BORN HULL 1884. SON OF JOSEPH BARON (1863-1911) & SARAH ANN JACKSON (1864-1954). ONE OF NINE CHILDREN. EMPLOYED AS AN OIL MILLER’S PRESSMAN. MARRIED ST SILAS HULL, 26/12/1908. HIS WIFE MARY COTTINGHAM AND FOUR CHILDREN LIVED AT 65 SPYVEE STREET AND 16 YORK TERRACE, BARNSLEY STREET, HULL. SHE DIED WITH DAUGHTER LILLIAN IN 1915, AND HE REMARREID EMMA CATTIE HARN, AT THIS ADDRESS. HE RECORDED ON HIS ARMY RECORDS THAT HIS PARENTS WERE UNKNOWN AND THAT HE HAD NO KNOWN SIBLINGS. DESCRIBED AS 5 FOOT 3 INCHES TALL, 157LBS, 38 INCH CHEST. ENLISTED HULL, 17/11/1914. SERVED IN EGYPT, POSTED TO FRANCE 08/03/1916. WOUNDED 21/08/1916. (SHRAPNEL WOUND TO LEFT BUTTOCK) AND INVALIDED TO ENGLAND. RE-JOINED BATTALION ON 29/12/1916. KILLED IN ACTION AT OPPY WOOD, 03/05/1917, AGED 33. HIS ARMY EFFECTS WERE LEFT TO HIS FATHER IN LAW, MR THOMAS COTTINGHAM, OF 68 CLEVELAND STREET, IN TRUST OF HIS CHILDREN. HIS DEATH WAS REPORTED IN THE HULL DAILY MAIL, ON 12/06/1917 & 19/06/1917.
HIS BROTHER, PRIVATE, ARTHUR BARON, 6TH DORSET REGIMENT, DIED AS A PRISONER OF WAR, IN HAMBURG, ON 28/10/1918, AGED 29.
Hull Pals Memorial Post. PRIVATE JOHN BENSON BARON 13/313. Born in 1884, the eldest son of Joseph and Sarah Ann Baron John was an Oil Miller by trade and married Mary Cottingham at St Silas Church in Hull on Boxing Day 1908. The couple had five children- William, John, Sydney, Lilian and Alice- and lived at 16 York Terrace, Barnsley Street.
He enlisted at City Hall on 17th November 1914 originally as part of the 13th Battalion East Yorkshire Regiment, 4th Hull Pals, known as ‘T’Others’. They trained throughout 1915 and left for Egypt just before Christmas, where they served until February 29th 1916 when they shipped for Marseilles and the train north to the trenches of the Western Front. Before all that though, John was present at the death of his daughter Lilian. She died at home in October 1915. Wounded in the left buttock on 21st August 1916, John was shipped back to England aboard the SS Western Australia to recover, and transferred to the 12th Battalion upon his return to France on 29th December. John Benson Baron was listed as missing in action on 3rd May 1917 in front of Oppy Wood but was later confirmed as dead. He is buried in Orchard Dump Cemetery. He was 33 years old. In January 1918 Mary Baron died leaving four children. Her daughter Alice was taken in by her brother. Her three sons were taken into care.
