Henry Baker

Henry Baker (1835–1910) was an English civil engineer and amateur church-music composer best remembered for the long-meter hymn tune QUEBEC, also known as HESPERUS. Born at Nuneham, Oxfordshire, he was the son of the Rev. James Baker, Chancellor of the Diocese of Durham. He was educated at Winchester and Cooper's Hill, trained for engineering, and worked on railway construction in India. Alongside that professional career he pursued music seriously and later earned the Bachelor of Music degree at the University of Oxford in 1867.

Baker composed QUEBEC in 1854 while still a young man. In 1861 the London Penny Post invited tunes for John Keble's hymn Sun of My Soul. According to later hymnological accounts, a friend submitted Baker's melody without his knowledge; it was selected and eventually published in John Grey's A Hymnal for Use in the English Church in 1866. The tune's balanced 8.8.8.8 structure allowed it to travel widely with many long-meter texts, including Jesus, Thou Joy of Loving Hearts and O God of Love, O King of Peace. Later collections, including Garrett Horder's Worship Songs, carried additional music by Baker.

He must be distinguished from Sir Henry Williams Baker (1821–1877), the Anglican priest, hymn writer, and editor of Hymns Ancient and Modern. The two men are frequently confused because of their similar names, but QUEBEC belongs to Henry Baker, the engineer-musician born in 1835.