[1][2] Samuel and John travelled Mauritius in 1844 to manage the family's plantations there, before moving to Ceylon in 1846 and in the following year founded an agricultural settlement, Mahagastota, at Nuwara Eliya, a mountain health-resort.

John bred and trained race horses, constructing the Nuwara Eliya Racecourse in 1875.

[7] In October 1929 the issue was raised in the Legislative Council by V. S. de S. Wikramanayake, the member representing the Southern Province Eastern Division, leading to the inclusion of Ceylonese patients.

[8] On 6 February 2009 the building was formally recognised by the Government as an Archaeological Protected Monument.

[9] In 2016 following the opening of a new Rs 7 billion, six-storey district general hospital (which included 660 beds, an intensive care unit, accident ward, pharmacy, dialysis unit and nursing housing quarters),[10] the hospital's administration decided to convert Baker's Ward into a museum.