|
|
William Baker II of Fenton 18 April 1745 (baptised) to 25
November 1784
BAK00084
|
|
|
The home page of the Farndale family website of which this section is a part |
The Home page of the Baker family part of the website |
The Baker Family directory |
Notes on the Baker family history |
The Baker Family Tree, which is the best way to search the family history |
Headlines of William Baker II’s life are
in brown.
Dates are in red.
Hyperlinks to other pages are in dark blue.
References and citations are in turquoise.
Context and local history are in purple.
1745
William Baker was the son of William and Jane (nee Dod) Baker (FAR00068). He was baptised at
Bridgnorth on 18 April 1745. So
for ease, let’s call him William Baker II.
1765
William Baker II’s father, the elder William Baker bought the
manor of Fenton
Culvert, near Stoke on Trent, together with the pottery factory in 1765.
This was a period of technical development in the manufacture of
pottery and the industry was expanding. It was generally felt to provide a
suitable career for the second sons of wealthy gentlemen farmers. At the time
Fenton comprised the two manors of Fenton Vivian (or Great Fenton) and Fenton
Culvert (or Little Fenton).
The Bakers also purchased a considerable amount of land associated
with Fenton.
1767
William Baker II came to Fenton in 1767. He married Sarah
Bagnall (d. 1833) that year. Sarah was the daughter of
Thomas Bagnall, lord of the Manor of Shelton and the Bagnalls
were a well known local
family, some of who had been mayors at Newcastle under Lyme.
William became a
potter, initially in partnership with his father in law,
as Baker & Bagnall of Fenton, Staffordshire from
1767.
William became Lord of the Manor of Fenton Culvert.
William was Deputy Lieutenant
and a Justice of the Peace for Staffordshire.
William and Sarah had three sons and three daughters, from whom
descend the Meath-Baker family of Hasfield Court.
1784
William Baker II of
Fenton died on 25 November 1784. His son was only aged
thirteen years old.
Sarah later remarried on
21 December 1793 to Ralph Bourne (d. 1835) of Hilderstone
Hall, Staffordshire, with whom she had a further family. Ralph Borne was a man
of consequence, who was also a Deputy Lieutenant and a Justice of the Peace,
who lived at Hilderstone Hall. Ralph’s father, James
Bourne had come to the area to join the pottery industry. Ralph Bourne was a
potter and a philanthropist. Ralph became partners with his step
son, the third William Baker and they traded as Bourne and Baker. The
business made staple products and exported them on a considerable scale. It was
later said that unglazed clayware was exported to
Africa. The business flourished and by 1829, they had expanded to a second
factory and acquired a flint mill. A History of
Stoke on Trent by Ward referred to very extensive earthenware
manufactories, which for many years were carried on by the firm of Bourne,
Baker and Bourne (Ralph’s brother John had also joined the business) and
raised the proprietors to the first rank among the preeminent and opulent
potters who flourished during the by-gone portion of the [nineteenth] century.