Elizabeth Baker

Elizabeth Baker (c.1720 – November 1789) was a British diarist. Although she was born in the English Midlands she spent much of her life in Wales, mainly in the Merionethshire area. For a time she together with her partners, Ralph Lodge, Mrs. Gilbert, and Mrs. Rawlins, held a patent enabling them to prospect for metals on certain Crown lands lying between Dolgelley and Llanuwchllyn. She related her experiences in an unpublished ten volume diary, now held by the National Library of Wales. A number of extracts from the diary, together with details of her struggle on her own behalf and on behalf of the Hengwrt house and estate, were printed (ed. B.B. Thomas) in N.L.W. Jnl. iii. (81–101). She died in 1789, and was buried in Dolgellau churchyard.