Inside the Mind of Reginald Dack Baker: July 2009

Introduction

The damage wrought by war can be a lifelong legacy of mental turmoil. Reginald Dack Baker (originally from Norwich) served in the Royal Australian Field Ambulance regiment from August 1914 to near the end of the war. During that time he served in some of the bloodiest theatres of war, including the Western front and Gallipoli.

Returning to Australia after the war, in 1923 he was sectioned and was an patient at the Goodna Asylum in Brisbane. Upon his release he came back to his native city, Norwich and lived there for the rest of his life (dying in the 1960s).

This blog attempts to make some sense of the remarkable collection of six journals he compiled. They betray an obsession with the idea that radio waves were being used to control and kill innocent people. In places there are brief references to his service in WW1. There are also letters from a 'sweet heart' who he left in Australia, Kitty.

For Reginald Dack Baker the legacy of his war years was a life sentence of mental ill-health and obsessive delusion. It is a tragedy.

Monday, 20 July 2009

A Possible Date of Emigration

Reginald Dack Baker's enlistment details in his War Service Records tell us that he was 25 years and 5 months old when he enlisted in August 1914, so he must have been born in 1889. I have just been looking through the outward-bound Passenger Lists from England, and there is only one person by the name of William Baker who, born in 1889, subsequently emigrates to Australia prior to 1914. The year of emigration is 1909, which - if it is our (William) Reginald Baker - makes him 19/20 when he decides to go to Australia. The only other detail I can ascertain (without purchasing this record - which I am currently in no financial position to do!), is that the ship departed from London, arriving in Brisbane. Everything seems to fit!

Another small piece of the puzzle...

I've just been doing a bit of online trawling for further information about Reginald Dack Baker, and have found some pictures of the ship which transported his unit from Australia in September 1914. Click on the link for more information -> Rangatira