Baker was apprenticed to gunsmith Henry Nock and opened a gunshop of his own at 24 Whitechapel Road, London in 1775.
[1] The British Army had been experimenting with rifles since the American Revolutionary War, but had found all available rifle designs either too fragile, cumbersome or slow firing to be able to use in a generalised war.
On 4 February 1800, a number of leading gun makers were invited to Woolwich to trial their rifle designs by the Board of Ordnance, who were responsible for the procurement of weaponry for the army.
In the same year, an "Experimental Corps of Riflemen" was raised by Colonel Coote Manningham and Lieutenant-Colonel the Hon.
[2] By 1810, five British battalions, three of the 95th and two of the 60th Regiments, as well as several light companies of the King's German Legion were equipped with the Baker rifle.