's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge.The college has fixed assets of £567,390,000, granting it the largest endowment per student of any Cambridge college...
, where he later obtained a fellowship. Lord Crew, bishop of Durham, collated him to the rectory of Long Newton in his diocese in 1687, and intended to give him that of
SedgefieldSedgefield is a small town in County Durham, England. It has a population of approximately 5,000. Sedgefield is in the parish of Upper Skerne....
with a prebend had not Baker incurred his displeasure by refusing to read
James IIJames II & VII was King of England and Ireland as James II, and Scotland as James VII, from 6 February 1685. He was the last Catholic monarch to reign over the Kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland...
's Declaration of Indulgence.
Thomas Baker (September 14, 1656,
LanchesterLanchester may refer to:Places*Lanchester, County Durham, village in England*Lanchester Polytechnic, former name of Coventry UniversityPeople*Elsa Lanchester , Oscar-nominated English character actress*Frederick W...
,
DurhamDurham is a city in the North East of England. It is within the County Durham local government district, and is the county town of the larger ceremonial county....
– July 2, 1740), English
antiquarianAn antiquarian or antiquary is an aficionado of antiquities or things of the past. Also, and most often in modern usage, an antiquarian is a person who deals with or collects rare and ancient "antiquarian books"...
, was the grandson of Colonel Baker of Crook, Durham, who won fame in the
English Civil WarThe English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists. The first and second civil wars pitted the supporters of King Charles I against the supporters of the Long Parliament, while the third war saw fighting between supporters of...
by his defence of
Newcastle upon TyneNewcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England...
against the Scots. Thomas was educated at the free school at
DurhamDurham is a city in the North East of England. It is within the County Durham local government district, and is the county town of the larger ceremonial county....
, and went on to
St John's College, CambridgeSt John's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge.The college has fixed assets of £567,390,000, granting it the largest endowment per student of any Cambridge college...
, where he later obtained a fellowship. Lord Crew, bishop of Durham, collated him to the rectory of Long Newton in his diocese in 1687, and intended to give him that of
SedgefieldSedgefield is a small town in County Durham, England. It has a population of approximately 5,000. Sedgefield is in the parish of Upper Skerne....
with a prebend had not Baker incurred his displeasure by refusing to read
James IIJames II & VII was King of England and Ireland as James II, and Scotland as James VII, from 6 February 1685. He was the last Catholic monarch to reign over the Kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland...
's Declaration of Indulgence. The bishop who himself was afterwards specially excepted from
William IIIWilliam III was a sovereign Prince of Orange by birth. From 1672 he governed as Stadtholder William III of Orange over Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel of the Dutch Republic. From 1689 he reigned as William III over England and Ireland, and as William II over Scotland...
's Act of Indemnity.
Baker, though he had opposed James, refused to take the oaths to William; he resigned Long Newton on 1 August, 1690, and retired to St John’s, in which he was protected till January 20 1716/1717, when he and twenty-one others were deprived of their fellowships. After the passing of the Registering Act in 1723, he could not be made to comply with its requirements by registering his annuity of £40, although that annuity, together with £20 per annum from his elder brother's collieries, was now his only income. Resentful of the injuries he had suffered, he inscribed himself in all his own books, as well as in those which he gave to the college library,
socius ejectus, and in some
rector ejectus. He continued to live in the college as commoner-master till his sudden death from
apoplexyApoplexy is an outdated medical term, which can be used to mean 'bleeding'. It can be used non-medically to mean a state of extreme rage or excitement...
.
All his valuable books and manuscripts were bequeathed to the university. The only works he published were
Reflections on Learning, showing the Insufficiency thereof in its several particulars, in order to evince the usefulness and necessity of Revelation (
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
, 1709—1710) and the preface to
Bishop FisherSaint John Fisher was an English Roman Catholic Bishop, cardinal and martyr. He shares his feast day with Saint Thomas More on 22 June in the Roman Catholic calendar of saints and 6 July on the Anglican calendar of saints...
's
Funeral Sermon for Margaret, Countess of Richmond and Derby (1708)—both without his name. His valuable manuscript collections relative to the history and antiquities of the university of Cambridge, amounting to 39 volumes in folio and three in quarto, are divided between the
British MuseumThe British Museum is a museum of human history and culture situated in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from...
and the public library at Cambridge—the former possessing twenty-three volumes, the latter sixteen in folio and three in quarto.
The life of Baker was written by
Robert MastersRobert Masters was a New Zealand politician of the Liberal Party, and a cabinet minister.He was Minister of Education in the Liberal-Reform coalition Government of New Zealand from 1931 to 1934 as a member of the New Zealand Legislative Council, after being a Minister without Portfolio from 1930...
(Camb., 1784), and by Horace Walpole in the quarto edition of his works.
Works
- History of the College of St. John the Evangelist, Cambridge Volumes 1 & 2, Reissued by Cambridge University Press
Cambridge University Press is a printer and publisher granted a Royal Letters Patent by Henry VIII in 1534. It is the world's oldest continually operating book publisher...
2009, ISBN 978-1-108-00367-4