an inquiry continued. In September 1963, Baker persuaded Earl Attlee, the former Labour Prime Minister, to support an inquiry. Baker unsuccessfully petitioned for a Royal Pardon in 1965. On 4 April 1966, his creditors filed a new bankruptcy petition against him; a receiving order was made on 22 July 1966, and on 26 September, he was again adjudicated a bankrupt. He died in hospital in Eastbourne on 14 November 1966, aged 45. Literary depiction Baker is depicted as Martin York in Muriel Spark's novel A Far Cry from Kensington. York, like Baker, is sentenced to seven years' imprisonment "for multiple forgeries and other types of fraud"; the date of his imprisonment is also 1 December 1954. In the novel, Nancy Hawkins (based on Spark) describes how Martin York frequently makes promises to publish books written by his friends, but the books they write are not always acceptable, and she turns down one manuscript from a friend of York's who had been offered a contract during a drinking session. York relays to Hawkins advice to send a cheque for a random amount in income tax, so that it cannot be tallied with any amount owing and results in the taxpayers' file being passed around and eventually lost. She describes seeing York signing documents in his own handwriting but in other people's names. York remarks to Hawkins that "if it is widely enough believed that you have money and wealth, it is the same thing as having it. The belief itself creates confidence and confidence, business." Works The Beggar's Lute (set of twenty-one poems), Favil Press, 1940 Confession of Faith, Falcon Press, 1946 The Silent Revolution, Falcon Press, 1946 Land and Empire, Falcon Press, 1948 My Testament, John Calder, London, 1955 Time Out of Life, Heinemann, London, 1961 Notes See also References External links The Peerage.com: Peter Arthur David Baker Diss Community Partnership: Hero and Shyster The Fallen MP 1921 births 1966 deaths British Army personnel of World War II British World War II prisoners of war British fraudsters British memoirists British politicians convicted of fraud Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Intelligence Corps officers Recipients of the Military Cross UK MPs 1950–1951 UK MPs 1951–1955 Royal Artillery officers People from Willesden People educated at Eastbourne College Expelled members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom 20th-century memoirists World War II prisoners of war held by Germany People from Staplehurst Military