Ronald Baker was born on 12 September 1914 at Devonport, the son of John Henry Tozer Baker (Electrician, Royal Navy) and Lilian Baker of Brixham, Devon.  He was educated at the Greenwich Naval Hospital School and joined the Royal Navy on 30 December 1929 at HMS FISGARD, Torpoint as an Artificer Apprentice. He served most of his career in the surface fleet including service in the battlecruiser HMS REPULSE during the early stages of the war.

In 1938 he married Amelia Rickard and lived at Launceston, Cornwall.

He Joined HMS REGENT as the Engineer in March 1943, possibly as a relief for Warrant Engineer Edwin Pratt. REGENT failed to return from patrol in the Adriatic, possibly sunk by a mine off Monopoli about 1 May 1943 and was assumed to have been lost with all hands. Ronald Baker is commemorated on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial, Panel 73 column 1.