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  1. South Warwickshire Family History Society War Memorial Transcription Project

    Men of RWRRWRlest we forget2tower poppiesThe Battle of the Somme film image1 3gallipoli

     The Fallen Men of South Warwickshire - World War One


    Gunner 625418 Ralph George BAKER - 309th Siege Battery, Honourable Artillery Company


    Died whilst a Prisoner of War on Saturday May 18th 1918 aged 19

Military History
     
Theatre of War Medals Commonwealth War Grave or Memorial
France and Flanders British War & Victory Medals Cambrai East Military Cemetery
     
Arrived in Theatre Medal Citation (if app) SWFHS Area Memorials
26 April 1917 ~ Hampton-in-Arden
     
Action, Battle or Other Reason Killed Date and Place Enlisted Other War Memorials
Died of Pneumonia 22 August 1916 in Birmingham  
     
Place of Death Previous Regiments or Units  
German Military Hospital near Cambrai Original Service # 7882  
     

Details of Service with the 309th Siege Battery (See Records Tab)

  • 22 Aug 1916 - Joined the Honourable Artillery Company
  • 26 April 1917 - Arrived in Le Havre, France with the original HAC Siege Battery contigent of Officers and Men
  • 21 Mar 1918 - Died of Wounds (see Records Tab) however we that this is the day he was captured at Epehy.

Circumstances Leading to Death (Normally from War Diary)           

Ralph's Military Pension card & Effects Register along with an article in the Coventry Herald indicate that Ralph was taken prisoner & died of disease (pnuemonia) in a German POW Hospital in or near Cambrai. There are two separate Red Cross records for Ralph (see below) and the other suggests that he died of Pulmonary Tuberculosis.

Red Cross Records

Our thanks to Charlie at the Great War forum who managed to find two Red Cross record sets for Ralph which show:

  1. Record PA 28780 in the name Ralph Balser shows that he was captured at Epehy on 21 Mar 1918, having originally been listed as dying of wounds on that day, and held at Guestrow Prisoner of War Camp near Rostock in NE Germany. However that places him nearly 1000km away from where he was buried and more research is ongoing.

  2. Records PA 33255 / PA 35508 / PA 36332 in the name of Rudolph Georges Bacher show that he died of Pneumonia

Newspaper Obitutary

DEATH OF GUNNER RALPH BAKER

Mr. C Baker of Hampton in Arden has received information from the war office that his son, Gunner Ralph Baker of the Hon. Artillery Company, died of pnuemonia on May 18th 1918 whilst a prisoner of war in the hands of the Germans. His parents had received two field postcards from him, one stating that he was a prisoner of war and the next with additional information that he was wounded. No other communication was received.

Ralph Baker was a very quiet and reserved youth, and it seems probable that he was wounded behind the enemy lines and afterwards succumbed to his injuries. The sympathies of the residents of Hampton in Arden will go out to Mr. and Mrs. Baker in their sad bereavement.

Records

Ralph Baker HAC Card 1
 Personal & Family History

 

Birth Date/Place Baptism Date/Place
12 Jul 1898 at Handsworth 11 Aug 1898 at Handsworth St. Mary
   
Parents Names Abode
Charles and Amelia Baker Nesfield, High Street, Hampton-in-Arden 
   
Schools Colleges
Hampton in Arden ~
   
Address History Employment History
1898 - 51 Cornwall Road, Handsworth 1911 - School
1901 - 51 Cornwall Road, Handsworth  
1911 - Nesfield, High Street, Hampton in Arden  
1916 - Nesfield, High Street, Hampton in Arden  
 

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