Pte 53087 Laurence Herbert Baker

• Age: 24
• From: Rayleigh, Essex
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 18th Btn
• K.I.A Wednesday 20th June 1917
• Commemorated at: Railway Dugout B.g. Zillebeke
  Panel Ref: Sp.Mem.F7

Laurence Herbert Baker was born in the June quarter of 1893 in Rayleigh, Essex (General Records Office show name as Lawrence). His parents Herbert Baker and Elizabeth Dunton married in 1893 in Rochford, Essex.  They were both from Essex, his father born in Rayleigh, and his mother in Chadwell Heath.  They had ten children; Laurence was the eldest; his siblings were Ethel, William, Annie, Alice, Elsie, John, Mabel Stanley A. and Frederick Lawrence.

In 1901 the family, with five children, is living in High Street, Rayleigh, Essex. His father Herbert is a 32 year old carpenter, on his own account, whilst his mother is 29 years of age. Laurence is aged 7 and has four younger siblings, all born in Rayleigh, in the household; Ethel is aged 6, William is 4, Annie is 2 and new born Alice.   

They are still in High Street in 1911, now with eight children. His father is a 43 year old carpenter and joiner, his mother is now shown as being aged 40. They have been married for 18 years and have had eight children all of whom survived. Lawrence is aged 17 and is a labourer. His siblings are shown as Ethel a 16 year old general domestic servant, William is 14 and at school as are Annie aged 12 and Alice aged 10. Also declared in teh household are Elsie aged 6, John aged 3 and new born Mabel.  

Laurence’s parents had two more children, Stanley A Baker and Frederick Lawrence Baker (born three months after Lawrence died), so there were 10 siblings in total. Sadly Frederick Lawrence Baker lost his life in WW2

Unfortunately, Laurence's service record has not survived, but it is known that Laurence enlisted in Warley, Essex and originally served as Private 20397 with the East Surrey Regiment before he was transferred to the 18^th Battalion of The King’s Liverpool Regiment when the battalion was in the Dickebusch area of the Ypres salient.

The Battalion diary records that they were:

In huts, training and supplying cable trench working parties:   

On 20^th June 1917 Private Laurence Herbert Baker was recorded in the Battalion diary as killed in action, he was 24 years of age. 

His family received a letter from his officer 2nd Lieut A Law dated 22nd June 1917:

Dear Mr Baker.

Your son Pt L H Baker 18 KLR was I regret to tell you killed early yesterday morning on a working party at the trenches with 2 of his mates, an instantaneous death without any suffering. 

The adjutant is arranging for his burial today and promises to mark the sacred spot. 

Write to D.G.R.E.,

W.O.,

Winchester House,

St James' Square,

London 

for particulars and a photo of the grave.He was killed near Transport Farm, Zillebeke.

If you cannot find out write to me or our Adjutant Captain Clayton. His effects will be back in due course.

God Bless and comfort you and all who loved him 

Yours Truly

2nd Lt A Law     

A further indication into how Laurence was killed comes in a report on the death of a fellow Pal in the 18th Battalion on the same day:

St Helens Examiner 07th July 1917

PRIVATE S. PARKER

Killed Whilst Out On A Working Party

Private Samuel Parker of the King's Liverpool Regiment was killed in action on the 20th of June. His wife who lives at 18 Gandy Street, Warrington received the first intimation in a letter from the Chaplain of the Battalion last week, in which he explained that Private Parker was out with a working party when a shell burst and killed him instantly. 

Laurence now rests at Railway Dugouts Burial Ground, Zillebeke, Belgium.

The commune of Zillebeke contains many Commonwealth cemeteries as the front line trenches ran through it during the greater part of the First World War.

Railway Dugouts Cemetery is 2 Kms west of Zillebeke village, where the railway runs on an embankment overlooking a small farmstead, which was known to the troops as Transport Farm. The site of the cemetery was screened by slightly rising ground to the east, and burials began there in April 1915. They continued until the Armistice, especially in 1916 and 1917, when Advanced Dressing Stations were placed in the dugouts and the farm. They were made in small groups, without any definite arrangement and in the summer of 1917 a considerable number were obliterated by shell fire before they could be marked. The names "Railway Dugouts" and "Transport Farm" were both used for the cemetery.

At the time of the Armistice, more than 1,700 graves in the cemetery were known and marked. Other graves were then brought in from the battlefields and small cemeteries in the vicinity, and a number of the known graves destroyed by artillery fire were specially commemorated. The latter were mainly in the present Plots IV and VII.

The cemetery now contains 2,459 Commonwealth burials and commemorations of the First World War. 430 of the burials are unidentified and 261 casualties are represented by special memorials. Other special memorials record the names of 72 casualties buried in Valley Cottages and Transport Farm Annexe Cemeteries whose graves were destroyed in later fighting.

VALLEY COTTAGES CEMETERY, ZILLEBEKE, was among a group of cottages on "Observatory Road", which runs Eastward from Zillebeke village. It contained the graves of 111 soldiers from the United Kingdom and Canada. It was in an exposed position during the greater part of the war.

TRANSPORT FARM ANNEXE was about 100 metres South-East of the Railway Dugouts Cemetery, on the road to Verbrandenmolen. The graves in it were removed to Perth Cemetery (China Wall), Zillebeke, but one officer, whose grave could not found, is specially commemorated here.

The cemetery was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens.

Laurence's grave was one of the graves destroyed by shellfire and as such as the inscription on his headstone reads:

“THEIR GLORY SHALL NOT BE BLOTTED OUT”

This phrase was decided upon by Rudyard Kipling and is used when the burial place of a soldier is not known. It is a biblical reference from Ecclesiasticus 44:13 which reads in full as: "Their seed shall remain forever, and their glory shall not be blotted out". 

Laurence's death was announced in the Chelmsford Chronicle on 29^th June 1917: 

“Pte Laurence H. Baker, King’s (Liverpool) Regt., eldest son of Mr. and Mrs. H. Baker of High Road, Rayleigh, was killed in France.” 

A Memorial Card was printed in honour of Laurence and its content are as follows:

IN AFFECTIONATE REMEMBRANCE 

of 

Pte Lawrence Baker 

(18th Kings Liverpool Reegiment)

Who lost his life in the advance July 1917

IN HIS 25TH YEAR

Who dies for England, never dies,

He lives on Britain's roll of fame,

The glory that surrounds his name,

Undimmed, the torch of time defies,

And sons as yet unborn shall read,

How British sons met Britain's need.

HMB  

His effects and pension went to his mother Elizabeth.

Laurence Herbert Baker is commemorated on the following Memorials:

Rayleigh Parish Memorial Plaque, Holy Trinity Church, Rayleigh, Essex.

Rayleigh Royal British Legion

Laurence's brother Frederick Lawrence Baker, born three months after Laurence's death lost his life in WW2 on 14th February 1942 serving with the 4th Battalion of the Suffolk Regiment. He was 25 years of age and is commemorated in Kranji War Cemetery in Singapore Sp. Mem. 12. E. 10. His headstone bears the epitaph:

"THOUGH YOU LIE FAR AWAY WE ARE ALWAYS THINKING OF YOU"

Grateful thanks are extended to Cally Maciver for forwarding the photograph of Lawrence, the memorial card, letter from his officer and further family details which would otherwise not be recorded here.