Sewickley Herald

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Th
e Herald
The Sewickley Valley's Home-News Weekly
Vol. XXIX.   No. 19.
SEWICKLEY, PA., FRIDAY, MARCH 25, 1932
Price 5 Cents
CAPTAIN RICHARD ST. BARBE BAKER
Founder of "The Men of The Trees"
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Captain Richard St. Barbe Baker is to give
a free lecture on "The Men of the Trees"
in the Sewiekley High Sehool Auditorium,
next Friday evening, April 1st, at eight
o'clock.
No cut and dried biography would ever fit
Captain Baker. The usual string of formal
facts concerning birth, parentage, education
and exporicuce arc enough for the usual
lecturer and the common run of mortals, but
this man is unusual and uncommon.
Captain Baker came by his lovo of trees
naturally. His father devoted his hio to
the caro and culture of trees. His family
for many generations woro landowners ni
England, thoir first land being granted them
by Henry I (1008-1135). One of his ancestors
had the romarkablo record of bomg Lord
Chancellor of England during three successive
reigns, Another wrote Baker's Chronicles
of England, which was dedicated to Charles
II and was the recognized standard work
in its field for over a century. Captain
Baker's great-uncle, another Richard Baker,
becanio a commercial fanner much to tho
disgust of tho othor mombors of his family.
Tiring of thoir conservatism and opposition
to his chosen work, ho emigrated to Canada.
This was over a hundred years ago and it
was all wild country then. Ho had to clear
his own land and shot many a boar while ho
was doing it. His nearest neighbor was seven
miles away.
This pioneer Richard Baker wrote letters
home to the grandfather of tho present Richard Baker describing his lifo in the Canadian
wilds. Theso were often road to the latter
at tho ago of ten. The stories of bears they
contained seem to havo made tho deepest
impression for they fired him with a desire
to go to Canada aiid kill boars, too.
When Captain Baker was twelve he went
to tho Dean Close School, Cheltenham, England. At that timo a lecturer from Canada
again sounded tho call to go there. When
he was seventeen, the final appeal came whon
Bishop Lloyd, ail old timo pioneer from the
Western Prairies, said ho wanted men to go
out thoro and help the Canadians build a
littlo bit of Old England in tho wilderness
far ovor tho sea, men who would go ahead of
tho railways and blaze the trail. His decision
to go was a shock to his family but it proved
to bo tho turning point of his whole life,
For the next three and a half years ho
Was onrollcd in the school of hard knocks
in the open spaces. He homestendod South
of Saskatoon, Canada, studied the beavers at
workj drove a six horse team breaking virgin
prairie, busted bronchos and swung an axe
in a lumber camp.
It was while engaged in the latter work of
forest destruction that he decided to reverse
tho process, to study forestry and devote his
life to reforestation. Ho was ono of the first
hundred students at Saskatchewan University
at Saskatoon, Canada. Returning to England
ho entered Cains College, Cambridge, where
he took his Diploma in Forestry. He also
did a post-graduate course in Forestry at
Oxford, nnd further research work on tho
Continent of Europe. It was not all such
smooth sailing as it seems, for the World
War came while ho was at Cambridge and
as a trooper, he -joined King Edward's Horse.
Captain Baker has an enviable War record.
"Volunteering during tho first few days for
active service as an officer, the fortunes of
'War almost at once put him in command of
5 B Reserve Brigade, a Battery of eight hundred Irish Reservists, six hundred horses and
two guns, Of his servico in France, Captain
Baker modestly says, "Suffice it to say, I
was three times smashed up and was finally
invalided from the Army in April, 1918."
After tho War, ho returned to Cambridge
to complete his studies in Forestry. In November, 1920, he proceeded to Kenya Colony,
Africa, ns Assistant Conservator of Forests
where ho did valuable work in connection
with substituting Kenya Pencil Cedar to replace the almost exhausted supplies from
America, Whilo in the Highlands of Kenya,
in the summer of 1022, ho started his Forest
Scout Movement, which is now known
throughout the world as "The Men of the
Trees." Beginning with but a few —- but
here, we will have to wait until April 1st
and hear Captain Baker tell the rest of it
himself mid take us through the deep forests
with lantern slides find moving pictures, all
of which ho has made himself.
Tho curious and striking headdress^ Captain Baker is wearing in this picture is tho
one used in working in the hot sun in Palestine while engaged in reforestation work for
tho British government. No amount of persuasion could induce him to wear it whilo
delivering his lecture for ho said, "I wore
tho headdress in place of a hat over my usual
clothing. That combination would bo a bit
silly on a lecture platform."
Captain Baker said last week, "From
Pittsburgh I intend to proceed to the Redwoods of California and in conjunction with
the Redwood League, nogotiato for tho purchase nnd thereby saving of a considerable
grove of Redwoods which will bo presented
to the National Parks of America and become a Mecca for Troo Lovers all over the
world. It will bo called 'The Grove Of International Understanding' and will contain an
amphitheatre for pastoral plays and for peace
meetings. The Men of the Trees is a socioty
of Tree Lovers throughout the world and for
them I intend to found n world headquarters
within tho Redwood Groves of California."
Sewickloy Boy Scouts under Scoutmaster
Ladd will attend the lecture in a body. Again
a special invitation is extended to all High
School students and pupils in all other .schools
in the Valley and their parents and friends
to attend one of the most interesting lectures
ever given in Sewickley.
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