Baker, Alice (1855 - 1935)

Alice Baker, née Shaw, with her husband Thomas, who became a partner in the company Baker and Rouse, suppliers of photographic material, supported many charitable institutions in Melbourne which included the Red Cross Society, the Big Brotherhood, Toc H and the Limbless Soldiers. They were most well-known, however, through their major contribution to the Alfred Hospital for cancer research. Thomas Baker's friend, Dr J F MacKeddie, financed by Baker, established a biochemistry department at the Alfred in 1922, which moved to a new building in 1926. From that date the Bakers announced they would fund the laboratory for a period of five years. The laboratory was named after the Bakers and Alice's sister, Eleanor Shaw. It was known as the Thomas Baker, Alice Baker and Eleanor Shaw Medical Research Institute. After her husband's death in 1928, Alice Baker and her sister continued to support the institute during the Depression. They made provision also for the continuation of funding in their wills through the establishment of a trust to underwrite research of the institute. Alice Baker also supported the Women's Hospital and the Talbot Colony and was active in the National Council of Women, representing Australia at the Toronto meeting of the International Council of Women. She was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1933 as co-founder of the Baker Medical Research Institute.

• Shaw, Alice (maiden name)

Presided

• National Council of Women of Victoria (1902 - )

  [1919 - 1920]

See also

• de Serville, P. H., 'Baker, Thomas (1854-1928), photographic scientist and philanthropist', in Bede Nairn and Geoffrey Serle (eds), Australian dictionary of biography, vol. 7, Melbourne University Press, Carlton, Victoria, 1979, pp. 156-57.. [ Details... ]
• Lowe, Thomas E, The Thomas Baker, Alice Baker and Eleanor Shaw Medical Research Institute, The Trustees of the Institute, Melbourne, Victoria, 1974, 144 pp. [ Details... ]