Press, Margaret Mary (2000). Three Women of Faith: Gertrude Abbott, Elizabeth Anstice Baker and Mary Tenison Woods. South Australia: Wakefield Press. ISBN1-86254-526-X.
Martindale, Cyril Charlie (1917). The Life of Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson. Vol. 2. London: Longmans, Green & Co. pp. 210–212.
Another enterprise in which Monsignor Benson took a quite special interest appears to me to have been the "Motor Mission." It is true that his personal connection with it was intermittent and did not last long : but I know that he ranked it, for importance, very high indeed. The Motor Mission is an element in the propaganda of the Catholic Missionary Society, which undertakes the spreading, by every active means, of the Catholic Faith in England. The Motor Mission consists of a kind of gipsy van which is really an automobile chapel ; it contains an altar, harmonium, kneeling-stools, a large crucifix and a banner of Our Lady, and a huge "question box." It tours the country, preceded by those who should make straight its paths ; and its evangelists, to those who raise the cry : " No Popery ! " retort in Father Bernard Vaughan's now consecrated phrase : " Know Popery." The car was blessed by the Archbishop of Westminster in June, 1911, and the first Mass was said in it at Ware by the President of St. Edmund's College on June 19. The association was admirably conceived. St. Edmund's, more than anywhere, perhaps, in England, links up the fortunes of modern English Catholics with that superb tradition now so accessible to all in the great series of volumes its historians are producing.
The motor's first tour was in the Eastern counties, and from August 14-20 Father Benson preached for it at East Dereham in Norfolk. The mission had started amid storms. At Haverhill the advent of the motor had been well advertised, and its preaching was rivalled by some Kensit lectures, which, promising to deal with immoralities of monks and nuns, attracted a delighted group of boys and bar-loungers. They, when the missioners came out of the Corn Exchange, where they held their first meeting, booed and hustled these priests, and, even more, a party of ladies (one only was a Catholic) who had motored over from a distance and appeared fair game. The crowd grew, and appeared at the outset to represent public opinion : but the cheerful courtesy of the missioners and the extreme pluck and savoir-faire of the visitors created a revulsion of feeling little short of miraculous, and the Fathers left Haverhill escorted by a cheering crowd who bade them welcome back.
Of the ladies who played so notable a part in preparing for the different missions, it may be permitted to mention two, both withdrawn, to-day, from this life of visible activity. Miss Elizabeth Anstice Baker was herself a convert, and her relationships had put her into a fascinating connection with the political interests of both England and America. In her Father Benson found one of his most trusted allies : in his letters I constantly find him mentioning her as " a wonderful woman ; a very great friend of mine, with whom I want to put you in touch. You can trust her," he said, "as you would a priest." He wrote, too, a preface to a late edition of her Modern Pilgrim's Progress, a book which has brought incalculable help to souls touched slightly, it may be, by the maladie du siecle, but anyhow utterly impervious to the customary pious or apologetic literature. Her talents, however, were practical and organising rather than philosophical or literary. She possessed in a high degree that personal magnetism, that utter fearlessness, that temperamental incapacity for saying that this or that can't be done, which carries every position however impregnable it be deemed, which compensates for what is vulgarly esteemed of supreme importance in the way of outside attractiveness, and which can neutralise the gravest disadvantages, such as the severe deafness which she did not for a moment intend to allow to interfere with her plans. I have seen a platformful of grave personages, looking ruefully at a great lecture hall, too thinly populated for its size : " If only," it was sighed, " they had all been told to congregate in the body of the hall, and not to scatter through the galleries... Mismanagement as usual ! " " Did I understand you to say," murmured Miss Baker, " that you wanted the galleries cleared? " Oh well, it would have been very nice," they answered, 44 but it's clearly quite impossible to do it now." Miss Baker effaced herself. A moment later, a stir was noticeable in the hall. Distant tiers of seats were being evacuated. . . . The front rows on the floor were filling up. ... In less than seven minutes this deaf old lady had effected the results despaired of by princes and by prophets. The amazing aplomb with which she, on these motor expeditions, carried all before her, from starched and High Church Vicar to Nonconformist grocer, made the endless delight of Monsignor Benson, and certainly, were such our duty, could be illustrated with the most delightful and indiscreet of anecdotes. It would be quite wrong, however, were I to leave the impression of an ardent, exterior, and perhaps impertinent activity. Her tenderness and infinite tolerance, in which a Christian love and a deep knowledge of the world and of human hearts helped each the other, were more secret, perhaps, but not less real or loved.
