Born in Liscard, Cheshire he was educated at Rossall School and Clare College, Cambridge.
After graduation he worked with the Air Ministry on structural problems of airships.
At 28, in 1929, he contracted tuberculosis. Upon recovering, he became a technical officer with the Structural Steel Research Committee and developed the plastic theory of design, a revolutionary method of design of steel structures. In 1932 he was awarded the Telford Gold Medal of the Institution of Civil Engineers for the work.
1933 - Professor of Engineering at Bristol University
1939-1943 - scientific adviser to the Design and Development Section of the Ministry of Home Security. He created the Morrison indoor shelter
1943-1968 - Professor of Mechanical Sciences and Head of Department at Cambridge University Engineering Department.
1941 - appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE)
1956 - elected a Fellow of the Royal Society and awarded their Royal Medal in 1970
1961 - received a knighthood
1963 - honorary graduate as Doctor of Science at the University of Edinburgh
1977 - created a life peer as Baron Baker of Windrush in the County of Gloucestershire