Editing Samuel Baker (section)

==Family and early biography==
Samuel White Baker was born on 8 June 1821 in London, as the offspring of a wealthy commercial family. His father, Samuel Baker Sr., was a sugar merchant, banker and ship owner from Thorngrove, [[Worcestershire]] with mercantile ties in the [[West Indies]]. His younger brother, Col. [[Valentine Baker]], known as "Baker Pasha", was initially a British hero of the African [[Cape Colony]], the [[Crimean War]], [[Ceylon]] and the [[Balkans]], later dishonoured by a civilian scandal. Valentine had successfully sought fame in the [[Ottoman Empire]], notably the [[Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878)|Russian-Turkish War]] in the [[Caucasus]] and the [[History of Sudan (1884–1898)|War of Sudan]] from Egypt. Samuel's other siblings were: [[James Baker (Canadian politician)|James]], John, Mary "Min" (later Cawston), Ellen (later Hopkinson) and Anna Eliza Baker (later Bourne).<ref name="ReferenceA">To The Heart of the Nile: Lady Florence Baker and the Exploration of Central Africa, by Pat Shipman</ref>

Baker was educated at a private school at [[Rottingdean]] in [[Sussex]], next at the [[King's School, Gloucester]] (1833–1835), then privately at [[Tottenham]] (1838–1840), before completing his studies in [[Frankfurt]], Germany in 1841. He studied and graduated [[Master of Arts (Oxbridge and Dublin)|MA]] as Civil Engineer.{{Citation needed|date=April 2025}} While commissioned, at [[Constanța]], [[Romania]], as Royal Superintendent, he designed and planned railways, bridges and other structures across the [[Dobruja]] region, from the [[Danube]] to the [[Black Sea]].

On 3 August 1843, he married his first wife, Henrietta Ann Bidgood Martin, daughter of the Rev Charles Herbert Martin, Rector of St Giles, Maisemore, [[Gloucestershire]]. Together, they had seven children: Agnes, Charles Martin, Constance, Edith, Ethel, Jane & John Lindsay Sloan.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>
His brother John Garland Baker married Henrietta's sister Eliza Heberden Martin and after a double wedding, the four moved to [[Mauritius]], overseeing the family's plantation. After spending two years there the desire for travel took them in 1846 to Ceylon, where in the following year he founded an agricultural settlement at [[Nuwara Eliya]], a mountain health-resort.

Aided by his family, he brought emigrants from England, together with choice breeds of cattle, and before long the new settlement was a success. During his residence in Ceylon he wrote and published ''The Rifle and the Hound in Ceylon'' (1853) and two years later ''Eight Years' Wanderings in Ceylon'' (1855). These books showcase his hunting of wildlife in Ceylon (Sri Lanka). After twelve years of marriage, his wife, Henrietta, died of [[typhoid fever]] in 1855, leaving Samuel a widower at the age of thirty-four. His two sons and one daughter (Jane) also died young. Baker left his four surviving daughters in the care of his unmarried sister Mary "Min".

After a journey to Constantinople and the [[Crimea]] in 1856, he went to Constanța, Romania and acted as Royal Superintendent for the construction of a railway and bridges across the [[Dobruja]], connecting the Danube with the Black Sea. After that project was completed he spent some months on a tour of south-eastern Europe and Asia Minor.