556 Ifcfnss of tbe TCofc, Iftifle, anfc (Bun 



plight of his conqueror, rehoisted his flag and sailed 

 away. But the next day he was captured by an English 

 frigate and taken into Portsmouth. Thither Valentine 

 Baker also steered his course to refit, and on seeing 

 the French frigate claimed her as his prize. The French 

 captain, when he realised how vastly inferior in strength 

 was the vessel to which he had struck his flag, was so 

 mortified that he blew out his brains. The merchants 

 of Bristol showed their appreciation of their fellow- 

 citizen's valour by presenting him with a handsome 

 silver vase bearing this inscription : 



Presented to Captain Valentine Baker by the Merchants 

 and Insurers of Bristol for gallantly defending the ship Ccesar 

 against a French sloop of war greatly superior in force to his 

 own ship and beating her off on June 27th, 1782. 



The son of this gallant sailor, Samuel Baker, added 

 greatly to the wealth and status of the family. He 

 became one of the wealthiest merchants in Bristol, 

 owned rich sugar plantations in Jamaica and Mauritius, 

 was master of a fleet of trading ships, a director of the 

 Great Western Railway, and chairman of the Gloucester- 

 shire Bank. He had a fine country mansion at Lypiatt 

 Park, and a stately town house in London. It was at 

 the latter that his eldest son, Samuel White Baker, was 

 born on June 8th, 1821. 



Samuel the younger is described by his tutor as " of 

 the Saxon type, a noble-looking boy, with a very fair 

 complexion, light hair, and fearless blue eyes." His 

 education was desultory, and he was left pretty much to 

 his own devices. Like all genuine English boys of the 

 right sort, he was mischievous, plucky, and pugnacious. 



