William “Strata” Smith (1769 – 1839)
William Smith 1769-1839 is buried in a grave by the west door of St Peter’s Church and in the church there is a fine bust by the sculptor Matthew Noble, commissioned in his memory by Prof Buckland, Professor of Geology at Oxford University and Smith’s friends, to commemorate his contribution to the science of geology.
William Smith died while visiting his good friends George Baker (1781–1851), the historian, and Anne Baker (1786-1861), the natural historian and philologist who lived at Hazlerigg House in Marefair.
Smith was born in Churchill, Oxfordshire and trained as a surveyor before becoming a canal and drainage engineer and mineral surveyor where he identified the significance of fossils to geological beds and so was able to publish the first geological map of England in 1814, developed from County maps of which one is the unpublished map of Northamptonshire which is held in his archive at the Natural History Museum in Oxford.
Smith’s link with Anne Baker may have been through her knowledge of and collection of Northamptonshire fossils and her interest in the Natural History of Northamptonshire by John Morton published in 1712.
George Baker (1781-1851)
Born in Northampton in 1781. While still at school, at the age of 13, he wrote a manuscript history of Northampton, and from that time he was always engaged in enlarging his collections. Much of his life’s work was spent researching and compiling his multivolume The History and Antiquities of the County of Northampton. It was a project that he was never able to complete. Although five volumes were published his library and manuscripts were sold off at auction in 1842.
Baker was a nonconformist and Unitarian, he took a deep interest in various local institutions and was a magistrate for the borough of Northampton. He was not married. A sister, Miss Anne Elizabeth Baker, was his constant companion for more than sixty years. He died at his residence, Haselrige House, Marefair, Northampton, on 12 October 1851.
Anne Elizabeth Baker(1786-1861)
Anne Elizabeth Baker, born in Northampton was a philologist (historical linguistics), historian and illustrator.
She was the sister of George Baker, the historian of Northamptonshire, and to her his work owes its geology and botany. Miss Baker was the companion on her brother’s journeys, as a literary and artistic assistant, and his fellow labourer, especially in natural history, and she made drawings and even engraved some of the plates for his publication. During her travels through the county, she compiled her Glossary of Northamptonshire Words and Phrases.
