Introducing the Bakers

 

The far west of Gloucestershire was the home of the Baker family. From the 1700s, every forebear of Herbert is to be found within a three-mile radius of this isolated gathering of villages and hamlets that comprise East Dean.

On Thursday, 31st January, 1878 George Hook Baker¹ married Elizabeth Price,² a farmer’s daughter, in St. Michael and All Angels Parish Church, Mitcheldean. Their union was consequently blessed with considerable issue: 2 sons and 7 daughters. All are recorded as having been born in  Mitcheldean and Abinghall (Abenhall today) both of which are within 2 miles of the East Dean area. In order they were:

George’s work is recorded in different ways over the years. Documents tell us that he was a Carpenter (1871, 1878, 1880, 1881, 1882, 1889, 1891, 1901, 1911, 1916, and 1918), and a Wheelwright (1881, 1885 and 1887). Whatever his trade, he must have been experienced as he is on Gloucester County 1881 Register of Overseers. In 1901, the first year employment status was recorded, he is as a ‘Worker’ (i.e. employed by another or a business) but worked on his ‘Own Account’ at other times. No trade is recorded against Elizabeth, who was single and 18 years old in the 1871 Census.

The religious background of the family is interesting. The children born between 1879 and 1883 were baptised into the Church of England, those from 1885 to 1888 were by non-conformist rite, and the final two, in 1890 and 1892, again Church of England. It is impossible to know the reasons behind the denominational changes but it may have had implications for Herbert later if the family did not have strong Church of England convictions.

Herbert — A Model Pupil

 

By the time of Herbert’s birth, the family were recorded as living in Stars Pitch ⁷, Mitcheldean, Gloucestershire. This was in the centre of the village. Herbert would have been a pupil at the village school. In 1889 the average attendance was 113 and in 1893 the building was enlarged with help from the National Society to which the school affiliated. The boys’ and girls’ schools merged about that time and Mitcheldean Endowed Primary School (still its current name) had an average attendance of 162 in mixed and infants’ departments in 1904.⁸

Mitcheldean map. OS Six-Inch Series 1901 Revision. Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland

Herbert wasn’t alone in aspiring to a teaching career. Sisters Marcella (3 years younger) and Laura (10 years younger) followed in his footsteps. He was obviously a good advertisement for the profession.

It must say something of Herbert’s qualities against the backdrop of a father who was a drunkard and bankrupt, that he was taken on as a Pupil Teacher. This must have been around the time of his father’s debtor’s hearing—the usual age for being employed by a school in this way was 15 or, at most, 16. Even if his academic ability and personal rectitude were exemplary, there would have been a reluctance to take on someone from a family who had achieved some degree of notoriety in the community. It must also speak of an enlightened attitude and graciousness on the part of the school headteacher, governors and Parish Church incumbent.

The Census of 1901 records William still as a Pupil Teacher. This is unrealistic for a twenty-year-old: by this age, all would have moved on to an Assistant Teacher role. The incorrect title was perhaps as a result of the chaotic home life: his father, as nominal head of the house, would have had the responsibility of providing the information to the census enumerator.  Herbert’s college Student Record shows that he was an Assistant Teacher before leaving the school. An obituary adds that in 1905 he moved and began a one-year appointment as an Assistant Teacher at Hampton Wick Endowed Boys’ School, Middlesex. A change such as this must have opened a new, challenging but exciting world for someone who had hitherto lived in a small rural community. Details of the school are given in a trade directory, compiled in late 1914, just after Herbert had left for the Army:

While working in these unqualified roles, Herbert had been studying in his spare time and had achieved a First Class pass in the King’s Scholarship Examination—this was no mean feat. His skill in the classroom had also been recognised by a Schools Inspector and he had received a recommendation for a one-year full-time training course (a reduction from the usual requirement of two years). The final progression towards being a fully qualified schoolmaster required Herbert to complete formal training and for this, Winchester Training College beckoned.

The Great War

 

In August 1914 he left behind wife, school and Sunbury and enlisted into the 23rd County of London Regiment¹⁶ at Clapham Junction, near where the newly-formed Regiment was stationed. We get a taste of Herbert’s experience in the audio diary of Stanley Adams Haughton,¹⁷ a fellow soldier of the 1/23rd:

The next stage was training at St. Alban’s. Haughton again:

Herbert’s Medal Index Card shows that he entered the theatre of war on Sunday, 14th March when the Regiment landed at Le Havre.

The first action that he would see would also be his last. The major Battle of Festubert was planned to assist the French 10th Army’s offensive at Vimy Ridge by diverting German men and resources to the British front. The immediate objective was an advance of 1,000 yards and the capture of German trenches, along a 5,000-yard front. This was to be the first battle of attrition and the first British night attack of the war.

The Battle commenced on 13th May with a bombardment of German positions by 433 guns firing 101,000 shells in a 60-hour period. The poor quality of munitions resulted in many shells failing to explode; after the conclusion of Festubert, this failure caused a political crisis, the fall of the Asquith administration and the appointment of a coalition government with David Lloyd George in the new post of Minister of Munitions.

The battle was complex with attacks and counter-attacks, successes and failures. Herbert made it to the very last hours of this 13-day battle. What he went through we do not know, but again we have an eye witness in Stanley Haughton, where he singles out his experiences at Festubert as his worst of the war:

Herbert fell, killed in action on the morning of May 26th. The war diary relating to his approximate time of death, says

A pencilled report to Battalion HQ from the front line sums up the last day of the Battle of Festubert for the 23rd and 24th Battalions of the London Regiment:

Contemporaneous report from front line at the end of the 26th May action of the 23rd and 24th London Regiment (10.30pm)

Herbert’s death in the Register of Soldiers Effects is recorded as On or since 26.5.15. In action. Death presumed and it names Elsie as recipient of his effects. Although his date of death is recorded in all major documentation as 26th May, his newspaper obituary reports a different and probably incorrect date:

Herbert is remembered on the Le Touret Memorial, France (Panels 45 and 46). His grave is unknown. He was survived by George Hook Baker (Father, d.1919), Elizabeth Baker (Mother, d.1926), Elsie Susan Baker (Wife, d.1957).

 

Researcher and Author: John Vickers