Richard Thomas Baker

{{Short description|Australian economic botanist, museum curator and educator}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

'''Richard Thomas Baker''' (1 December 1854 – 14 July 1941) was an Australian economic [[Botany|botanist]], museum curator and educator.

==Early life== Baker was born in [[Woolwich]], [[England]], son of Richard Thomas Baker, a blacksmith, and his wife Sarah, née Colkett. The boy was educated at Woolwich National School and Peterborough Training Institution, later gaining science and art certificates from [[South Kensington Museum]].

He was engaged as a senior assistant-master by the School Board for London in 1875 but resigned in July 1879 to emigrate to Australia.<ref name="ADB">{{cite book |chapter-url=https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/baker-richard-thomas-5108 |title=Baker, Richard Thomas (1854 - 1941) |access-date=2008-01-31 |author=J. L. Willis |chapter=Richard Thomas Baker (1854–1941) |work=[[Australian Dictionary of Biography]], Volume 7 |publisher=[[Melbourne University Press|MUP]] |year=1979 |pages=154–155}}</ref>

==Career in Australia== On 15 January 1888 Baker was appointed assistant curator to [[Joseph Henry Maiden]] at the [[Powerhouse Museum|Technological Museum]].<ref name="ADB" />

Baker published a small book, ''Building and Ornamental Stones of New South Wales'' (1908), and, again in collaboration with Henry Smith, another valuable piece of research, ''A Research on the Pines of Australia'' (1910).

==Later life and legacy== Baker was awarded the [[Mueller Medal]] by the [[Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science]] in 1921,<ref>[https://archive.today/20090925233041/http://anzaas.org.au/mueller.html ANZAAS > Mueller Medal Recipients (1904-2005)] archive.is Retrieved 12 February 2025.</ref> and the [[Clarke Medal]] of the [[Royal Society of New South Wales]] in 1922. He collected both old and modern china and in 1938 joined the [[Royal Australian Historical Society]]. Baker died at [[Cheltenham, New South Wales]] on 14 July 1941 and was buried in [[Rookwood Cemetery]].<ref name="ADB" />

== Selected publications ==

* {{Cite Q|Q108332528}} * {{Cite Q|Q108332690}} *{{Cite Q|Q108332778}} *{{Cite Q|Q51424204}} *{{Cite Q|Q108333008}} *{{Cite Q|Q108333132}} {{botanist|R.T.Baker|Baker, Richard Thomas}}

==See also== {{scholia}} [[:Category:Taxa named by Richard Thomas Baker|Taxa named by Richard Thomas Baker]]

==References== {{reflist}} *{{Dictionary of Australian Biography|First=Robert Thomas|Last=Baker|shortlink=0-dict-biogBa.html#baker2}}

{{s-start}} {{s-ach|aw}} {{s-bef|before=[[Joseph James Fletcher]]}} {{s-ttl|title=[[Clarke Medal]]|years=1922}} {{s-aft|after=[[Walter Baldwin Spencer]]}} {{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baker, Richard Thomas}} [[Category:1854 births]] [[Category:1941 deaths]] [[Category:20th-century Australian botanists]] [[Category:Staff of Newington College]] [[Category:19th-century Australian botanists]] [[Category:British emigrants to the Colony of New South Wales]]