BAKER, William

William Baker was the son of Thomas Baker and his wife Alice Jackson of Dudley and attended Dudley Grammar School. He volunteered in 1914 for the South Staffords and went to the 2nd Battalion. They had fought a difficult campaign in 1914, enduring the Retreat from Mons in August, the Battle of the Aisne in September and the First Battle of Ypres in October. With numbers made up by March 1915 the Staffords could go into battle again. They provided a diversionary attack for the battle of Neuve Chapelle and fought at Festubert in May and Loos in September. In 1916 they went to the frontline again during the Battle of the Somme and attacked at Guillemont farm near Delville Wood on the 7-8th August. The attack was successful but among the killed in action was Private William Baker. He was 36 years of age and is commemorated on the Thiepval, Dudley and Dudley Grammar School Memorials.