"Miss Baker in Rome". Southern Cross. Adelaide, South Australia. 13 June 1902. p. 10. Retrieved 19 June 2021 – via National Library of Australia. At the conclusion of the High Mass in the Irish College, Rome, on the morning of the Feast of the Ascension of Our Lord, May 5, His Eminence Cardinal Moran, deputed by the Pope, performed the interesting ceremony of conferring the cross and decoration "Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice" on Miss Bessie Anstice Baker, of Adelaide.
Ryan, A. M. (30 October 1914). "The Late Miss E. A. Baker". Southern Cross. Adelaide, South Australia. p. 15. Retrieved 19 June 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
Baker, Elizabeth Anstice (3 January 1890). "Correspondence". Southern Cross. Adelaide, South Australia. p. 7. Retrieved 19 June 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
"Concerning people". The Register. Adelaide, South Australia. 11 April 1901. p. 5. Retrieved 19 June 2021 – via National Library of Australia. An honorary commission has been issued to Miss Bessie Anstice Baker to enquire into the management of philanthropic and charitable institutions in England and the continent of Europe.
"Concerning people". The Register. Adelaide, South Australia. 20 October 1914. p. 4. Retrieved 19 June 2021 – via National Library of Australia. A cable message has been received announcing the death in London on Friday, October 18, of Miss Elizabeth Anstice Baker, third daughter of the late. Hon. John Baker, of Morialta, and. sister of the late Sir Richard Chaffey Baker. Miss Baker went to England about 20 years ago. Her relatives in South Australia have received no particulars of her death beyond those contained in the message.
"All About People". The Catholic Press. New South Wales, Australia. 29 October 1914. p. 22. Retrieved 19 June 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
"Goosequill" (5 November 1920). "Currente Calamo". Southern Cross. South Australia. p. 15. Retrieved 19 June 2021 – via National Library of Australia. The absurd ideas about convents and conventual life are not wholly confined to the ignorant and bigoted. A writer in the Brisbane "Catholic Advocate," dealing with the case of Miss Partridge, the captured nun, recalls an incident related by Miss Bessie Anstice Baker, well known in Adelaide. She was the daughter of the Hon. John Baker and sister of Sir Richard Baker, who was for many years President of the South Australian Legislative Council and afterwards the first President of the Senate. Miss Baker and her mother became converts to Catholicity. She was a highly educated lady and had travelled extensively. Yet she had imbibed the prevalent Protestant prejudices against nuns and convents. In her book "A Modern Pilgrim's Progress" which is largely autobiographical, she tells the story against herself. One day she felt a longing to visit a certain convent, but having been taught and believing that all who entered in remained there, it was with much misgiving she braced herself to satisfy her curiosity. Before stepping into the lion's den she took the precaution that should the worst come she would not be left to languish in some dungeon of the convent. So, writing a note, she hired a cab and drove to the convent. On alighting she handed the note to the cabman, saying, "If I do not return within a certain time, knock at the door and ask for me. If I do not come, take this note at once to my brother, to whom I have addressed it." Saying this, she then took the plunge, rang the bell, and was admitted. Time passed pleasantly, and she forgot all about the cabman and the note, until a ring at the door with a request for her brought both back to her mind. She excused herself, went to the door, took the note, and told the cabman that it was all right. This had been her first meeting with these nuns, and their conversation and convent were so interesting that she was loth to leave. She has given us the contents of that letter which was to be delivered to her brother had she not appeared. She has done so to show that even well-educated Protestants can have very wrong and unjust notions about convents and nuns. Here is what the note contained:—"I am detained against my will in the Dominican Convent. Come and rescue me."
