James Baker Collection

The collection consists, for the most part, of correspondence to James Baker from his political and social contemporaries including politicians such as Sir Michael Hicks-Beach, William Ewart Gladstone and R.B. Haldane, Czech politicians such as Edouard Benes and T.G. Mazaryk, and creative people such as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, R.D. Blackmore, Herbert Beerbohm Tree, and Sir Henry Irving. Also included in the collection are notebooks and sketchbooks of James Baker, as well as a manuscript copy of &quor;Dowry Square" by Ethel Winifred Baker.

James Baker was born son of James Baker on 1 January 1847. He was educated informally by his father, and spent his childhood travelling extensively throughout Europe, Russia, and Africa. Later in life, he made a special study of Bohemia, and was awarded the Great Silver Medal of Prague for his literary work in 1908. Also in 1908, he was made a Knight of the Imperial Order of Francis Joseph. He was honorary secretary of the British International Association of Journalists from 1906 until his death, and of the International Press Conference from 1911 until his death. He wrote regularly for a great number of magazines, and published prose, poetry, and non-fiction including lectures which he read to troops at the front during the Great War. He was married to Agnes Anne Hallett, with whom he had three sons and three daughters. His principal published works include Quiet War Scenes: Poems and Translations (1879), Pictures from Bohemia (1894), and The Gleaming Dawn (1896). He died in Clifton, Bristol, in 1920.

Accessible to all bona fide readers.

Given to the University of Bristol Library in 1963.

Compiled by Martin Hall, Assistant Archivist, University of Bristol Information Services - Special Collections.

Extensive typescript catalogue including details of correspondents available in the University of Bristol Information Services - Special Collections.

Permission to copy material must be obtained from the University of Bristol Information Services - Special Collections.

See DM 441 - Ethel Winifred Baker Collection.