May 27, 1821, Belmont House (now called the Brunswick House), Vauxhall, Surrey, England.
February 12, 1877, Monkland, Herefordshire, England. His friend John Ellerton reported that Baker’s dying words were from his famous hymn:
Perverse and foolish oft I strayed,
But yet in love He sought me,
And on His shoulder gently laid,
And home, rejoicing, brought me.
Monkland, Herefordshire, England.
Baker was the son of Vice Admiral Henry Loraine Baker. He attended Trinity College, Cambridge, was ordained in 1844, and became assistant curate at Great Hockesley, near Colchester, Essex. In 1851, he became Vicar of Monkland Priory Church in Herefordshire, where he served most of his life. Upon his father’s death in 1859, Baker assumed the family baronetcy. From 1860 to 1877, he was editor-in-chief of the Anglican Hymns Ancient and Modern, and contributed hymns, tunes, and translations. This historic hymnal sold 60 million copies.