Frances Martha Shaw (1828–1893) married Frederick Augustus Baker (1827-1872) in 1854
Rev Frederick Augustus Baker was vicar of Godmanstone, Dorset. He was the son of George Baker (1790-1929) and Sarah Cochrane (died 1833). George Baker was a woollen merchant in Leeds but is recorded as having gone bankrupt in 1817.
Frederick and Frances had nine children. The 1871 census shows the entire family resident in Clifton, Bristol. Frederick Augustus died a year later and Frances and Frederick's children moved on to live in India, Germany, Canada and the USA.
1. Robert Alfred Baker (1856-1884)
Robert Alfred Baker was a Lieutenant in the 19th Bengal Lancers. He died unmarried in an accident in Rawalpindi.
2. George Lowbridge Baker (1858-1900) married Bertha Maude Beatrice Walker (1862-1925) in Glebe, New South Wales, Australia in 1887.
Bertha Maude Beatrice Walker was the daughter of Thomas Osborne Walker (1822-1891) and Cecilia Hitchcock (1825-1876). She trained as a nurse at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney.
George Lowbridge Baker RN was a naval surgeon. He trained in Edinburgh and was a surgeon and obstetrician in Westminster Hospital before retiring to Jersey, where he died.
The middle name Lowbridge would appear to come from Dorothy Lowbridge, who married Robert Bright, Lord of the Manor of Brockbury. Their daughter, Mary Bright, married John Innes Baker, Rev Frederick Augustus Baker’s grandfather. One of Rev Frederick Augustus Baker’s executors named in his will was Rev Robert Lowbridge Baker, long-standing and respected vicar of Ramsden, Oxfordshire and a cousin to Rev Frederick Augustus Baker.
Shortly after George's death Bertha remarried. Her new husband was Royal Navy Commander Ewen Francis Domville (1851-1912).
George and Bertha had one son.
2.1 Alfred George Innes Baker (born 1888) married Mabel Emma Milner (1885-1972) in Haringey in 1918.
Mabel's parents were Joseph Stanley Milner (1841-1901), who worked in the printing industry, and Emma Hartery (born 1849).
Alfred George Innes Baker signed up to join the Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Force in 1914. His occupation was recorded as "Rancher". His 1918 marriage record described him as a soldier. No further information found.
3. Alice Baker (1860-1943) married Martin John Pizey (1859-1914) in Bath in 1896.
Martin John Pizey, sometimes known as John Martin Pizey, was the son of Dr George Pizey (1820-1886) and Julia Shipton (1834-1912). George Pizey was a surgeon living in Clevedon, Somerset, where Pizey Avenue was named after him.
Martin John was an architect; Drake and Pizey was a Bristol based architectural practice responsible for the design of some significant buildings in Bristol as well as Swindon’s first theatre.
Alice and Martin John lived in Cotham, Bristol. They had two sons.
3.1 Noel Martin Pizey (1899-1917)
Noel Martin Pizey was another casualty in the First World War. He was a Second Lieutenant in the Royal Flying Corps. He died in Flanders in 1917.
https://www.twgpp.org/photograph/view/1982989
3. 2 Roy Martin Pizey (1900-1985) married Barbara Helen Gilbert (1910-1999) in Calcutta in 1929.
Barbara Helen Gilbert was the daughter of Harry Gilbert (1874-1942) and Barbara Helen Finlayson Lennox (1883-1970). Harry Gilbert was a tea planter in India.
Roy Martin Pizey was also a tea planter living in Assam, India. During the Second World War he was a V Force commander (Indian Army Emergency Commission) operating in the Ledo area of Assam.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V_Force
Roy Martin Pizey and his wife retired to Devon.
4. Ellen Baker (1861-1948) married Gottlieb Gottlob Towler (1861-1892) in Germany in 1883.
It would be interesting to know more Gottlieb Towler.
There exists a baptism certificate. This states that he was baptized in Augsburg, Bavaria on 28th April 1862 having been born on 28th October 1861. His mother is recorded as Anna Towler. There is no father's name and it is recorded that he was illegitimate. There are papers in the possession of a descendent stating that Gottlieb was born in Teignmouth, Devon and his father was Major Reginald Heber Towler, a British citizen. Gottlieb secured a British passport in 1883, the year of his marriage. Gottlieb appears to have lived in Germany for most of his life. On his daughter' marriage certificate his occupation is recorded as Doctor of Philosophy.
