William Baker (1668 – 4 December 1732) was an English churchman and academic,

Warden of Wadham College This is a list of Wadham College, Oxford people, including alumni, Fellows, Deans and Wardens of the College. An alphabetical list of alumni of Wadham college can be found here. Alumni Academics * Martin Aitken, archaeometrist * Amir Attaran, ...

, Oxford, Bishop of Bangor and bishop of Norwich.

Life

He was the son of William Baker, vicar of

Ilton Ilton is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated south-east of Taunton, and north of Ilminster in the South Somerset district. The village has a population of 854. The parish includes the hamlets of Ilford and Cad Green wi ...

, Somerset, where he was born. He was educated at Crewkerne School, and entered Wadham College, Oxford, where he was first fellow, and eventually became warden in 1719. He was successively rector of St. Ebbes, of

Padworth Padworth is a dispersed settlement and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the England, English county of Berkshire, with the nearest town being Tadley. Padworth is in the unitary authority of West Berkshire, and its main settlement is at ...

, and of

Blaydon Blaydon is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, England, and historically in County Durham. Blaydon, and neighbouring Winlaton, which Blaydon is now contiguous with, form the postal town of Blaydon-on-Tyne. The Blay ...

, all in the diocese of Oxford. In 1714 he was collated to the archdeaconry of Oxford.British History On-line
/ref> He was chaplain in ordinary to George I. In 1723 he was promoted to the see of Bangor, from which in 1727 he was translated to Norwich. He held the rectory of

St. Giles-in-the-Fields St Giles in the Fields is the Anglican parish church of the St Giles district of London. It stands within the London Borough of Camden and belongs to the Diocese of London. The church, named for St Giles the Hermit, began as a monastery and ...

in commendam In canon law, commendam (or ''in commendam'') was a form of transferring an ecclesiastical benefice ''in trust'' to the ''custody'' of a patron. The phrase ''in commendam'' was originally applied to the provisional occupation of an ecclesiastical ...

'' up to the time of his death, which occurred at Bath, 4 December 1732. He never married. During his brief tenure of the see of Bangor he made his only brother treasurer of the church there, and his two nephews were provided for by being made registrars of the diocese of Norwich. Francis Blomefield, the historian of Norfolk, who was ordained by him, gives the titles of four sermons which he printed; one of them was published by special command of Queen Anne in 1710.

References

Attribution

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baker, William 1668 births 1732 deaths Wardens of Wadham College, Oxford Bishops of Bangor Bishops of Norwich 18th-century Church of England bishops 18th-century Welsh Anglican bishops