William Baker of Audlem

William Baker
The Buttercross, Broad Street, Ludlow 1743-4
Born	1705 London
Died	1771 Audlem, Cheshire
Nationality	British
Alma mater	Possibly a pupil of Francis Smith of Warwick
Occupation	Architect
Buildings	Montgomery Town Hall, The Buttermarket Ludlow,

William Baker of Audlem (1705–1771) was an architect, surveyor and building contractor, working in Shropshire and the adjacent counties in the middle years of the 18th Century.

He was the son of Richard Baker, who had moved from London to Ludlow. In 1737 he married Jane Dod of Audlem and for a time lived at Bridgnorth. In the 1740s his wife inherited Highfields House and they moved to Audlem.

Baker was employed by the noted architect Francis Smith of Warwick in the 1730s. His account book for the years 1748–59 survives, which provides information about his architectural and surveying practice. The house in which he lived at Highfields was the subject of an article in Country Life, where a portrait of the architect survives.

Baker was well grounded in the fashionable architecture of the early 18th Century, having first worked for Francis Smith of Warwick. He is mentioned as working as a carpenter for Smith at Ditchley in Oxfordshire in 1727. He set up his own practice around 1740 and also acted as a building contractor and surveyor. Initially he developed the practice in eastern Shropshire and Staffordshire and continued to work for many of clients of Francis Smith after Smith’s death in 1738. Houses by Smith which Baker continued to work on included Mawley Hall in Shropshire, Swynerton Hall in Derbyshire and Wingerworth Hall in Derbyshire. He always had a close relationship with the innovative Shrewsbury architect Thomas Farnolls Pritchard. In 1743 at Ludlow, both Prichard and Baker put forward plans for the Buttercross, but it was Baker who was selected to do the work. In 1746 Baker was paid for the plans and work at the Royal Shrewsbury Infirmary, but the plans are signed by Thomas Farnolls Pritchard. It is likely that Pritchard was working under Baker on this project. Again for the building of St John’s Church, Wolverhampton it is likely that Pritchard was the supervising architect working under Baker. In 1775-5, after Baker’s death, Pritchard continued Baker’s survey work at Powis Castle.

Most notably Baker gained the patronage of Henry Arthur Herbert (1703–72), who became Earl of Powis in 1748