WILLIAM BAKER

Came from: Green Waves   Went to: Army

First game: 18 September 1909   Last game: 01 May 1915

Appearances: 209 (209/0)   Goals: 1

Born in Plymouth in 1882, Baker began his career in local football with Green Waves in 1901. After four seasons with the club, during which he also played for both the Devon County and Cornwall County sides, he left to play in the United States and for De Beers in South Africa. On returning to Devon, he rejoined Green Waves before signing for Argyle in 1909.

Baker went on to make over 200 Southern League appearances at left-half over the next six seasons, scoring his solitary career goal in a 2-1 home defeat by Bristol Rovers in October 1910. He made his last appearance on 1st May 1915, away at Southend, after which he left for active service. The Argyle handbook described him as "possessed of inexhaustible energy and indomitable pluck".

Baker was an Army man and joined the Duke of Cambridge's Own (17th Battalion of the Middlesex Regiment), which became known as the 'Footballers' Battalion' because it contained a plethora of talented footballers during the First World War. Formed in the spring of 1915, the Battalion originally contained over 200 professional players with affiliations to many Football League clubs.

The 17th Middlesex proceeded overseas in November 1915, first experiencing life in the trenches around Loos. They also played football when they could. Within only a few weeks of their arrival in France, they played their first match in a Divisional Tournament. After emphatic victories over the 13th Essex (9-0), 2nd South Staffords (6-0) and 1st King’s Royal Rifle Corps (6-0), the Final took place on 11 April 1916 against 34th Brigade, Royal Field Artillery at Hersin. Lance Corporal Baker was listed as a half-back, alongside future Pilgrim, Lance Corporal Jack Cock (then of Huddersfield Town). The match ended in an emphatic 11-0 victory for the 17th Middlesex.

Afterwards, a commemorative medal would be struck for each member of the team with the inscription: ‘B.E.F. France, Association Football Cup’. By the time these medals were ready for distribution in the autumn, four players, including Baker, were sadly no longer alive to receive them.

Tragically, on October 22nd 1916, Baker was killed by German artillery fire near Serre-lès-Puisieux during the Battle of the Somme, aged just 33. Baker had made the supreme sacrifice for his country. He was awarded the Military Medal (MM) and is commemorated in the Sucrerie military cemetery at Colincamps, buried with the rank he held when he passed, Sergeant.