John Baker MP (1488 - 1558)

Born 1488 in Sissinghurst, Kent, England

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 23 Dec 1558 at about age 70 in London, England

Biography

Sir John Baker was a member of the aristocracy in England.

Sir John Baker (c.1489-1558), of London and Sissinghurst, Kent was the son of Richard Baker of Cranbrook, a notable lawyer of the Inner Temple, and his wife Joan (d. in or aft 1504). Sir John followed his father's footsteps, educated at the Inner Temple where he rose quickly to be a bencher by 1517 and was appointed Governor of the Inn twelve times between 1532 and 1557. He served the city of London as under-Sheriff 1520-6 and recorder 1526-1536, as well as MP 1529 and 1536. He was attorney-gen. for the duchy of Lancaster 1535-6 ,and then attorney-gen 1536-1540. By 18 Jun 1540 he was knighted and was a member of the Privy Council and was chancellor of the Exchequer from 1540 until his death in 1558. He was also Speaker in 1545 and 1547.^[1]

He m. (1) c. 1510 Catherine, da. of Richard Sackville of Withyham, Suss. s.p. and (2) by 1530, Elizabeth, da. and h. of Thomas Digneley of Stanford Dingley, Berks. and Middle Aston, Oxon., wid. of George Barrett of Belhus in Aveley, Essex, 2s. John II and Richard 3da.^[1]

Sir John Baker left a will on 16 October 1555 with a codicil on 27 September 1558 and 5 December 1558. He died on 23 December 1558 in London, and the following month was bur. at Cranbrook^[2]

Children of Sir John Baker and Elizabeth Digneley:

1. Sir Richard Baker (by 1530–1594)
2. John Baker (by 1531–1604/6)
3. Cecily Baker (1535 – 1615) m. Thomas Sackville
4. Elizabeth Baker (1537 –1583)
5. Joan Baker (1542–1616)

Research Notes

Circa 1520 Sir John had married Catherine Sackville the daughter of Richard Sackville of Withyham in Sussex. Her brother was married to Margaret, sister of Sir Thomas Bullen, the father of Queen Anne Boleyn. They had two children. It is probable that this relationship had a bearing on Sir John's future career. Catherine died within a few years and circa 1525 Sir John married the widowed Elizabeth (Dingley) Barrett who was the daughter and heiress of Thomas Dyneley, lord of the manor of Wolverton in Hampshire. Sir John and Elizabeth had 5 children.

Many online family trees repeat the claim that John Baker was the father of Alice Baker, wife of William Adam. Baker did not name any such daughter in his will.

Guy Ellis Baker, Esq of Albany, New York was the premier genealogist of the Bakers of the Roxbury Colony. He contended that Thomas Baker of Roxbury was as the son of Thomas Baker (c 1557 – 1625) and Alice Lemon, grandson of Sir Richard Baker (c 1527 - 1594) and Catherine Terrell and great-grandson of Sir John Baker (1488 – 1558) and Elizabeth Dingley.

Y DNA Analysis by Roland Henry Baker, III, Molecular Genetics, U.C. Berkeley. Y-DNA Haplotype R-L664 subgroup 2.D R1a1-CTS4385>L664>(S3478?)>S2894>YP282-C>YP441>A172 Verified from two separate descendants. DNA supports a Kent, England origin.

"Near this Pile, In a vault lie entombed the remains of the Baker's, of Sissinghurst, of this parish. A family considerable for rank and fortune, through a succession of several generations, from the time of their first settlement here in the person of Thomas Baker, Esq., or Richard, his son about the latter end of the reign of King Henry the 7th. The said Richard was father to Sir John Baker, Knight, who was bred to the law, and became eminent as for his abilities in that profession, so for his promotion to divers high posts of trust and honour in the service of the Crown and State, being in several parts of his life Recorder of London, Attorney General, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Privy Counsellor to King Henry the VIII, Edward the VI, and Queen Mary. He deceased soon after the Accession of Queen Elizabeth, and is with great probability supposed to have been deposited here, with a numerous race of descendants, and allies of whom take a catalogue in the following order on the other side of this tomb, according to the date of their respective interments."[1]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} BAKER, John I (c.1489-1558), of London and Sissinghurst, Kent. The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1509-1558, ed. S.T. Bindoff, 1982
2. ↑ Our Royal Titled Noble Commoner Ancestors website, citing Douglas Richardson, Magna Carta Ancestry.

• Alsop, J. (2008, May 24). Baker, Sir John (c. 1489–1558), administrator and speaker of the House of Commons. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Ed.
• John Baker on Wikipedia