P03483.002 Accession Number: P03483.002

Description

Portrait of Cyril George Baker who served under the alias of 1904 Private (Pte) Nicholas Baker, 14th Battalion. Born in Margate, England, he had served with the Royal East Kent Mounted Rifles as 1552 Trooper Cyril George Baker before arriving in Bridgewater, Australia, in search of employment as a mechanic. At the commencement of the First World War, he attempted to enlist with the Australian Infantry Forces but was rejected on medical grounds. Two months later on 19 January 1915 he returned, and giving the false name of Nicholas Baker, was successful. On 17th April 1915 he embarked from Melbourne on HMAT Hororata with the 5th Reinforcements. He made the rank of Lance Corporal before being killed in action on 27 August 1915, aged 22, by a sniper at Hill 971, Gallipoli. At the time this photograph was taken, he was enlisted with the Royal East Kent Mounted Rifles and he is pictured in dress uniform. This photograph is from an Australian Red Cross Wounded and Missing Enquiry Bureau file. The Bureau, which commenced operation in October 1915, sought to identify, investigate and respond to enquiries made regarding the fate of Australian personnel. It investigated the majority of personnel posted as wounded and missing on official Army lists, as well as written enquiries from concerned relatives and friends. Approximately 32,000 individual case files were opened for Australian personnel who were reported as wounded or missing during the First World War. The Bureau employed searchers to operate both at the front and in Britain. They searched official lists of wounded and missing, interviewed comrades of missing soldiers in hospitals and wrote to men on active service. Altogether 400,000 responses were sent back to those who placed enquiries with the Bureau.