John (“Jack”) Bellyse Baker
29 November 1915 to 3 June 2010
BAK00175
|
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The Bakers of Highfields Story
The Story of the Dods and Bakers and of Highfields,
Fenton House and Hasfield Court. A journey through the history of Cheshire
and Staffordshire, an Anglo-Saxon nobleman who retained his lands after the
Conquest, pottery at Stoke on Trent, an encounter with Elgar, and the history
of an Elizabethan manor house at Audlem |
The family tree of the Bakers of Highfields |
The Family Tree of the Dods, predecessors to the
Bakers of Highfields |
The Bakers of Fenton House and Hasfield
Court
The Family Tree of the pottery Bakers of Stoke on Trent |
The Family Tree of the Bellyse Family |
The main part
of this website tells the story of the Farndale family from Yorkshire Descendants of Arthur Baker, the story of the
Farndale ancestry is told through the main part of this website You can also return to the Farndale
website home page |
The genealogy of the family of James Hall, linked to
the Baker family through marriage to Arthur Baker |
Headlines of Jack
Baker’s life are in brown.
Dates are in red.
Hyperlinks to
other pages are in dark
blue.
References and
citations are in turquoise.
Context and local
history are in purple.
1915
John Baker was the only child of
Bellyse and Lilian (nee Crosland) Baker (BAK00165). He was born on 29 November
1915. (Birth Certificate of John
Bellyse Baker, 1915, Baker Records 122). He
was baptised at Audlem on 16 January 1916 (Audlem
Parish Records).
1921
Bellyse Baker, 35, born in
Wanganui, New Zealand, worked for Parr Baker & Co; Lily Baker, 35, born
Blackpool, with John Bellyse Baker, 5 and Richmal Baker, 63 lived at
Holly Bank, Altrincham Road, Wilmslow, Cheshire (1921 Census).
Jack was educated at Pownall
School.
1930
Before the Second World War he was
a salesman in his father's cotton manufacturing firm.
1937
(Letter from George Forester Knight to John Bellyse
Baker, 1937, Baker Records 130)
1939
(1939 Register)
1946
Jack wrote a letter about William
Baker and Ludlow to Country Life in 1946 (Baker,
J Bellyse (1946), Ludlow: Architect of the Butter Cross in
Correspondence, Country Life, 8 March 1946, page 448).
(Letter from Arthur Oswald, Assistant Editor of
Country Life regarding the notebook of William Baker, 1946, Baker Records 139)
(Notebook 1946 onwards written by J B Baker and
Josephine May Baker, Baker Records 120)
(Letter from A W Boyd to John Bellyse Baker, 1946,
Baker Records 133)
1947
Jack inherited Highfields, Audlem, from his father in
1947. Bellyse Baker died in 1947, when the property passed to his only son
John Bellyse Baker (Baker, J Bellyse (1982), Highfields,
Audlem: Sixteenth Century Home of the Dod and Baker Families, Audlem
District History Society, page 30).
(JC Wolley Dod of Edge to John Bellyse Baker, 2
letters, 1947, Baker Records, 83)
1951
(Letter from HH Colvier to
J B Baker, 16 September 1951, regarding William Baker born 1705, Baker Records,
108)
1952
Jack Baker married
Josephine May (“Jo”) (1929-2016), the only
daughter of Joseph Henry Henderson of Roseneath, Wilmslow, Cheshire on 4
October 1952.
(Certificate of Marriage between John Bellyse Baker
and Josephine May Henderson, 1952, Baker Records, 115, Birth Certificate of Mrs
Josephine May Henderson, 1929, Baker Records 118)
They had two children, John
Bellyse Baker (BAK00190)
and Josephine Charity Baker (BAK00191).
(Birth Certificate of Josephine Charity Baker 1960,
Baker Records, 116)
(Wilmslow and Alderley and Knutsford Advertiser, 8
February 1952)
1954
(Letter from Sir Winston Curtchill, 9 December 1954,
Baker Records 124)
1955
Jack and Jo Baker, photographed in
the drawing room of Highfields in 1955
1969
Audlem’s first pageant was
performed at Highfields on Thursday 24 July 1969. The event was initiated by
the Audlem’s Women’s Institute to mark its golden jubilee. John Burton was the
pageant master and wrote the script. There was a cast of 150 adults and
children. The BBC’s Judith Chalmers narrated.
A red letter
day for Highfields and for Audlem was Thursday, 24th July 1969, when the
Women's Institute organised a “Pageant of Audlem”, using the house and grounds
as its setting. It was written and produced by John Burton, whose family for
many years owned Kingbur Mill on Audlem canal wharf,
now converted into an attractive canal shop. Many local
residents took part in the various scenes, which traced the history of
the town from its early days when a charter to hold a weekly market was granted
by the then squire, Sir Thomas Audelyme. The writer played this part, on a
grand little hunter named Felix. A chorus of Combermere
Abbey monks was followed by the arrival of Prince Rupert, who is supposed to
have visited Highfields in 1644 with a detachment of royalist cavalry. Light
relief was provided in a scene depicting the elopement of John Bellyse and
Hannah Baker. The former, played by the son of the then vicar of Wybunbury, arrived with a ladder, two assistants, and a
sedan chair. The scene ended when the father, played by the Audlem police
constable, Stan Smith, sped the loving couple on their way with both barrels of
his blunderbuss! The commentary for this stirring pageant was delivered by
Judith Chalmers of the BBC. Members of the North Staffordshire Hunt performed
noble work as mounted Cavaliers.
Hounds have met at Highfields at
regular intervals over the years, and the Cheshire Beagles hold an annual meet
with the cooperation of the local farmers. The most recent notable event in the
life of Highfields was an emulation of the BBC Antiques Roadshow, when a panel
of experts valued antiques brought along by visitors.
(Baker, J Bellyse (1982), Highfields, Audlem: Sixteenth
Century Home of the Dod and Baker Families,
Audlem District History Society, page 32).
1982
Jack is the author of Highfields, Audlem, 1982.
Today an upstairs room [at Highfields] has been turned
into a natural history museum to house the many cabinets of exhibits collected by
the writer’s father and himself. An attic room contains an extensive 00 gauge model railway system, with many scenic effects,
depicting the old Great Western, which once used to be the main means of
transport to and from Audlem. Its green engines with their highly polished
brass work and high sounding names were great
favourites in their day. Lord Mildmay of Fleet was one of those locomotives
which regularly visited Audlem in the 1920s. (Baker, J Bellyse
(1982), Highfields, Audlem:
Sixteenth Century Home of the Dod and Baker Families, Audlem
District History Society, page 31).
A new chapter will soon be opened.
The Ministry of Works has agreed to help towards essential restoration,
the house being scheduled as a Grade 1 property. Highfields, which is now
jointly owned by the author and his son, will then be opened to the public on
certain days and should be safe for the foreseeable future. (Baker, J Bellyse (1982), Highfields, Audlem: Sixteenth
Century Home of the Dod and Baker Families,
Audlem District History Society, page 32).
Portrait of
Jack Baker (Highfields)
Portrait
of Jo Baker (Highfields)
1987
Jack and Jo Baker at their son’s
wedding Jack Baker with her cousin
Peggy (nee Baker) Farndale at Highfields
1991
Jack Baker’s foxhunting cartoon at
Highfields, 1991
1996
Jack and Jo Baker with their
family in 1996 (From Audlem, The History of a
Cheshire Parish and its five townships,
1997)
2010
Jack Baker died on 3 June
2010, aged 94 (Probate Records). His funeral was held at St
James the Great, Audlem on 14 June 2010.
2016
Jo Baker died on 2 July
2016.