Born on Oct 20th, 1839, the son of B Russell Baker, a solicitor of Andover. Educated at the Andover Grammar School, and then apprenticed to George Speke Payne, a local surgeon. In 1858 he entered St Bartholomew’s Hospital, and qualifying in 1861 he was appointed Midwifery Assistant. In 1867 he was made Demonstrator of Anatomy and became associate editor of the 6th edition of Kirkes’ *Physiology*. He was Warden of the College from 1867-1874, when he showed himself to be a kind and wise friend to many students. In 1869 he succeeded Sir William Savory (q.v.) as Lecturer in Physiology, and held that post for sixteen years. In 1870 he was elected Casualty Surgeon, in 1871 Assistant Surgeon, and full Surgeon in 1882. He was also Surgeon to the Skin Department at St Bartholomew’s Hospital, Surgeon to the Evelina Hospital for Sick Children, a Member of the Court of Examiners at the Royal College of Surgeons, and Examiner at the Universities of London and Durham. He retired from the staff of St Bartholomew’s Hospital in 1892 on account of ill health. He then left his house in 26 Wimpole Street, removing to Woburn Square, and later in 1896 to his country house, Nutbourne Manor, Pulborough, where he died on Oct 3rd, 1896. He was buried at West Chiltington, and a tablet to his memory by his house surgeons is on the west wall of the church of St Bartholomew-the-Less. He married Annie Mills, of Andover, the sister of Joseph Mills, the anaesthetist, and had six children, two sons and four daughters. His eldest son was a student at St Bartholomew’s Hospital at the time of his father’s death, and some years ago presented to the hospital the collection of prints dealing with St Bartholomew’s which his father had delighted to collect. This collection is now in the Library of St Bartholomew’s Hospital Medical College. Baker’s works, which were numerous, may be seen in his biographies. He was a hard-working, capable surgeon of the period immediately preceding the aseptic era of surgery, who was more especially interested in diseases of skin and of the tongue, an organ he removed with an écraseur. He is best remembered at his own hospital by his paper on “Synovial Cysts in Leg in Connection with Diseases of the Knee-joint”, published in the *St Bartholomew’s Hospital Reports*. The result of this paper was that Baker had his name given to this disease, and ‘Baker’s cysts’ were well known in this country. It remained for D’Arcy Power to show that these ‘Baker's cysts’ were really part of a tuberculous affection of joints, which had not been recognized by Morrant Baker. He also invented a useful tracheotomy tube made of red rubber. Publications: “Synovial Cysts in Leg in Connection with Diseases of the Knee-joint.” *St Bart.’s Hosp. Rep.*, 1877, xiii, 245. “On the Use of Flexible Tracheotomy Tubes.” *Med.-Chir. Trans.*, 1877, lx, 71.