Sir William Baker (5 November 1705 – 23 January 1770) was an English merchant and politician, a Member of the

Parliament of Great Britain The Parliament of Great Britain was formed in May 1707 following the ratification of the Acts of Union 1707, Acts of Union by both the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland. The Acts ratified the treaty of Union which created a ...

and Governor of the

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), originally the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Trading Into Hudson’s Bay, is a Canadian holding company of department stores, and the oldest corporation in North America. It was the owner of the ...

. He was the son of John Baker, a London draper. He became an Alderman of London in 1739 and a director of the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...

in 1741–5, 1746–50 and 1751–53. He was also deputy chairman (1749, 1751–52), chairman (1749–50, 1752–53), Deputy Governor (1750-60) and the 11th Governor (1760–70) of the

. He was knighted in 1760. He was MP for Plympton Erle from 1747 to 1768. In 1759 he built a country house in an estate at

Bayfordbury Bayfordbury, Hertfordshire, is a large Grade II* listed country house with surrounding parkland, and the location of a University of Hertfordshire campus, housing its biology/geography field station and observatory. History of Bayfordbury Bayfo ...

in Hertfordshire. He died in 1770. He had married Mary, the daughter of Jacob Tonson, publisher, and with her had 6 sons and a daughter. His eldest son, also William Baker, who inherited and improved Bayfordbury, was also an MP. The community Baker Lake in

Nunavut Nunavut is the largest and northernmost Provinces and territories of Canada#Territories, territory of Canada. It was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the ''Nunavut Act'' and the Nunavut Land Claims Agr ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

was named after him.Baker Lake history
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1705 births 1770 deaths British MPs 1747–1754 British MPs 1754–1761 British MPs 1761–1768 Knights Bachelor Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for Plympton Erle People from Hertfordshire (before 1965) Merchants from London Governors of the Hudson's Bay Company Politicians from London 18th-century English merchants {{England-business-bio-stub