Roger Dyke Baker

MAJOR R. D. BAKER IST BATTALION THE EAST LANCASHIRE REGIMENT ROGER DYKE BAKER was the fourth son of the Reverend Henry Defoe Baker, Rector of Thruxton, Hampshire, and of Frances Arabella his wife, of St. Denis, Crowthorne, Berkshire. He entered the School in 1894, and passed on to the R.M.C., Sand-hurst, in 1897. He was gazetted to the 2nd Battalion of the East Lancashire Regiment, and joined it in India, being promoted Lieutenant in. 1900. He saw active service in the Waziristan Campaign, on the North-Western Frontier of India in 1901-2, and in Somaliland in 1904, receiving in each case the Medal with Clasp. On returning to England he passed the Ordnance Course at Woolwich, and later on exchanged into the 1st Battalion, obtaining his Company in 1908, and being appointed Adjutant. In August, 1913, he passed into the Staff College, and became a graduate of it. At the outbreak of War he was appointed Staff Captain, and was employed as an Embarkation Officer at Southampton during the departure of the Expeditionary Force, and later on was appointed Brigade-Major to General Baldwin, of the 38th Brigade of the I3th Division. He was promoted Major, May 28th, 1915. In June, 1915, he went with the 38th Brigade to Gallipoli, and was engaged in the fighting in the Anzac district. In the severe engagement of August loth he was wounded early in the day, but continued in action until late in the afternoon, when he received a dangerous wound while leading a party of men forward to retake some ground that had been lost. Even then he would not allow himself to be carried away until another Staff Officer was able to take his place. He was then removed to the Hospital ship Gascon, on which ship he died of his wounds when nearing Lemnos, August 13th, 1915. Age 36. He was mentioned in Despatches of General Sir Ian Hamilton under the date December 11th, 1915.