Baker, Eric., 1920-1976

Eric Baker was born in London in 1920 and educated at Nether Edge Grammar School, Sheffield. Already a pacifist, he joined the Society of Friends while still at school. He was a conscientious objector during World War II, registering in 1941. At Downing College, Cambridge, from 1939-1942, his degree was in English and Moral Sciences. After taking a Diploma in Education from Leeds University, he became a lecturer, initially to the WEA in Yorkshire. He and his wife, Joyce, whom he met as a Young Friend in Sheffield, were appointed Joint Secretaries of the Quaker Centre in Delhi in 1946. The family moved to Edinburgh in the late 1940s, where Baker worked for the University and the Education Authority.

Baker made several visits to Cyprus, Greece and Turkey between 1958 and 1975 on behalf of the Friends' Service Committee. His 1959 trip included a visit to Sicily to study the work of Danilo Dolci.

Lawyer Peter Benenson was a key contact in Cyprus; he and Baker found they shared concerns about those imprisoned for their beliefs. Eric Baker played an important part in the founding of Amnesty (later Amnesty International) by Benenson in 1961 following the overwhelming response to the latter's article in the Observer. Baker was acting Director-General of Amnesty from 1967-1968, after Benenson's resignation, and chairman of the British section of Amnesty International from 1965 to 1971.

From 1959 to 1963 Baker was study secretary of the Home Service Committee at Friends House. His later teaching career took him to the South-East Essex Technical College, Dagenham, as lecturer in Liberal Studies, then to the North-East London Polytechnic as head of the Department of Social Work, Health and Nursing. He had just left to take up a new post in Chelmsford when he died, in July 1976.

As Amnesty's work progressed, Eric Baker became increasingly aware of the issue of torture. In 1973, he organised the Conference for the Abolition of Torture, held in Paris, following the publication of Amnesty's first report on the subject ('Report on torture'. Duckworth, 1973). In 1974, he addressed the Friends Yearly Meeting at York on 'The Contagion of Torture'. Following his death, a world gathering of Friends in Canada responded to the concern, commending it for action to all Friends in 'The Hamilton Declaration'.

From the guide to the The Papers of Eric Baker, 1956-1976, (University of Bradford)