Baker, Edmund William

BORN HULL 1893. SON OF FRED BAKER (1870-1944) & FRANCES MATILDA USHER (1869-1957), OF 3 FINSBURY GROVE, HULL AND 25 , SOMERSCALES STREET, HULL (CWGC ADDRESS). A FORMER BUTCHER’S ASSISTANT, IN CUMBERLAND STREET, HULL ALSO A MEMBER OF THE HULL DISTRICT GARDENER SOCIETY. HE HAD ENLISTED IN THE TERRITORIALS, ON 16/10/1911, AGED 18 AND WAS CALLED UP, ON 05/08/1914 WHEN WAR BEGAN. HIS ARMY RECORDS DESCRIBE HIM AS 5 FOOT 6 INCHES TALL, 113 LBS WEIGHT, 33 INCH CHEST, AND A SCAR ON HIS RIGHT SIDE. HE SERVED IN FRANCE, FROM 17/04/1915 JOINING THE 10TH EAST YORKSHIRE REGIMENT (HULL COMMERCIALS). DIED OF WOUNDS, ON 16/05/1918, AGED 24. HE HAD SERVED NEARLY 4 YEARS IN THE ARMY. BURIED AT EBBLINGHEM MILITARY CEMETERY. HIS GRAVE INSCRIPTION, READS, “PEACE PERFECT PEACE”. HE WAS ALSO REMEMBERED ON THE THE KINGS HALL ROLL OF HONOUR, SYMONS STREET, HULL.
HIS BROTHER, PRIVATE, FREDERICK JAMES BAKER,(1895-1957), SERVED WITH THE EYR, AND WAS INVALIDED WITH TRENCH FEVER. HE ALSO LEFT A SISTER, FRANCES ELLEN BAKER (1897-1971)
Hull Pals Memorial Post. PRIVATE EDMUND WILLIAM BAKER 28038. Born September 1893, the eldest of three children to Fred and Francis Baker of 25 Sommerscales Street, Beverley Road, Hull. Edmund was a Butcher’s Assistant when he joined the Territorial Army (4th Battalion East Yorkshire Regiment) in October 1911. He served with them for five years before re-enlisting in August 1916 as part of the 10th Battalion. By this point he was an Electrical Fitter by trade. It is highly probable that he served in France with the Territorials, who were mobilised at the onset of hostilities, and was either wounded out or sent home on health grounds. Perhaps the war was in his blood, or maybe the desperate need for manpower over the summer of 1916, as the Somme campaign raged on and the ranks dwindled meant the Army called him up again. Either way he was fatally wounded serving with B Company in the 10th and evacuated to 2nd and 15th Casualty Clearing Station where he died of wounds on 16th May 1918. He is buried at Ebblinghem Military Cemetery; he was 24 years old.