Captain Horace Morgan Baker was born in Leicester, England, on 27 October 1876. In 1902, he moved to Australia to study veterinary science at Sydney University. He later moved to the USA for further study at the University of Philadelphia. Before the war, Horace worked as a lecturer in Veterinary Anatomy at Sydney University. He also assisted in the establishment of the University’s Veterinary Museum.
Horace enlisted on 26th August 1914 as a Captain (Veterinary Officer) in the 3rd Infantry Brigade (Field Artillery) of the Australian Commonwealth Forces. He served in Egypt and France.
In August 1915, he suffered gastroenteritis in Alexandria. He was admitted to the 1st Australian General Hospital, Heliopolis (Egypt) with dysentery just two months later, and on 6th April 1916, was admitted to the 2nd Australian General Hospital at Boulogne, France, with a scalp wound. This was a tented hospital that mostly dealt with battle casualties.
He was transferred to Marseilles where he died on 11th April 1916 of pneumonia (probably a complication of his scalp wound). He was buried first at St Pierre Cemetery in Marseilles and then reburied at Mazargues War Cemetery.
