BAKER, Hercules (1683-1744), of Deal and East Langdon, Kent.

In 1715 Hercules Baker was serving in the Mediterranean under his uncle, Admiral John Baker, but nothing is known of his subsequent naval career.Byng Pprs. (Navy Recs. Soc.) iii. 78, 82; Charnock, Biog. Navalis, iv. 32. Soon after inheriting his uncle’s property he was returned unopposed for Hythe, voted with the Government in every recorded division, and was rewarded with a place at Greenwich in 1736. On being passed over for promotion to flag rank in 1744, he thought of resigning his place, explaining to Newcastle that ‘my resolution proceeds only from the shame I feel, to return among my neighbours in the country, who will conceive (from what has happened) a low opinion of me’.Add. 32703, f. 176. However, he was still treasurer of Greenwich when he died 1 Nov. 1744.