Curious and Authentic Particulars of Caraboo— alias Mary Baker
Princes Caraboo of Javasu (Mary Baker), 1817 (oil on panel ) by Edward Bird (1772-1819). (c) Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery, UK/ The Bridgeman Art Library Nationality
Mary Baker (Caraboo) was born in the Devonshire village of Witheridge in 1792. For a time her family lived here in Well House. Photo by Debbie Lee
Small-town life was not for Mary, who left home at 16. Here is a bakery in Witheridge that had been in operation in Mary Baker’s day. Photo by Debbie Lee
When Mary Baker left Witheridge, she went to work as a servant in Bristol and London, where she taught herself to read and write.
Her quick learning skills and her imagination enhanced her imposture as the Princess Caraboo. She even created a new language and alphabet to fool her sponsors. Taken from a facsimile in the Bristol Mirror, 1817.
More of Mary Baker’s writing of Caraboo’s language.
A letter to the editor of a Bath newspaper after the Caraboo imposture was revealed. The author had been caught up in the hoax.
The revelation of Mary Baker’s hoax upset her patrons but amused many others including a writer for the Bristol Mirror who penned this poem in her honor.
Part two of the poem, which was printed in the Bristol Mirror in June, 1817.
After her imposture was revealed, Mary Baker traveled to America and, for a while, supported herself by playing Caraboo for audiences. She finished her life back in England. She died at the age of 74 and was buried in a nondescript grave. Photo by Debbie Lee.