Denny, W. J. (28 July 1939). "Memories of Former Days". Southern Cross. Adelaide, South Australia. p. 8. Retrieved 19 June 2021 – via National Library of Australia. Some amusing incidents associated with Miss Baker are worth recalling. Before her conversion she entered St. Francis Xavier's Cathedral to say some prayers. Whilst at her devotions her umbrella was stolen, whereat she went to see the caretaker, the droll Patrick Walsh, and bitterly complained, only to be told: "I'm not surprised, ma'am. There's Protestants and all sorts come into this church." Despite this story, which she told me herself, and her brilliant writing, Miss Baker had not a great sense of humor. She was too serious. One of the facetious printers had a notice which he put in the "S.C." Office: "Gossipers, canvassers, and travellers are interviewed all day. Our work is done late at night." Informing her one day that I was somewhat rushed with work, she said: "I'm so sorry; but I saw a notice somewhere that you did your work at night." Under which category of the printer's notice, I mentally enquired, did Miss Baker include herself? I recall another incident of her collecting for a new umbrella for the wife of a prominent Adelaide citizen, who had smashed her old one over the head of an agitator who delivered anti-Catholic lectures in Adelaide at one period.
"Miss Elizabeth Anstice Baker". Obituaries. Observer. Adelaide, South Australia. 24 October 1914. p. 41. Retrieved 19 June 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
Resignation from State Children's Council - "Resignations". Evening Journal. South Australia. 25 January 1889. p. 2 (SECOND EDITION). Retrieved 19 June 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
Reappointment to State Children's Council = "Appointments". Evening Journal. South Australia. 8 February 1889. p. 3 (SECOND EDITION). Retrieved 19 June 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
"THE MERCURY". The Mercury. Tasmania, Australia. 4 December 1896. p. 2. Retrieved 19 June 2021 – via National Library of Australia. Bessie Anstice Baker, by way of illustrating George Eliot's novel, "Romola," concludes an interesting paper on "Savonarola and His Times," in which she throws a lot of light on the personal history of the great Dominican.
"NUMURKAH, FRIDAY. AUG. 10, 1900". Numurkah Leader. Victoria, Australia. 10 August 1900. p. 4. Retrieved 19 June 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
"The Catholic Women's League". Southern Cross. South Australia. 13 April 1923. p. 10. Retrieved 19 June 2021 – via National Library of Australia. In South Australia additional interest was given to the League owing to the fact that Miss Bessie Anstice Baker, a lady well known in this State some years ago, was one of the founders of the Catholic Women's League in London.
"Literary notes". Freeman's Journal. New South Wales, Australia. 14 November 1896. p. 18. Retrieved 19 June 2021 – via National Library of Australia. Bessie Anstice Baker the first part of a capital historical review of 'Savonarola and his Times'
"Credo" (24 October 1914). "Religious World". The Mail. Vol. 3, , no. 128. South Australia. p. 4. Retrieved 19 June 2021 – via National Library of Australia. The death is reported in London of Miss Elisabeth Anstice Baker, third daughter of the late Hon. John Baker, of Morialta, and sister of the late Sir Richard Ohaffey Baker. Miss Baker started the old private hospital at North Adelaide (says the 'Southern Cross'). She left Adelaide for England 29 years ago, and held a prominent position in Catholic circles in London. She was on the committee of the Catholic Truth Society, the Catholic Women's League. the Catholic Girls' Protection, and other societies. Author of several works, she a few years ago published 'A Modern Pilgrim's Progress,' recording the story of her conversion.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
RCDEA record - lives at 18 Egerton Terrace, London in 1903
"The Baker Papers in the Dominican Historical Centre, Oxford"(PDF). The Catholic Archives Society. 11: 58–59. 1991. Her autobiography of her conversion, A Modern Pilgrim's Progress (London 1906), even if it is now forgotten, was in its time a widely acclaimed book, both in its original English version and in its French translation.
