Captain Cecil Douglas BAKER (1890)

1st Battalion, Grenadier Guards
Born 5 December 1870 in Lewisham, London
Killed in action 29 July 1917, aged 46
Buried at Duhallow ADS (Advanced Dressing Station) Cemetery, near Ypres, West Flanders, Belgium. Also commemorated on the Lord's Cricket Ground MCC Members WWI war memorial in the Lord's Pavilion.

Cecil Baker was the third son of Arthur Henry Baker JP FRS and Clara, née Mortimer, of Elderslie, Beckenham, Kent. He married Gwendoline Maud Peyman on 6 October 1898.

He was educated at The Abbey School in Beckenham, Kent; and at Sherborne School, where he was a member of the cricket 1st XI, and the rugby 1st XV. Whilst at Merton he was a member of the OURUFC 1st XV, which he captained in 1892. He later played for Blackheath and Barbarians. In 1895 he became a member of the Stock Exchange.

On the outbreak of war he was given a commission as Second Lieutenant in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Anti-Aircraft Corps, but was transferred to the Grenadier Guards (Special Reserve) in September 1915, where he was promoted to Lieutenant in January 1916 and Acting Captain in January 1917. He served with the Expeditionary Force in France and Flanders from 28 October 1915, and was wounded during April 1916.

He was killed in action at Le Bois des Crapouillots, near Ypres, France on 29 July 1917.