1/5 Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment, 655, Private Henry Charles BAKER and 1/5 Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment, 37356, Corporal Henry Charles BAKER was the only son of Joseph and Eliza BAKER and was baptised at St James Church, Chipping Camden on 19th January 1898 when he was 16 years old. His parents were born at Kingham in Oxfordshire and his father was employed as a mason's labourer. The family were living in Watery Lane, Chipping Camden in 1901.
When Henry left school he joined the Volunteer Drum and Fife Band and was a member of 'K' Company, 2nd Volunteer Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment. He soon became a bugler with the Volunteers and when he reached the age of 18 he was sworn in as a man and continued to serve in the company when the Haldane reforms of 1908 saw the volunteers replaced by the Territorials. He was still a member of 'H' Company, 5th Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment at the outbreak of war in 1914 and was mobilised on 5th August and went to Chelmsford in Essex for final training before the battalion was posted overseas. Lewis Hadley HORNE was the Sergeant-Major with the battalion and Henry was appointed his batman.
The battalion arrived in France on 29th March 1915 and they soon made their way north to Ploegsteert in Belgium, where they were given experience of life in the trenches in a quiet sector of the front. In July 1915 the battalion moved south to the northern sector of the Somme battlefield, where they occupied trenches east of Hebuterne. They remained in this sector until May 1916, when they were moved from the line to prepare for their part in the Battle of the Somme. During the battle Henry was badly wounded in five places with shrapnel near the village of Ovillers and a spell recovering in hospital was required.
It is not known when Henry rejoined his battalion but he was with them when they were sent to Italy in November 1917. In June 1918 the battalion occupied a difficult position in the woods around Buco di Cesuna on the Asiago Plateau. They were so under-strength, 466 all ranks, that the brigade commander hesitated to place them in the frontline, but there was no other unit readily to hand. The Battle of Asiago began at 3.00 a.m. on 15th June 1918 when the Austrians began an artillery barrage that lasted for four hours. This was followed by a massive infantry attack and the 1/5 Glosters suffered heavy casualties. The forward trenches were breached but a stubborn defence blunted the enemy offensive. The Glosters were steadily pushed back and split into two fighting groups and they had to be very careful not to be encircled by the enemy.
It was during this fighting on the Asiago Plateau that Henry was killed on 15th June 1918. He was 36 years and had served for over twenty years, as man and boy, with the Glosters. He is buried in Magnaboschi Cemetery on the Asiago Plateau in Italy. The Evesham Journal reported his death on 13th July 1918 but stated that he had been killed in action in France.
Memorials: St James's Church and in the High Street, Chipping Camden.
L'est we forget
