James Robert Baker

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Grave/Memorial:  		Baker, James R

1887, Walworth

Walter & Ellen (née Wood)

23rd Battalion, The London Regiment

718144

Private

23 March 1918, France, age 31

The Arras Memorial, Bay 9 or 10. 		     

Biography:
James Robert Baker was born in Walworth, Surrey in 1887, the son of Walter and Ellen (née Wood).  James had an older brother, Frank,
and a younger sister, Ellen.  After their parents, presumably, died, the children each went to live with a different married sister of Ellen
Wood.  James was brought up by Ellen’s sister, Emma and her husband William Harding, of Knaphill.

After leaving school, James became a teacher, training at the Goldsmith Training College.  In 1911, he was boarding with the Banks
family in St John’s Wood, London.  In February 1916, he married the eldest daughter, Margaret.

   
  Trainee teachers at Goldsmiths in the early 1900s

In November 1915, James had joined the London Regiment, part of the Territorial Force,
being assigned to the 3rd Battalion. He stood 5 feet 11 inches tall and weighed 147
pounds.

James was promoted to L/Cpl in December 1916 and transferred to the 1st/12th
Battalion. The battalion was deployed to France, embarking at Southampton on 17th
December. On embarkation, James reverted to the rank of Rifleman.

James was posted to the 23rd Battalion on 29th January 1918. He was killed in action
two months later on 23rd March, in the German attack in the Arras region of France. His
grave is unknown and he is commemorated on the Arras Memorial.		     

The Arras Memorial commemorates almost 35,000 servicemen from the United Kingdom, South Africa and New Zealand who died in the Arras sector between the
spring of 1916 and 7 August 1918, the eve of the Advance to Victory, and have no known grave.  The most conspicuous events of this period were the Arras
offensive of April-May 1917, and the German attack in the spring of 1918.