Gottlieb's father, Reginald Heber Towler (1838-1880), was born in Chorlton, Lancashire, the son of John Towler (1811-1889), a 'classical teacher', and Mary Ann Clayton (born 1812). There is evidence that Reginald spent some time living in Germany as a young man but his adult life was spent in the United States. He graduated from Geneva Medical College in 1867 at a time when his father was the Dean. He became a Major in the US Army and died in service at Whipple Barracks, Arizona. He married Nancy Louise Potter (1839-1887) in Geneva, New York State, on 8th September 1863. I don't know what became of Gottlieb's mother.
Reginald's father, Dr John Towler, worked as a private tutor in Germany. He moved to the United States in about 1850 to take up a teaching post and in 1852 he was appointed Professor of Modern Languages at Hobart College. However, he didn't just teach modern languages and this account of his career suggests he was the ultimate polymath:
https://www.hws.edu/alum/dfa/towler.aspx
Dr John Towler married Caroline Lilli Wagner (1829-1821) and fathered four more children while in the United States. I don't know what became of Reginald's mother.
Ellen and Gottlieb had four children. Less than 10 years into their marriage, in 1892, Gottlieb Towler died in Stuttgart. At some point Ellen returned to the UK where she died in Surrey after more than 50 years of widowhood.
4.1 Reginald Alfred Gottlieb Towler, known as Rex, (1884-1963) married Cecilia Lawrence Christie (1890-1950) in Rawalpindi in 1911.
Cecilia Lawrence Christie was born in India, the daughter of Lawrence Christie (1854-1911) and Cecilia Thompson (1856-1940). Lawrence Christie was a wine merchant; after he died in India his wife returned to the UK.
Rex Towler is described at different times as a book keeper, accountant and merchant.
In 1905 he was hoping to secure a position in the Indian Civil Service with a letter of recommendation from his mother’s cousin, Sir Francis Younghusband. “Sir Francis Younghusband wishes to certify that Mr Rex Towler is steady, hard-working, reliable and conscientious and as he has received some years training in a large banking establishment is well-fitted for an appointment to the Financial Dept. of the Government of India.”
Rex Towler spent the last years of his live in Cornwall. After the death of his first wife he married Doris Hanna Cunningham (nee Glegg-Smith) (1908-1997) in Bath in 1953. She was the widow of Lieutenant Commander John George Stuart Cunningham (1908-1940), who was killed on active service in the Eastern Mediterranean in 1940.
4.2 Kenneth Francis Towler (1885-1971) married Margaret Tomlinson Dickens (born 1886) in Massachusetts, USA in 1909.
Margaret was the daughter of James Dickens (1862-1945) and Jessie Dunbar (1860-1908). He was an electrician. They emigrated from Scotland shortly before Margaret was born.
Kenneth Francis Towler was born in Bristol but emigrated to the US when he was 20 years old. Starting in Massachusetts he moved on to Illinois and then San Francisco. He died in San Francisco but is buried in Evanston, Illinois. His occupation is recorded as Accountant, Treasurer and Executive in census records.
In 1953 Kenneth married Clara Theresa Ballweg (1913-2010) in Evanston, Cook, Illinois. Prior to her marriage she was a nurse in North Chicago. She died in San Francisco at the age of 97.
4.3 Sibyl Edythe Towler (1886-1969) married Thomas Keith Welsh (1878-1936) in Portsmouth in 1911.
Sibyl was born in Stuttgart. Thomas Keith Welsh was the son of William Keith Ball Welsh (1851-1921) and Alice Matilda Long (1861-1934). William Keith Ball Welsh was a medical doctor.
Thomas Keith Welsh was a master mariner. Based in Singapore he worked on cable ships laying submarine communications cables. During the First World War the British successfully cut German cables and protecting British cables was a priority. Thomas Keith Welsh was awarded WW1 Merchant Seamen Campaign Medals in recognition of his service.
4.4 Harold Frederick Towler (1890-1964) married Mary Hilda Patterson (1887-1948) in Tynemouth in 1914.
Mary was the daughter of William Patterson (1845-1916), a station master, and Mary Ann Williamson (1850-1913).
