Baker, Sir Henry Williams

BAKER, SIR HENRY WILLIAMS: Hymnologist; b. in London May 27, 1821; d. at Monkland, near Leominster, Herefordshire, Feb. 12, 1877. He took his B.A. degree at Cambridge (Trinity College) 1844; became vicar of Monkland 1851; succeeded his father, Vice-Admiral Sir Henry Loraine Baker, as baronet 1859. He wrote certain tracts and prayers, and hymns of no slight merit (including the version of Psalm xxiii, The King of Love my shepherd is). He was one of the most prominent compilers of Hymns, Ancient and Modern (London, 1861; Appendix, 1868; revised and enlarged edition, 1875), one of the most successful of modern hymnals, to which he contributed some twenty-five hymns, original and translated.

Bibliography: S, W. Duffield, English Hymns, p. 77 et passim, New York, 1886; Julin, Hymnology, p. 107; DNB, iii, 11.