Leading Stoker No. S5/1133134, HMS Caesar, Royal Navy. Died 14 October 1918, aged 28.
Thomas was a son of Jack and Islett Baker. Jack had been working on a sheep farm in Somerset and before the War he obtained similar work here and brought his family over to live at 3 New Cottages, Caerwent.  Thomas had been born in Minehead, grew up mainly in Caerwent and enlisted in the Navy in 1912. We do not know the circumstances of his death. HMS Caesar, the battleship shown here, was in the Mediterranean. It seems that Thomas died of pneumonia. He is buried in the Capuccini Naval Cemetery in Malta. The family continued to live at New Cottages. Elsie, his niece, still lives in Caerwent. She remembers that Islett would do very little on Remembrance Day other than listen to the services on the radio, sit in a chair and grieve for her son. |
  
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