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The Rushden Echo, 29th June, 1917, transcribed by Gill Hollis
Rushden Brothers in Arms
One Killed and One Wounded - By the Same Shell
Parent’s Second Bereavement
The sad news has reached Mr. William Baker, of 20, Glassbrook-road, Rushden, that one of his sons, Pte. Clarence Baker, of the Suffolk Regiment, was killed by a shell on Sunday last while serving in France, and that the same shell also wounded another son, Pte. Edgar Baker, who was in the same regiment – and in the same company – as the deceased soldier. The bereavement is all the heavier because Mr. Baker lost another son on April 1st, viz., Pte. Aubrey Baker, of the Hampshire, as reported at the time in the “Rushden Echo.”
The late Pte. Clarence Baker, who was 19 years of age last April, and his brother Edgar, who is 29 years of age, joined the Colours on the same day – in January last – prior to which they both worked at the shoe factory of Mr. William Claridge.
Pte. Clarence Baker’s death is referred to in several letters which have reached Rushden from comrades, including one which was written at the request of Pte. Edgar Baker by a chum.
Additional sadness is added to the event by the fact that Mr. William Baker is a widower, his wife having died about 18 years ago, leaving nine children, who were brought up by their father.
A letter sent by Pte. Burgess, of Rushden to Miss Robinson gives the information that he and Mr. Baker’s two sons were in a sand-bag shelter, which was struck by a shell and blown in. Pte. Burgess was uninjured, although buried, but Pte. C. Baker was killed instantly by a shell splinter in the heart, and Pte. Edgar Baker was wounded in the left hand.
This morning Mr. Baker received a card from his son Edgar addressed from the 2nd Western General Hospital, Manchester, to say that he had arrived in England.
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