[1] He was born in Runcorn, the youngest of the four children of Harry and Mary Baker (née Eccles); his father was himself a chemist, having studied under Sir Henry Enfield Roscoe and Robert Bunsen, amongst others.

Wilson entered Victoria University of Manchester at the age of 16, and (having spent some time in France as a Quaker volunteer during the First World War) graduated top of the honours class in 1921.

The war years had “left a legacy of impoverished equipment and laboratories in desperate need of maintenance”[1] and, as a consequence, Baker's time was mainly occupied in building up the departments of chemistry, first in collaboration with Professor W.E.

[3] Wilson Baker's research covered many areas, including chelation, inclusion compounds, penicillin and other natural products.

[1] Wilson Baker married Juliet Elizabeth Glaisyer, also a Quaker, on 4 August 1927 at the Sons’ Meeting House, Huddersfield.