Harold was born in Stuttgart. He appears in a 1911 census as naval officer (reserve) residing in Portsmouth with his mother and sister. Harold appears to have first been a merchant seaman, then a Royal Navy officer rising to the rank of Flight Lieutenant in the Royal Navy Air Services, later to become the RAF.
Harold has some claim to fame; in November 1915 he became the first British pilot to successfully take off a landplane from the deck of an aircraft carrier. He had only obtained his aviator's certificate in July 1915. There is further information here:
https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205374728
Unlike many of his Royal Naval Air Service contemporaries Harold survived the First World War. In 1924 he and Mary set sail for India where they stayed for several years before retiring to the Sussex coast.
5. Marion Baker (1862-1952) married John Horndon Parry (1863-1954) in Walton in Gordano, Somerset in 1891.
Rev John Horndon Parry was the son of Major John Hordon Parry (1841-1910) and Sophia Morant-Gale (1830-1886).
John Horndon Parry was an Indian Army chaplain, serving in Burma and India between 1891 and 1915 before retiring to Devon. His younger brother, Edward Morant Horndon Parry, married Marion’s younger sister, Edith Augusta Baker.
Marion and John Horndon Parry had a son who died in infancy and one daughter.
5.1 Morant John Horndon Parry (1898-1898) - died in Burma when one month old.
5.2 Joyce Marion Horndon Parry (1900-1979)
Joyce never married. It appears she was caring for her parents and continued living in Devon after their deaths.
6. Francis Shaw Baker (1864–1949)
Francis Shaw Baker (1864-1949) married a widow, Harriet (known as Hattie) Wesley Read (nee Lewis) (1856-1950), in Grimsby, Ontario, Canada in 1890. His brother Henry (Harry) Frederick was a witness. Francis Shaw’s occupation at the time of his marriage was bank clerk. Harriet Wesley was the daughter of John Wesley Lewis (1812-1902) and Sara Ann Nixon (1823-1906).
Francis and Harriet divorced and in 1917 she married James Bond Clarke (1850-1926).
In 1903 Francis Shaw married Emily Sophia Dakin (born 1875) in Somerville, Massachusetts, USA. She was the daughter of Robert Dakin and Elizabeth Smith. He and Emily were living in Montana in 1910. They later moved on to California, where Francis Shaw became a naturalised American. He died in Alameda.
7. Henry (known as Harry) Frederick Baker (1865–1955) married Mary Elizabeth Nelles (1869-1946) in Grimsby, Ontario in 1895.
Mary Elizabeth Nelles was born in Grimsby, Ontario, the daughter of Cyrus Sumner Nelles (1835-1924) and Emily Isabelle Millard (1835-1922). They are commemorated by a stain glass window at St. Andrew's Anglican Church in Grimsby.
Henry Frederick is sometimes referred to as Major Henry Frederick Baker. It is recorded on a Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Force attestation paper dated 1st May 1915 that he previously served in the Bechuanaland Mounted Rifles. Curiously this document records his date of birth as 29th Aug 1870 making him five years younger than his real age. There is reference to him being an officer who served with the Chinese Labour Corps. Further research into his military service could be rewarding.
Harry and Mary had a fruit farm in Grimsby. In 2025 Grimsby Town Council determined that their house, 2a Baker Road North, should be designated as a property of cultural heritage value or interest. It was a representative example of the Italianate architectural style favoured by many wealthy farmers along Grimsby’s Main Street corridors towards the end of the 19th century. There is further information here:
https://www.grimsby.ca/media/dxyg0gtm/2a-baker-rd-n-noid.pdf
Henry Frederick and Mary Elizabeth had one daughter.
7.1 Edith Frances Baker (1897-1979) married James Oscar Spence (1886-1968)
James Oscar Spence was the son of James Spence (1850-1943) and Lydia Briggs Evans (1862-1900). The marriage certificate records his occupation as Bank Manager.
8. Edith Augusta Baker (1867-1950) married Edward Morant Horndon Parry (1866-1943) in Bath in 1893.
Edward Morant Horndon Parry was the son of Major John Horndon Parry (1841-1910) and Sophia Morant-Gale (1830-1886). He was a Royal Insurance manager, working in Wales and then retiring to Cornwall. His older brother, Rev John Horndon Parry, married Edith’s older sister, Marion Baker.
Edith and Edward had no children.
9. Charles Edward Baker (1868-1888)
Charles died as a young man living in Clevedon, Somerset.