Ldg Stoker Alfred Richard Baker RN

[michaeldr]

from the CWGC

Name: BAKER, ALFRED RICHARD

Initials: A R

Nationality: United Kingdom

Rank: Leading Stoker

Regiment: Royal Navy

Unit Text: H.M.S. "Goliath."

Age: 29

Date of Death: 13/05/1915

Service No: 309446

Additional information: Son of W. Baker, late of 136, Meyrick Rd., Battersea; husband of Lavinia Amelia Baker, of 3, Knox Rd., Battersea, London.

Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead

Grave/Memorial Reference: 11.

Cemetery: CHATHAM NAVAL MEMORIAL

Location Information: The Memorial overlooks the town of Chatham and is approached by a steep path from the Town Hall Gardens. A copy of the Memorial Register is kept in the Naval Chapel of Brompton Garrison Church and may be consulted there. The keys to the church are held at the Gate House, which is always manned. Copies of the Memorial Register may also be consulted at: Chatham Library - Tel: 01634 843589 Medway Archives & Local Studies Centre - Tel: 01634 332714

Historical Information: After the First World War, an appropriate way had to be found of commemorating those members of the Royal Navy who had no known grave, the majority of deaths having occurred at sea where no permanent memorial could be provided. An Admiralty committee recommended that the three manning ports in Great Britain - Chatham, Plymouth and Portsmouth - should each have an identical memorial of unmistakable naval form, an obelisk, which would serve as a leading mark for shipping. The memorials were designed by Sir Robert Lorimer, who had already carried out a considerable amount of work for the Commission, with sculpture by Henry Poole. After the Second World War it was decided that the naval memorials should be extended to provide space for commemorating the naval dead without graves of that war, but since the three sites were dissimilar, a different architectural treatment was required for each. The architect for the Second World War extension at Chatham was Sir Edward Maufe (who also designed the Air Forces memorial at Runnymede) and the additional sculpture was by Charles Wheeler and William McMillan. Chatham Naval Memorial commemorates more than 8,500 sailors of the First World War and over 10,000 from the Second World War.

No. of Identified Casualties: 18615

from the British O.H.

In the early hours of the 13th May, “The Goliath was lying at anchor off the French right flank. With consummate gallantry, a Turkish torpedo boat, commanded by a German lieutenant, was taken down the Straits stern first to attack her; and was mistaken in the dark for a British Vessel. She fired three torpedoes at the Goliath at short range, all of which took effect, and then made good her escape. The Goliath sank in two minutes.”

from Jane’s;

the Goliath was a Canopus Class Battleship built at Chatham; laid down in Jan 1897; launched Mar 1898; completed 1900; her last refit was 1907; complement 750.

The Goliath was torpedoed by the Turkish Destroyer Muavenet-I-Milet off De Tott’s Battery in the Dardanelles