TOPIC:

Hello Dave, thank you for your input. I have now scratched forever the two Bakers and the death certificate from the Johannesburg hospital as possibly being the Roxby Balneavis Baker I am searching for. Please read my earlier response to and which also poses the question of how and where to see the sign up documents which I guess should give a next of kin and an address. I have no clue as to how to ask Ancestry for any further info. I am a techno nitwit and given I have gotten this far on this site is nothing short of a miracle.

Of course the next question is how on earth to find out what happened to him...

Thank you again.

After WW1 Walter Headland Valentine Baker "took discharge in England, his address shown as the Devonshire Club. By 1922 A.M.F. Base Records state his last known address in 1922 as W&T Avery Ltd. of the Soho Factory, Birmingham, England in response to a request from Bon Marche of Perth from 1919 who had supplied his uniform & 'other items' on the eve of his departure but had 'failed to call in and settle his account'. He is understood to have settled in Selly Oak and died in the early 1930s."

Despite what it might say above, W T Avery's Soho Factory was actually in SMETHWICK!

Here he is, with wife & son, on the 1921 Census return for 765 Pershore Road, Selly Park, Birmingham:




When his medals were up for sale they were posted on this site.

Hello SMETHWICK

Oh boy, it sure is a small world....

Can you please send me the link to access this census copy as I don't seem to be able to save it on my computer from the Anglo Boer War forum site

I think I already sent you the link for Walter on Wikitree... www.wikitree.com/wiki/Baker-27463


Many thanks.... wishing you a good week.

Primrose Cemetery, Germiston

Hello Elmarie, many many thanks for this photo highlighting Baker of the Lincoln regiment. After much help from Dave and Smethwick, it appears unlikely that this Baker of the Lincoln regiment is my ancestor. More likely R B Baker of Marshall's Horse regiment number 599.
Of course now the hope is to one day understand what happened to him after the Boer War....Wikipedia says the following...
According to a memorial on the wall of St John the Baptist Church, Newport, Monmouthshire, 60 members of Marshall's Horse died during the Second Boer War. 30 in 1900, 14 in 1901 and 16 in 1902. Does anybody live close to this church who could photograph this memorial for me please?
Wishing you a good week.
Many thanks

Hello again Smethwick,

I am referring to Walter Headland Valentine Baker's for sale medals listed on this site. Who put them up for sale? I may be able to contact them to see if we are family. I am assuming a collect purchased the medals? Thank you again.