Horace Morgan BAKER

Captain Horace Morgan Baker was born at Belgrave, Leicester, on 27 October 1876, the son of Joseph Henry Baker and Louisa Jane Firth. He attended Oakham School in 1892-93 before later making his life in Australia.

Baker moved to Australia in 1902 and became part of the first generation associated with the University of Sydney’s new veterinary school. University records show that he received the degree of Bachelor of Veterinary Science in 1913. By 1912 he was already closely involved with the veterinary school: when the Sydney University Veterinary Society was founded in May of that year, Baker was elected one of its vice-presidents. He worked as a lecturer in veterinary anatomy and helped with the development of the University’s veterinary museum. He also undertook further study in the United States. In August 1913 he married Fanny Letitia Rowlandson at Clare, South Australia.

Baker enlisted on 26 August 1914 as a Captain Veterinary Officer. The Australian War Memorial records his wartime unit as the 1st Australian Field Artillery Brigade, and his embarkation from Australia on 21 October 1914. He served in Egypt and later in France. His service was repeatedly interrupted by illness: surviving biographical research records gastro-enteritis and dysentery in Egypt, and a scalp wound for which he was admitted to the 2nd Australian General Hospital at Boulogne on 6 April 1916.

He was transferred to Marseilles, where he died of pneumonia on 11 April 1916, aged thirty-nine. He was first buried in St Pierre Cemetery and was later reinterred in Mazargues War Cemetery, grave IV.A.26.

Baker’s professional commemoration continued after the war. In 1924 the Veterinary Association of New South Wales established the Baker and Ridley Memorial Prize for Animal Husbandry, commemorating Baker and fellow veterinary officer William John Ridley. The prize survived for generations at the University of Sydney. Baker was also remembered on his parents’ grave at Welford Road Cemetery, Leicester, and on the memorial at Oakham School.