George Harold Baker

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George Harold Baker
Sydney A. Fisher
Succeeded byAndrew Ross McMaster
Personal details
Born(1877-11-04)November 4, 1877
Lieutenant Colonel
Unit6th Duke of Connaught's Royal Canadian Hussars
13th Scottish Light Dragoons
5th Battalion, Canadian Mounted Rifles, CEF
Battles/warsWorld War I

George Harold Baker (November 4, 1877 – June 2, 1916) was a lawyer, political figure, and soldier from

Conservative Member of Parliament
.

He is the only sitting Canadian MP to be killed in action on military service. Fellow MP Samuel Simpson Sharpe also served at the front, was wounded and died by suicide in 1918 while on convalescent leave in Canada.[1]

Early life

He was born in

Sweetsburg, Quebec, the son of George Barnard Baker, a member of parliament and Senator. He studied at Bishop's College School
from 1889 to 1893.

Prior to the

First World War, Baker served as a member of the 6th Duke of Connaught’s Royal Canadian Hussars and the 13th Scottish Light Dragoons
.

Political career

Baker was elected as the Member of Parliament for Brome in the

Conservative Party
.

1911 Canadian federal election
Party Candidate Votes
Conservative George Harold Baker 1,520
Liberal Sydney Arthur Fisher 1,496

First World War

Baker fought in World War I as a Lieutenant-Colonel, commanding the

Battle of Mount Sorrel. Baker was carried out of the action by his second-in-command Major Dennis Draper.[2] He was buried at Poperinghe New Military Cemetery, where his gravestone bears the inscription: DEATH IS A LOW MIST WHICH CANNOT BLOT THE BRIGHTNESS IT MAY VEIL.[3][4]

Baker's life and death were commemorated by the publication of A Canadian Soldier (1917).

Sweetsburg, Quebec, on June 18, 1916. Tributes were paid by the Reverend W. P. R. Lewis and General Sir Sam Hughes, Minister of Militia. Baker's death was also marked by the Prime Minister of Canada Sir Robert Borden, with a statement published in the press and a further tribute given at the opening of parliament on January 18, 1917.[2]

A bronze memorial statue to Baker by

William Lyon MacKenzie King spoke at the unveiling, and his speech and those of others were recorded in the red leather-bound commemorative volume Parliamentary Memoir of George Harold Baker, M.P. (1924). This volume also included a funerary poem for Baker: "Non Mortuus".[7]

The base of the memorial statue bears the following inscription:

LIEUT-COLONEL GEORGE HAROLD BAKER, M.P., 5th C.M.R. KILLED IN ACTION, JUNE 2, 1916, AT THE BATTLE OF SANCTUARY WOOD. ERECTED BY ORDER OF THE PARLIAMENT OF CANADA.[8]

Either side of the recess holding the memorial statue, there are inscriptions on the walls. The inscription to the left is a biblical quote (2 Maccabees 6.31)[9][10] and the inscription to the right is the final five lines of the poem "In Flanders Fields" by John McCrae.[7][11]

  • Glenmere, East Bolton, September 1911
    Glenmere,
    East Bolton
    , September 1911
  • Camp Valcartier, July 1915
    Camp Valcartier
    , July 1915
  • Baker's grave in Belgium
    Baker's grave in Belgium
  • Baker memorial statue
    Baker memorial statue

Electoral record

1911 Canadian federal election: Brome
Party Candidate Votes
Conservative George Harold Baker 1,520
Liberal Sydney Arthur Fisher 1,496

References

  1. ^ Berthiaume, Lee (November 6, 2018). "'Forgotten' MP who died by suicide after returning from WW1 to get plaque outside House of Commons". National Post. The Canadian Press. Archived from the original on November 5, 2021. Retrieved November 5, 2021.
  2. ^ a b c Cunliffe, John William (1917). A Canadian Soldier (pdf). New York: University Printing Office, Columbia University. p. 67.
  3. Adonaïs
    (1821), an elegy for John Keats.
  4. ^ "Casualty Details: Baker, George Harold". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved January 25, 2018.
  5. ^ This work was written by John William Cunliffe (1865–1946) of Columbia University, New York City. The memorial volume contains a brief biography, several pages of letters written by Baker and others in the war, some photographs, contemporary newspaper reports and official accounts of the battle in which Baker died, and reports of tributes paid to Baker.
  6. ^ Monaghan, David (October 2012). "The Baker Memorial". Parliament of Canada. Retrieved January 22, 2018.
  7. ^ a b Bentley, D. M. R. (Spring–Summer 1993). "Monumentalités". Canadian Poetry. 32. Canadian Poetry Press.
  8. ^ "Lieutenant-Colonel George Harold Baker". Parliament of Canada. Retrieved January 25, 2018.
  9. ^ The Maccabees inscription uses the wording from the King James Version of the bible: AND THUS THIS MAN DIED LEAVING HIS DEATH FOR AN EXAMPLE OF A NOBLE COURAGE AND A MEMORIAL OF VIRTUE NOT ONLY UNTO YOUNG MEN BUT UNTO ALL HIS NATION.
  10. ^ "2 Maccabees 6:31". King James Bible Online. Retrieved January 25, 2018.
  11. ^ The McCrae inscription is as follows: TO YOU FROM FAILING HANDS WE THROW THE TORCH BE YOURS TO HOLD IT HIGH IF YE BREAK FAITH WITH US WHO DIE WE SHALL NOT SLEEP THOUGH POPPIES BLOW IN FLANDERS FIELDS.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to George Harold Baker.

See also

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