Dictionary of National Biography, 1901 supplement/Baker, Thomas Durand
BAKER, Sir THOMAS DURAND (1837–1893), lieutenant-general, quartermaster-general to the forces, son of John Durand Baker, vicar of Bishop's Tawton, North Devon, was born on 23 March 1837. Educated at Cheltenham, he obtained a commission as ensign in the 18th royal Irish regiment of foot on 18 Aug. 1854. His further commissions were dated: lieutenant 12 Jan. 1855, captain 26 Oct. 1858, brevet major 21 March 1865, major 12 Nov. 1873, brevet lieutenant-colonel 1 April 1874, brevet colonel, 21 April 1877, regimental lieutenant-colonel 1 July 1881, major-general 1 Sept. 1886, temporary lieutenant-general 29 April 1891.
Baker served with his regiment at the siege of Sebastopol from 30 Dec. 1854 and, for his gallantry on 18 June 1855 at the attack of the Redan by the way of the cemetery and the suburbs of Sebastopol, was mentioned in despatches. He was present at the fall of the fortress on 8 Sept., and returned to England in July 1856. He received the war medal with clasp and the Turkish and Sardinian medals. In November 1857 he embarked with his regiment for India, and served with the field force in Central India in pursuit of Tantia Topi in 1858. He was successful in obtaining admission to the staff college, and passed out in 1862. In the following year he accompanied the 2nd battalion of the Royal Irish, which had been recently raised, to New Zealand, where he was deputy assistant adjutant-general to the forces in New Zealand from 20 March 1864 to 31 March 1866, and assistant adjutant-general from that date until the end of April 1867. He served during the Maori war of 1864 to 1866 in the Waikato and the Wanganui campaigns; he acted as assistant military secretary to Lieutenant-general Sir Duncan Cameron in the action of Rangiawhia on 20 Nov. 1863, and was staff officer to the force under Major-general Carey at the unsuccessful attack of Orakau on 31 March 1864, when he led one of the three columns of assault ; he was present at its capture on 2 April. He was mentioned in despatches for the gallantry, untiring energy, and zeal which he evinced {London Gazette, 14 May and 14 June 1864), and received the war medal and a brevet majority.
On 2 Oct. 1873 Baker was appointed assistant adjutant and quartermaster-general of the expedition to Ashanti,and accompanied Sir Garnet Wolseley to the Gold Coast. He served throughout the campaign, was present at the action of Essaman on 14 Oct., took part in the relief of Abrakrampa on 5 and 6 Nov., in the battles of Amoaful on 31 Jan. 1874, and of Ordah-su and the capture of Kumassi on 4 Feb. From 14 Oct. 1873 until 17 Dec. 1874 he performed the duties of chief of the staff in addition to those of quartermaster-general. For his services he was mentioned in despatches by Sir Garnet Wolseley, who attributed to Baker's untiring energy much of the success that had attended the operations, and expressed the opinion that he possessed 'every quality that is valuable to a staff officer.' Baker was promoted to a brevet lieutenant-colonelcy, received the medal with clasp, and was made a companion of the order of the Bath, military division.
On his return from Ashanti Baker was appointed a deputy assistant quartermaster-general on the headquarters staff in London on 22 May 1874, and an assistant adjutant-general on 10 Nov. 1875. He was made an aide-de-camp to the queen, with rank of colonel in the army, on 21 April 1877. He was attached to the Russian army during the Russo-Turkish war of 1877, and was present at the principal operations. In November 1878 he went to India as military secretary to Lord Lytton, the governor-general. He was with the viceroy at Simla when Sir Louis Cavagnari was murdered at Kabul in September 1879. Sir Frederick (afterwards Earl) Roberts was also at Simla on leave of absence from his division in the Kuram valley ; and on being ordered to rejoin at once, and to advance on Kabul to exact retribution for the outrage, he applied for Baker's services to command the 2nd infantry brigade.
Baker accompanied Robertsto Kuram, and on 19 Sept. he repulsed an attack on the entrenchments of his brigade at the Shutargardan pass. On 1 Oct. the whole of the Kabul field force was assembled in the Logar valley ; on the 6th Baker commanded the troops in the successful battle of Charasia, and on the 9th was with Roberts at the occupation of Kabul. In November Baker was sent in command of a force to Maidan, on the Kabul-Ghazni road, where he repulsed an attack and returned to Kabul. On 8 Dec. he again commanded a force between Argandeh and Maidan, to co-operate with the other columns engaged in the operations for the destruction of a formidable Afghan combination, but on hearing of the failure of Massey's column he returned to Kabul. On 13 Dec. he attacked the Afghans on the Takht-i-Shah hill, and on the 14th he again attacked them on the Asmai heights, but was forced by superior numbers to withdraw. The army was then concentrated in the Sherpur entrenchments. An attack in force followed on 23 Dec, when Baker took part in the complete defeat and dispersion of the Afghans. He shortly after commanded an expedition into Kohistan and destroyed a fortified post.
After the arrival at Kabul of Sir Donald Stewart [q. v. Suppl.] from Kandahar, and the news of the disaster at Maiwand, Baker was given the command of one of the infantry brigades of the force with which Roberts left Kabul on 9 Aug. 1880 for the relief of Kandahar. The celebrated march was accomplished in three weeks. Baker, with his brigade, took a prominent part in the battle of Kandahar on 1 Sept. He then returned home. For his services in these campaigns he was mentioned in despatches {ib. 16 Jan., 4 May, and 3 Dec. 1880), received the war medal with three clasps and the bronze star, and on 22 Feb. 1881 was promoted a knight commander of the order of the Bath, military division.
On 30 March 1881 he was appointed a brigadier-general under Sir Frederick Roberts, to command the base and line of communications in Natal in the operations proposed to be undertaken after the defeat at Majuba Hill against the Boers of the Transvaal; but the government having decided to conclude an armistice, with a view to the arrangement of terms of peace. Baker saw no active service, and returned to England the following September. On 1 April 1882 he was appointed deputy quartermaster-general in Ireland, and on 3 Sept. deputy adjutant-general in Ireland. On 10 Oct. 1884 he was nominated adjutant-general in the East Indies, with the local rank of major-general. He served in the Burmese expedition of 1886 and 1887, and was mentioned in despatches (ib. 2 Sept. 1887). On 15 Feb. 1887 he was given the command of a division of the Bengal army, which he held until 1890, when he was brought home to fill the post at the Horse Guards of quartermaster-general to the forces. His appointment dated from 1 Oct. 1890, and on 29 April 1891 he was made a temporary lieutenant-general. On 15 June 1892 he received a good service pension. He died of dropsy at Pau on 9 Feb. 1893, after a brief illness, while on leave of absence from his war-office duties. He was buried in Bishop's Tawton churchyard, Devonshire, on 18 Feb.
[War Office Records; Despatches; Times, 10 and 20 Feb. 1893; Lord Roberts's Forty Years' Service in India; Fox's New Zealand War, 1863-4; Carey's War in New Zealand; Alexander's Bush Fighting in Maori War, New Zealand; Shadbolt's Afghan Campaign of 1878-1880; Ashe's Kandahar Campaign; Kinglake's Hist. of the Crimean War; Brackenbury's Ashanti War.]