William Baker, engraver, stationer, printer, lithographer and publisher, arrived in the colony of New South Wales about 1834. An advertisement appears in the Australian newspaper (24 February 1835): 2, advertising that 'William Baker lately arrived in the colony, respectfully announces to the public that he has commenced business as an engraver ... at the corner of King and Castlereagh streets, where any commands for Lithographic and Copperplate Printing, will be executed in the best manner.' A 'Card' in the Commercial and General Advertiser (9 May 1838): 1, thanks ‘the Ladies and Gentlemen of New South Wales for the very liberal support bestowed on him since his arrival in the Colony (now four years)’. His ‘established Engraving and Copper-plate Printing Office’ is at 19 King–street East.
By 1841 Baker is operating as a printer, publisher and bookseller as 'William Baker of the Hibernian Printing Office and Australian Stationery Warehouse'. He also published almanacs. In an advertisement entitled ‘Christmas Pieces’, Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser (23 November 1841): 3, Baker’s Sydney Almanack and Pocket Companion for 1842 is advertised as ‘in the Press, and will be published in a few days’.
In the Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser (21 May 1842): 3 Baker advertises his business removal: ‘William Baker Engraver, Lithographer, Stationer, etc, in returning his sincere thanks to the Public for the patronage that has been extended to him during the last eight years, begs to acquaint them that [he has] now removed into those spacious Premises recently occupied by Mr Moses Brown, King-street East (opposite Mr Stubbs’ Auction Mart)’ In the 1840s he seems to have begun publishing as the Hibernian Press. An advertisement in the Australian (2 September 1845): 2, announces ‘this day is published ... Liechardt’s Grave, ‘poet, Robert Lynd ... Composer, I. Nathan, ... William Baker, Hibernian Press, King-street’.
Baker operated a circulating library during the 1840s. An advertisement in the Sydney Morning Herald (15 December 1846): 1, advertises books received for Baker’s Circulating Library along with almanacs and diaries published by the Hibernian Press, King-street East.
The depression of the 1840s was probably difficult for Baker. A notice of creditors of Mr William Baker, Bookseller and Publisher, is advertised in the Sydney Morning Herald (24 December 1847): 4. Insolvency notices in the 1840s show monies owning to Baker by others and advertisements in late 1847 for his sheet and pocket almanacs for 1848 announce a reduction in price (Sydney Morning Herald (23 November 1847): 1.) However Baker seems to have been able to continue in business.
In an advertisement in the Australian (7 September 1848): 2 headed ‘Hibernian Printing Office and General Stationery Warehouse Established in 1835’, William Baker thanks friends and public ‘for the patronage which he has received at their hands during the last thirteen years. He describes his new premises as ‘situated in King-street East lately occupied by Mr Hordern, (no. 117)’ An earlier advertisement had advertised his removal to 117 King-street East (Sydney Morning Herald (24 April 1848): 1).
In an advertisement for Baker’s almanacs published in the Maitland Mercury and Hunter River Advertiser (25 December 1852): 3, Baker states ‘W. B. takes this public mode of returning his sincere thanks to the public for past favors [sic] conferred on him during the period of eighteen years which he has resided and carried on his trade in this city'. His address is ‘William Baker, Engraver and Publisher, Hibernian Printing Office, Parramatta-street, Sydney, opposite Tooth’s Brewery’. Many of Baker’s advertisements comment on the number of years he has been in business.
On 16 January 1857 W. K. Child of Mount Vincent, New South Wales, sent a letter to Henry Garvin, Chief Constable, Maitland. The letter was quoted in Sydney newspapers. ‘This morning, about eleven o’clock, a man was found lying dead on the public road, near the church ... There has been found on him a quantity of sheet almanacks ... He appears to be known, and was seen in Maitland on Wednesday selling almanacks. The picture of the publisher is like him. Perhaps his name is William Baker.’ Subsequent reports including that of the Sydney Morning Herald (21 January 1857), state that the body was found to be that of ‘Mr William Baker of Sydney, well-known as the proprietor of the Hibernian Printing Office ...The death was caused by apoplexy.’ Baker, according to the death notice in the Sydney Morning Herald of 21 January, was 49. He was probably on the road selling his 1857 Almanac which had been announced as published in November 1856. (‘Baker’s Go-A-Head Almanac for 1857’, Freeman’s Journal (29 November 1856): 2)
The newspaper report on Baker’s death, published on 20 January 1857 in the Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser, give a biography for him. ‘Mr Baker, we learn, was a native of Ireland, and arrived in this colony in his 24th year. Since then, twenty-five years, he has been a very persevering and industrious man ; and a slight tinge of eccentricity, with a love for taking part in the formation of numerous friendly societies, have made him widely known and respected. He leaves a widow and seven children (several out of a large family having died.)’ A notice in the Empire 4 February 1857 asks for assistance for the widow and orphans of William Baker.
Baker’s Responsible Weather Almanac 1858 was, according to ‘Almanacs for 1858’, Empire (6 January 1858): 5, published by ‘William Baker jun., Ashfield’. One or more of Baker’s sons, although not necessarily called William, may have continued to publish almanacs to 1873.
