Missing Navy officer help please

[chris2705]

Hi

I am trying to find any record of the following chap "Philip Harold William Baker, Lieutenant, Royal Navy" in 1920. DoB 25/12/1883

I have looked on the National Archive site and cannot find him. He is likely to have only served during WWI as his profession before the war, and certainly after 1922 was as a civil engineer (railways and electrification). He spent most of WWI in Buenos Aries, Argentina apparently working for an English company in relation to the local railway which adds to the mystery.

Any suggestions?

[tressle]

Do you know where he was born, wondered if that would help find him in the records.

Tressle

[chris2705]

Hi

He was born in India (British subject)

Thanks

[tressle]

There is a Phillip Harold Baker, last residence South Africa, Engineer returning to England in 1926.  I think his proposed address was Pollards Hill, S W 16.

Tresssle

[chris2705]

I have seen that record (and in fact my profile photo is of Philip and comes from that trip). He went to SA in 1922 shortly after returning from one of at least two stays in Argentina. When he was in SA he was working as an engineer on the electrification of a railway with no navy activities at all.

[seaweed]

Hi

I am trying to find any record of the following chap "Philip Harold William Baker, Lieutenant, Royal Navy" in 1920. DoB 25/12/1883

I have looked on the National Archive site and cannot find him. He is likely to have only served during WWI as his profession before the war, and certainly after 1922 was as a civil engineer (railways and electrification). He spent most of WWI in Buenos Aries, Argentina apparently working for an English company in relation to the local railway which adds to the mystery.

Any suggestions?

I  would try and confirm his RN status by looking at the "Navy List" for the years in question.
The Navy List records details of officers and their ships/shore establishments and where ships were stationed, For the period of the First World War they were published several times a year. They are available in most central reference libraries, NMM , RN Museum and TNA @ Kew.
As far as I am aware, they are unavailable on line in their entirety.

[chris2705]

Thanks Seaweed, that is very helpful.

[jds1949]

Whilst your man does not appear in the records for Royal Navy officers he may well have been in the RN Reserve or Voluntary Reserve, and those records are not searchable online - which means either a trip to Kew or requesting a search.

jds1949

[seaweed]

If he were either RNR or RNVR then this would be recorded in the Navy List.
Best check it out before shelling out on a trip to Kew or paying for research.