Place Name
Named after the county town of Thomas Lloyd Baker (died 1841), the local landowner who developed the streets around here. Baker hailed from Gloucester and also owned Hardwicke Court in Gloucester. By 1738 the family owned extensive fields in Clerkenwell. Thomas married Mary Sharpe, the niece of philanthropist and anti-slavery reformist, Granville Sharpe (1735 – 1813). Part of the Clerkenwell estate was later leased to the New River Company who developed it as a residential area in the early 19thCentury, hence Gloucester Way and Hardwick Street were built in front of their headquarters. Formerly known as Gloucester Street.
