Ernest Baker (alias James Wainwright) of HMCS Niobe.

Ernest Baker, alias James Wainwright.

Emailed August 6, 2025.

My grandfather, Ernest Baker, was born 24 November 1900, at 49 Loxdale Street in Toxteth Park, Liverpool. (VR 5557 Stoker James Wainwright).

When the war started in 1914, his two brothers had been enlisted in the Royal Navy and were already living away from home. By 1916 he was working as a stoker on the tugboats on the River Mersey in Liverpool.

On or around the 15th October 1917 he set sail for Canada (I haven't traced how he got there) and on 31 October 1917 he joined the Canadian Naval Reserves on HMS Niobe. He didn't however register as Ernest Baker but as James Wainwright, with date of birth as 24 November 1899, making him out to be 19 rather than 18.

He was injured in the Halifax explosion of December 1917, having served only 6 weeks.

On 2nd April 1918 we have a letter from the chaplain of the YMCA saying that he was alive although very ill and was receiving good care, and that he would be discharged as unfit for service once his condition had improved and then returned to his home. His papers show he was discharged on 29th November 1918 from Camp Hill Military Hospital and given his passage home, plus a ten pound note and a coat. I have no idea how he survived from November to February in Halifax whilst awaiting a ship and passage home, but have no further information.

I believe by February 1919 he was still in Halifax – a telegram was sent from his mother asking for his immediate return. He sailed onboard the HMS Tunisian as James Wainwright, arriving home on 26 February 1919.

His medical papers on enlistment showed him to be in good health, however post explosion he had rheumatism complicated by pain from endocarditis and very painful joints.

Post discharge he was awarded a very basic pension of 2/5ths of his entitlement due to short service and the possibility that he may have had a pre-enlistment medical condition that was exacerbated by the explosion and being thrown into the water from his ship.

I have his enrolment papers, his medical records, details of his injuries and many letters in the 1930's, to and fro, in which he tried to appeal against his reduced pension.

In 1922 he married my grandmother and there were 6 children born between 1924 and 1936. My mum, now aged 91, is his only remaining child.

My grandfather worked hard to provide a living as a boiler man in the local washrooms and later in the Hansons milk depot.

On December 24, 1946, he set out after work to meet his eldest son and his wife, as he hadn't seen his son for several years (war postings). Sadly, enroute to the pub he was involved in a road traffic accident and was killed instantly. The pea-souper fog disorientated him, and he took a wrong turn before colliding with a tramcar. It was Christmas Eve, and the end to a very short and sad life for a grandad I never got to know.

I am hoping to make a trip to Halifax in the next 12 months. My list of places to visit is lengthy, and I hope to see the place he arrived at and where he spent two years of his life.

Lorraine Robertshaw – (Email Lorraine).