3rd Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment
John Berry Baker was born in the St Pancras area of London in second quarter of 1898.
He was the son of John Butlin and Emily Berry Baker. Prior to his enlistment he lived with his parents at Elmwood, Haywards Road, Cheltenham and had been apprenticed as a builder to his grandfather in Winchcombe Street.
He enlisted in Cheltenham in April 1915 and because he was only 17 he was posted to the 3rd (Reserve) Battalion of the Gloucestershire Regiment, stationed at Gravesend in Kent. He was drowned there whilst bathing at about 11am on 27 June 1915, when a wave swept him off his feet and he was carried away in the ebb tide; his body was recovered at about 3pm. John was 17 years of age.
He was buried in Cheltenham Borough Cemetery, where a CWGC headstone marks his grave. He is also commemorated on the Cheltenham Borough War Memorial and those in All Saints Church (All Saints Road) and Church of the Holy Apostles (London Road).
(Taken from Leaving all that was dear – Cheltenham and the Great War by Joe Devereux and Graham Sacker)
Researched by Graham Adams 6 February 2012