Rifleman John William Baker (1894–1915)
John William Baker was born at Churchill’s Farm, Dodpitts Lane, in about 1894, the son of Charles James and Georgina Kate Baker. His parents had married in Shalfleet Church in 1891, and they had 8 children, of whom John was the second.
On the outbreak of the First World War, John immediately enlisted in the 1st/8th Battalion of the Hampshire Regiment, better known as Princess Beatrice’s Isle of Wight Rifles. His service number was 1707.
After training in England, the battalion sailed from Liverpool on 30th July 1915 aboard the great Cunard liner Aquitania, which had been requisitioned as a troopship. The men travelled through the Mediterranean to the island of Lemnos, before proceeding to the Gallipoli peninsula, where they landed at Suvla Bay on 10th August.
The battalion was part of the 163rd Brigade of the 54th (East Anglian) Division. On arrival, the men encountered the distressing sight of thousands of wounded soldiers awaiting evacuation from the beaches.
On 12th August, just two days after landing, the Isle of Wight Rifles were ordered to advance across open country towards the Turkish positions on the Anafarta hills. At about 4.45 in the afternoon, they began their advance under intense rifle, machine-gun and artillery fire. The attack proved disastrous, with hundreds of men killed, wounded or missing.
John William Baker was killed that day, aged just 21. His body was never identified, and he is commemorated on the Helles Memorial in Gallipoli, which records the names of thousands of servicemen who died in the campaign and have no known grave.
John had been on Turkish soil for only two days when he lost his life, far from his family and home on the Isle of Wight.
We will remember them.