Editing Richard Baker (chronicler)

{{Short description|English politician}}
{{Use British English|date=April 2014}}{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2014}}
{{Infobox person |honorific_prefix = Sir |name = Richard Baker |birth_date = {{circa|1568}} |birth_place = [[Sissinghurst]], Kent |death_date = 18 February 1645 (aged 76–77) |death_place = [[Fleet Prison]], London |occupation = politician, historian, religious writer |notable_works = ''Chronicle of the Kings of England'' |nationality = English
}}

'''Sir Richard Baker''' ({{circa|1568}} – 18 February 1645) was a politician, [[historian]] and religious writer.  He was the English author of the ''Chronicle of the Kings of England'' and other works.

==Family==
Richard Baker, born about 1568 at [[Sissinghurst]], Kent, was the elder son of [[John Baker (by 1531–1604/6)|John Baker]] and Katherine Scott, the daughter of Sir Reginald Scott (d. 16 December 1554) of [[Scot's Hall]] near [[Ashford, Kent]], and Emeline Kempe, the daughter of Sir William Kempe of [[Olantigh]], by Eleanor, daughter of Sir Robert Browne.{{sfn|Richardson IV|2011|p=2}} Richard Baker's father, [[John Baker (by 1531–1604/6)|John Baker]], was the second son of [[John Baker (died 1558)|Sir John Baker]], the first [[Chancellor of the Exchequer]].{{sfn|Martin|2004}}

Richard Baker had a younger brother named Thomas,<ref>christened on 3 April 1577 at [[St Stephen Coleman Street]], City of London</ref><ref>Will of John Baker of Saint Stephen Coleman Street, City of London, 14 April 1606</ref><ref>Will of Sir Henry Baker of Cranbrook, Kent, 6 May 1624</ref> who is doubtless the ancestor of William Baker of Lismacue House in [[County Tipperary]], Ireland.<ref>"A genealogical and Heraldic History of The Landed Gentry", by Sir [[Bernard Burke]], revised by A.C Fox-Davies, published by Harrisons and Sons 1912, p.23, It stated incorrectly that William's ancestor Thomas was a follower of [[Henry Sidney|Lord Deputy Sussex]] instead of [[Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex|Lord Lieutenant Essex]].</ref>

== Life ==
Richard Baker entered [[Hertford College, Oxford|Hart Hall]], Oxford, as a commoner in 1584. He left the university without taking a degree, studied [[law]] in [[London]] and afterwards travelled in [[Europe]]. In 1593 he was chosen member of parliament for [[Arundel]], in 1594 his university conferred upon him the degree of M.A., and in 1597 he was elected to parliament as the representative of [[East Grinstead]]. In 1603 he was knighted by King [[James VI and I|James I]], in 1620 he acted as [[high sheriff]] at [[Oxfordshire]] where he owned some property, and soon afterwards he married Margaret, daughter of Sir George Mainwaring, of Ightfield, Shropshire. By making himself responsible for some debts of his wife’s family, he was reduced to great poverty, which led to the seizure of his Oxfordshire property in 1625. Quite penniless, he took refuge in the [[Fleet Prison|Fleet prison]] in 1635, and was still in confinement when he died on 18 February 1644 (1645). He was buried in the church of St Bride, Fleet Street, London.

==Marriage and issue==
About 1600, Baker married Margaret Mainwaring (d.1654),<ref>Will of Dame Margaret Baker, widow, City of London, 9 February 1654</ref> daughter of [[George Mainwaring (MP, died 1628)|Sir George Mainwaring]] of [[Ightfield]], Shropshire, by whom he had three sons and four daughters:
*Sir Thomas Baker, baptised in 1602, married on 9 April 1629 at St Mary in the parish of [[Lambeth]], Frances Wilford, daughter of Sir Thomas Wilford of Ileden, [[Kent]], and Elizabeth Sandys. They had eight children.<ref>"The Oxinden Letters 1607–1642", Edited with Notes and an Introduction by Dorothy Gardiner, published by London Constable and Co ltd 1933, p.223-24.</ref>
*Mainwaring, baptised in 1603.
*Arthur (died in 1644), barrister at law.
*Anne, baptised in 1607, who married a Mr. Bury. 
*Margaret, who produced three manuscript recipe books.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Connor |first=Kimberley |date=2022-05-16 |title=Seeking Margaret Baker: Identifying the Author of Three Manuscript Receipt Books |url=https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/abo/vol12/iss1/2 |journal=ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640-1830 |volume=12 |issue=1 |doi=10.5038/2157-7129.12.1.1252 |issn=2157-7129|doi-access=free }}</ref> 
*Cecily/Cecilia (died in 1635), who married on 27 April 1625 at [[Steeple Aston]], Oxfordshire, Francis Wroughton son of George Wroughton. They had six children. 
*Frances married on 18 October 1645 at [[St Anne and St Agnes]], London, Robert Smith, citizen and tailor in London. Smith is said to have burned a manuscript of Baker's life.

