“If you think, have a kindly thought, If you speak, speak generously, Of those who as heroes fought And died to keep you free”
Set up by the Black Country Society. Our aim is to highlight local men who died in the Great War and how they have been commemorated on war memorials. Its scope covers the whole of the present Dudley Municipal Borough and therefore includes the places which have come within its bounds since 1914.
There are over fifty memorials and the number of names exceeds three thousand. Research on the names has been extensive but inevitably errors and omissions occur. We would like to hear about them concentrated on life and work before 1914, involvement in military campaigns and where each man is buried or commemorated.
John Baker was the son of John and Mary Ann Baker and was married to Emily Baker of 86 Hall Street, Dudley. He enlisted in the Worcesters and was sent to the 9th (Service) Battalion. After evacuation from Gallipoli the Worcesters served in the Tigris campaign. They overcame massive difficulties and reached Baghdad. A further expedition was sent to Persia and Baku. Private John Baker probably suffered from sickness and was taken to India to a hospital where he died on the 11th July 1918. He was 36 years of age and is commemorated on the Kirkee (Poona) Memorial and the Dudley Memorial.
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