E. C. Stuart Baker

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Edward Charles Stuart Baker CIE OBE (1864–16 April 1944) was a British ornithologist and police officer.

Baker was educated at Trinity College, Stratford-upon-Avon and in 1883 followed his father into the Indian Police Service. He spent most of his career in India in the Assam Police, rising to the rank of Inspector-General commanding the force. In 1910 he was placed on Special Criminal Investigation duty. In 1912 he returned to England and took up the appointment of Chief Police Officer of the Port of London Police, remaining in this position until his retirement in 1925. For his services in this role during the First World War he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1920.^[1]

During his spare time he studied and collected the birds of India. His books included The Indian Ducks and their Allies (1908), Game Birds of India and Ceylon (1921), Fauna of British India: Birds (1922; seven volumes), Mishni Man-eater (1928), The Nidification of the Birds of the Indian Empire (1932), and Cuckoo Problems (1942; the cuckoo was his chief interest within ornithology). He made a comprehensive collection of Indian birds' eggs, which he donated to the Natural History Museum, where he spent a lot of time working on the egg collections from India and Thailand. His seven-volume contribution to the Fauna of British India series became the standard reference work on the subject. He also served on government advisory committees on the protection of birds and was for many years honorary secretary and treasurer of the British Ornithological Union.