General A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED ...

Sir William Erskine Baker KCB (29 November 1808 – 16 December 1881) was a senior British Indian Army officer, who became

Military Secretary to the India Office The Military Secretary to the India Office was responsible for the recruitment of British and other European nationals to the officer ranks of the Indian Army The Indian Army is the land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian A ...

Early life

William Erskine Baker was born in

Leith Leith (; gd, Lìte) is a port area in the north of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, founded at the mouth of the Water of Leith. In 2021, it was ranked by ''Time Out'' as one of the top five neighbourhoods to live in the world. The earliest ...

, near

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

, Scotland, on 29 November 1808 and was the fourth son of Elizabeth and Captain Joseph Baker R.N. His father died in 1817, and in 1821 he, his mother and eight siblings went to live with his mother’s uncle, Admiral James Vashon, in

Ludlow Ludlow () is a market town in Shropshire, England. The town is significant in the history of the Welsh Marches and in relation to Wales. It is located south of Shrewsbury and north of Hereford, on the A49 road which bypasses the town. The ...

, Shropshire. He was educated at King Edward VI’s Grammar School in Ludlow where he received a good classical education. In 1825 he entered the East India Military Seminary at

Addiscombe Addiscombe is an area of south London, England, within the London Borough of Croydon. It is located south of Charing Cross, and is situated north of Coombe and Selsdon, east of Croydon town centre, south of Woodside, and west of Shirley. E ...

, near Croydon, where his mathematical studies continued under the guidance of Jonathan Cape, a tutor at the seminary who was also a Fellow of

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge or Oxford. ...

. Baker was born with a speech impediment, and left Addiscombe for six months to receive specialist treatment in Edinburgh. He returned to Addiscombe in January 1826, caught up with his studies, and passed his exams in December 1826. This was recognised as an exceptionally short time in which to complete his course. He left the seminary at the end of 1826, and went on to undertake field instruction at

Chatham Dockyard Chatham Dockyard was a Royal Navy Dockyard located on the River Medway in Kent. Established in Chatham in the mid-16th century, the dockyard subsequently expanded into neighbouring Gillingham (at its most extensive, in the early 20th century ...

; but left after a short time owing to ill health.

Career

In 1828 Baker went to India as a lieutenant in the

Bengal Engineers The Bengal Engineer Group (BEG) (informally the Bengal Sappers or Bengal Engineers) is a military engineering regiment in the Corps of Engineers of the Indian Army. The unit was originally part of the Bengal Army of the East India Company's B ...

.William Baker at Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
/ref> He was posted to the Irrigation Department of the North-West Provinces under the command of Colonel Colvin, a post sought after by many officers. Here he worked with engineers Charles Napier and Henry Durand on the Jumna Canals. When Colvin returned home to England in 1836, Lieutenant Baker succeeded him and was put in charge of the Jumna Canals, a position he held until 1843. In 1843, following the annexation of the Sindh to

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

, Baker was appointed Superintendent of Canals and Forests in Sindh. He served in the

First Anglo-Sikh War The First Anglo-Sikh War was fought between the Sikh Empire and the British East India Company in 1845 and 1846 in and around the Ferozepur district of Punjab. It resulted in defeat and partial subjugation of the Sikh empire and cession o ...

and fought at the

Battle of Sobraon The Battle of Sobraon was fought on 10 February 1846, between the forces of the East India Company and the Sikh Khalsa Army, the army of the Sikh Empire of the Punjab. The Sikhs were completely defeated, making this the decisive battle of th ...

in 1846. He transferred to the Public Works Department, and was latterly consulting engineer on railways, and an authority on irrigation to the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, ...

. He became

in 1859 and became a member of the Council of India in 1861. He was appointed KCB in 1870 and retired in 1875. He died at his home at

Banwell Castle Banwell Castle is a Victorian Gothic Revival mansion in Banwell, Somerset, England. It is a Grade II* listed building. History The land on which the house is built was owned by the Bishop of Bath and Wells. It was sold to John and Joan Landow ...

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

in 1881.

Siwalik Fossils

Baker first became acquainted with the fossils from the

Siwalik Hills The Sivalik Hills, also known as the Shivalik Hills and Churia Hills, are a mountain range of the outer Himalayas that stretches over about from the Indus River eastwards close to the Brahmaputra River, spanning the northern parts of the Indian ...

in India, after he received a fossil of an elephant's tooth from the Rajah of

Nahan Nahan is a town in Himachal Pradesh in India and is the headquarters of the Sirmaur District It was the capital of the former Sirmur princely state.Nahan is also known as the Town of ponds. Geography Nahan is located at . It has a ...

in November 1834.

Personal life

In 1837 Baker married Frances Gertrude Duncan, third daughter of Major-General Alexander Duncan, on 29 June 1837. They were married for 44 years, but had no children. On 27 February the following year Baker’s sister Josephine married Colonel John Colvin in Ludlow, Shropshire.

Early life

Career

Siwalik Fossils

Personal life

References

Further reading