DNB notes that Baker "achieved both reputation and a considerable fortune in the teaching of deaf people and those with speech defects, and had many aristocratic clients." He was active in the Royal Society, and his two scientific works on the microscope attained best-seller status and established his name in the field. His poetry was written mostly in his early years, the most successful being "The Universe." When he died, "he bequeathed to the Royal Society ?100 to establish a lecture bearing his name."