William Baker

William Baker, a blind man from St Austell, was one of the first people in Cornwall who learned to read using a form of embossed lettering called Moon type. He was so proficient at reading Moon type that he began teaching it to others.

He even caught the attention of William Moon himself who commented in 1853 that an:

Interesting knot of readers is taught by a blind man in Cornwall, where the Vicar assembles them once a year in the national School Room, and those who read well are presented with a new book of Scriptures.

A grainy black and white photo of a man sitting down with a book on his knee. Standing next to the man is a young boy with his hand on the book.

It was this connection with the church that brought William Baker to the attention of Rev John Punnett who proposed to members of the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society that a refuge for the blind in the county should be established.

Sadly, less than two years after his instrumental role in the formation of this new society, William Baker died of ‘congestion on the brain’ aged just 42. But his legacy would live on. By the time of his death in July 1858 he had taught 61 blind people to read across Cornwall, covering St Just, Truro, Liskeard, Falmouth, Redruth, Gwennap and St Austell. It was reported that he had never missed a single day (with the exception of Sundays) without paying a visit to some of his pupils.

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