John Gilbert Baker

John Gilbert Baker FRS (13 January 1834 – 16 August 1920) was an English botanist. His son was the botanist Edmund Gilbert Baker (1864–1949).

John Gilbert Baker FRS
John Baker
Born	13 January 1834 Guisborough
Died	16 August 1920 (aged 86) Kew[1]
Nationality	English
Education	Quaker schools Ackworth School Bootham School
Occupation	Botanist
Scientific career
Author abbrev. (botany)	Baker

Biography

Baker was born in Guisborough in North Yorkshire, the son of John and Mary (née Gilbert) Baker, and died in Kew. He lived in Thirsk (North Yorkshire) until 1864 when the drapers store owned by his family burnt down. The place where he lived in the town, now called Bakers Alley, is marked by a blue plaque which was unveiled in 2005 by Professor Simon Owens who, like his renowned predecessor, was then Keeper of the Herbarium at Kew.

He was educated at Ackworth School and Bootham School,^[2][3] York, both being Quaker schools.

He subsequently worked at the library and herbarium of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew between 1866 and 1899, and was keeper of the herbarium from 1890 to 1899. He wrote handbooks on many plant groups, including Amaryllidaceae, Bromeliaceae, Iridaceae, Liliaceae, and ferns. His published works include Flora of Mauritius and the Seychelles (1877) and Handbook of the Irideae (1892). Baker issued several exsiccata-like series, among others the series Herbarium of British Roses [Herbarium Rosarum Britannicarum].^[4][5]

He married Hannah Unthank in 1860.^[6] Their son Edmund was one of twins, and his twin brother died before 1887.^[7][8]

John G. Baker was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1878.^[9] He was awarded the Veitch Memorial Medal of the Royal Horticultural Society in 1907.

Taxa named in honour

Several plant species with the epithet bakeriana or bakeranius and bakeranium have been named in honour of John G. Baker.^[10]

Including;

• Hieracium bakerianum
• Hymenostegia bakeriana
• Iris reticulata var. bakeriana (also known as Iris bakeriana)
• Lilium bakerianum
• Rhodolaena bakeriana
• Rubus bakerianus

Selected publications

A picture of Baker (undated, but before 1906)

• Baker, J. G. (1874). "Revision of the Genera and Species of Tulipeae". Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society. xiv (76): 211–310. doi:10.1111/j.1095-8339.1874.tb00314.x.
• Baker, John Gilbert (1874). "A Classified Synonymic List of all the Known Crocuses, with their Native Countries, and References to the Works where they are Figured". Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society of London. 4 (14): 111–119.