​BAKER, Sir JOHN (d. 1558), chancellor of the exchequer, is said to have been of a Kentish family; but, as Lodge says, 'his pedigree at the College of Arms begins with his own name' (Illust. of English History, 2nd edition, i. 60). He was bred for the law. In 1526 he was joined with Henry Standish, bishop of St. Asaph, in an embassy sent to Denmark. Not long afterwards he was elected speaker of the House of Commons, and subsequently appointed attorney-general and a member of the privy council. In 1545 he was made chancellor of the exchequer. Lodge states that Baker was distinguished by being the only privy councillor who refused to put his name to the 'Device for the Succession,' which Edward VI drew up when on his death-bed, and which was designed to exclude the princesses Mary and Elizabeth from the succession. This statement is refuted by the fact that Baker's name appears at the foot both of this document and of the 'Letters patent for the limitation of the Crown' which were subsequently issued (see the publication of both by Mr. J. G. Nichols in his Queen Jane and Queen Mary, Camden Soc.). Baker continued in his office until his death in December 1558. Almost his last employment in the service of the state was upon a commission appointed in March 1558 to see to the defences of the country. He married Elizabeth, daughter and heir of Thomas Dinely, and widow of George Barret, Esq.; he had an estate at Sisinghurst, Kent; and was grandfather of the chronicler, Sir Richard Baker [q. v.]

C. F. K.