Life

David Erskine Baker was the son of Henry Baker

Henry Baker (naturalist)

Henry Baker was an English naturalist.-Life:He was born in Chancery Lane, London, 8 May 1698, the son of William Baker, a clerk in chancery. In his fifteenth year he was apprenticed to John Parker, a bookseller...

, F.R.S., and his wife, the youngest daughter of Daniel Defoe

Daniel Defoe

Daniel Defoe , born Daniel Foe, was an English trader, writer, journalist, and pamphleteer, who gained fame for his novel Robinson Crusoe. Defoe is notable for being one of the earliest proponents of the novel, as he helped to popularise the form in Britain and along with others such as Richardson,...

. Baker was born in the parish of St Dunstan-in-the-West

St Dunstan-in-the-West

The Guild Church of St Dunstan-in-the-West is in Fleet Street in London, England. An octagonal-shaped building, it is dedicated to a former bishop of London and archbishop of Canterbury.-History:...

 in the City of London, on 30 January 1730, and named after his godfather, David Erskine, 9th Earl of Buchan. When he showed a taste for mathematics, John Montagu, 2nd Duke of Montagu

John Montagu, 2nd Duke of Montagu

John Montagu, 2nd Duke of Montagu, KG, KB, PC , styled Viscount Monthermer until 1705 and Marquess of Monthermer between 1705 and 1709, was a British peer...

, master of the ordnance, placed him in the drawing room of the Tower of London

Tower of London

Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, more commonly known as the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, separated from the eastern edge of the City of London by the open space...

, to qualify him for the duties of a royal engineer. In a letter of 1747 to Philip Doddridge

Philip Doddridge

Philip Doddridge DD was an English Nonconformist leader, educator, and hymnwriter.-Early life:...

 his father wrote

At twelve years old, he had translated the whole twenty-four books of "Telemachus" from the French; before he was fifteen he translated from the Italian, and published, a treatise on physic of Dr. Cocchi of Florence concerning the diet and doctrines of Pythagoras, and last year, before he was seventeen, he likewise published a treatise of Sir Isaac Newton

Isaac Newton

Sir Isaac Newton PRS was an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher, alchemist, and theologian, who has been "considered by many to be the greatest and most influential scientist who ever lived."...

's "Metaphysics" compared with those of Dr. Leibniz, from the French of M. Voltaire

Voltaire

François-Marie Arouet , better known by the pen name Voltaire , was a French Enlightenment writer, historian and philosopher famous for his wit and for his advocacy of civil liberties, including freedom of religion, free trade and separation of church and state...

'

Communications from David Erskine Baker were printed in the Philosophical Transactions, but he married the actress Elizabeth Clendon, and joined a company of actors. In 1764 he published his Companion to the Play House. A revised edition, under the title of Biographia Dramatica, appeared in 1782, edited by Isaac Reed

Isaac Reed

Isaac Reed was an English Shakespearean editor.-Life:The son of a baker, he was born in London. He was articled to a solicitor, and eventually set up as a conveyancer at Staple Inn, where he had a large practice.-Works:...

. In the second edition, Baker's name is given among the list of dramatic authors, and we are told that 'being adopted by an uncle who was a silk throwster in Spital Fields

Spitalfields

Spitalfields is a former parish in the borough of Tower Hamlets, in the East End of London, near to Liverpool Street station and Brick Lane. The area straddles Commercial Street and is home to many markets, including the historic Old Spitalfields Market, founded in the 17th century, Sunday...

, he succeeded him in his business; but wanting the prudence and attention which are necessary to secure success in trade he soon failed'. In compiling his Companion Baker was largely indebted to Gerard Langbaine

Gerard Langbaine

Gerard Langbaine was an English dramatic biographer and critic, best known for his An Account of the English Dramatic Poets , the earliest work to give biographical and critical information on the playwrights of English Renaissance theatre...

. He adds little concerning the early dramatists. but his work is useful for the history of the stage during the first half of the eighteenth century.

He also wrote a small dramatic piece, 'The Muse of Ossian,' 1763, and translated an Italian comedy in two acts, 'The Maid the Mistress' (La Serva Padrona) which was performed at Edinburgh in 1763 and printed the same year.

Stephen Jones

Stephen Jones (editor)

Stephen Jones was an English literary editor, best known for his revision of the Biographia Dramatica.-Life:Eldest son of Giles Jones, secretary to the York Buildings Water Company, and nephew of Griffith Jones , he was born in London in 1763, and admitted to St Paul's School, London on 24 April...

, editor of the third edition of the Companion (1812), says that he died in obscurity at Edinburgh about 1770, while John Nichols

John Nichols (printer)

John Nichols was an English printer, author and antiquary.-Early life and apprenticeship:He was born in Islington, London to Edward Nichols and Anne Wilmot. On 22 June 1766 he married Anne Cradock daughter of William Cradock...

gives 16 February 1767 as the date of his death in his Literary Anecdotes.