== Works ==
During his imprisonment Baker spent his time mainly in writing. His chief work is the ''Chronicle of the Kings of England from the Time of the Romans’ Government unto the Death of King James'' (1643, and many subsequent editions). It was translated into [[Dutch language|Dutch]] in 1649, and was continued down to 1658 by [[Edward Phillips]], a nephew of [[John Milton]]. For many years the ''Chronicle'' was extremely popular, but owing to numerous inaccuracies its historical value is very slight. Baker also wrote ''Cato Variegatus'' or ''Catoes Morall Distichs, Translated and Paraphrased by Sir Richard Baker, Knight'' (London, 1636); ''Meditations on the Lord’s Prayer'' (1637); ''Translation of New Epistles by Mounsieur D’Balzac'' (1638); ''Apologie for Laymen’s Writing in Divinity'', ''with a Short Meditation upon the Fall of Lucifer'' (1641); ''Motives for Prayer upon the seaven dayes of ye weeke'' (1642); a translation of [[Virgilio Malvezzi]]’s ''Discourses upon Cornelius Tacitus'' (1642),<ref>{{Cite book|first=Virgilio|last=Malvezzi|title=Discourses upon Cornelius Tacitus|translator=Richard Baker|location=London|publisher=printed by E. G. for R. Whitaker|year=1642|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SBhlAAAAcAAJ}}</ref> and ''Theatrum Redivivum, or The Theatre Vindicated'', a reply to the ''Histrio-Mastix'' of [[William Prynne]] (1642). He also wrote ''Meditations'' upon several of the psalms of David, which have been collected and edited by A. B. Grosart (London, 1882).

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://archive.org/details/chronicleofkings00bake ''A Chronicle of the Kings of England from the Time of the Romans Government unto the Death of King James''](1670) at [[Internet Archive]]
*{{NPG name|name=Sir Richard Baker}}
*{{Cite ODNB |last=Martin |first=G.H. |year=2004 |title=Baker, Sir Richard (c.1568–1645) |id=1131}}  {{DNBfirst|wstitle=Baker, Richard (1568-1645)|display=Baker, Richard (1568–1645)}}
*{{Cite book |last=Richardson |first=Douglas |year=2011 |title=Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families |editor-first=Kimball G. |editor-last=Everingham |location=Salt Lake City |edition=2nd |volume=IV |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8JcbV309c5UC&pg=RA3-PA1 |access-date=2 March 2013 |ref={{sfnref |Richardson IV |2011}} |isbn=978-1460992708 }}
* {{Cite book |title=History of Parliament |url=http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1558-1603/member/baker-richard-1568-1645/ |chapter=Sir Richard Baker}}
*{{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Baker, Sir Richard}} which in turn cites:
**[[James Granger]], ''Biographical History of England to the Revolution'' (London, 1804)
**''[[Biographia Britannica]]'', corrected by [[Andrew Kippis|A Kippis]] (London, 1778–1793)
* {{cite book |last1=Hutchinson |first1=John |title=Men of Kent and Kentishmen |date=1892 |publisher=Cross & Jackman |location=Canterbury |page=0 |edition=Subscription |chapter=[[s:Men of Kent and Kentishmen/Sir Richard Baker|Sir Richard Baker]]}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Baker, Richard}}
[[Category:1560s births]]
[[Category:1645 deaths]]
[[Category:16th-century English historians]]
[[Category:English male non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:People from Sissinghurst]]
[[Category:Alumni of Hart Hall, Oxford]]
[[Category:17th-century English historians]]
[[Category:16th-century English male writers]]
[[Category:17th-century English male writers]]
[[Category:17th-century Anglicans]]
[[Category:Inmates of Fleet Prison]]
[[Category:17th-century English knights]]
[[Category:High sheriffs of Oxfordshire]]
[[Category:English MPs 1593]]
[[Category:English MPs 1597–1598]]