Background
Baker was born in 1910 as the fourth child of Arthur Ernest Baker and Agnes Flora Baker (née Hindley).
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Gilbert Baker
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His birth records and Census records show his name as John Gilbert Hindley Baker - all the children in the family had "Hindley" as one of their middle names. A fluent speaker of English and Cantonese, together with some Mandarin, Baker taught at both Lingnan University and Saint John"s University, Shanghai. He travelled extensively over China both before and during Second Sino-Japanese War, being in Canton at the time of the fall of the city to the Japanese.
In 1966, Baker was appointed of the Anglican Diocese of Hong Kong and Macau, succeeding Ronald Hall.
He was chosen following the decision of the previous bishop-elect, Archbishop Joost de Blank, not to take up his new appointment due to ill health. Baker was able to ordain, with approval of the Anglican Consultative Council, the first "authorised" Anglican female priests worldwide.
In February 1971, the Anglican Consultative Council (Administrative Committee on Company-ordination) held its first meeting in Limuru, Kenya, each province sending a bishop, a priest, a layman and a woman observer. By a narrow majority, the Administrative Committee on Company-ordination passed Resolution 28 which confirmed that "the question of the ordination of women was an urgent matter" and that if the of Hong Kong decided to ordain women to the priesthood, "his action will be acceptable to this Council".
On 28 November 1971, Baker ordained Jane Hwang and an English Content Management System missionary, Joyce Bennett, to the priesthood.
His predecessor, Ronald Hall, had ordained the first "unauthorised" female priest. During his time as bishop, Baker remodelled the "s House to incorporate a residence, as Hall had chosen to live in a bungalow above Dao Fong Shan. Baker Secondary School in Yuen Long is named after him.
He was succeeded as bishop by Peter Kwong in 1981.
