Name
Walter James Baines
13th May 1894
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Biography
Parish records suggest only one man of this name who could have served, and he was born on May 13th, 1894 and was the son of Samuel and Louisa Mary Baines (née Weeden). He would have been about twenty at the outbreak of war.
Baptism and census records list eight children: William (b 1877), John (b c1879) Emma (b 1881), Eleanor Jane (Ellen? b 1883), Nelly (b c1884), Bertha (b 1886), Emily Ida (b 1888) and Walter James (bapt 1894). It is possible that Walter’s brother was the William Baines who also served and survived.
The research of David Baines’ shows that Walter was a private in the Cheshire Regiment, having volunteered in June 1915, when he would have been twenty-one. He was drafted to Egypt in 1915, served with General Allenby in Palestine and was involved in the Battle of Gaza and the capture of Jerusalem. By the end of 1917 he had been sent to India and then to various garrison outposts. He returned home and then in August 1918, he was discharged as medically unfit for further service on September 13th 1918 and received his Silver War Badge – a small badge given to those who were discharged as a result of sickness or wounds. It served to prove to others that he had ‘done his bit’. Walter also held the 1914-15 Star, British War and Victory medals and his address at the end of the war was given as Lea Green, Kings Walden, Herts.
Acknowledgments
Text from the book ‘The Pride of Pirton’ by Jonty Wild, Tony French & Chris Ryan used with author's permission
