Arthur
T. Baker of Simcoe this month is marking completion of 25 years as
an employee of the
E. H. Jackson Co. Ltd. drug store.
A familiar figure to
customers of the E. H. Jackson Co. Ltd. drug store here for the past 25 years,
Arthur Baker this month is marking the completion of a quarter
century of service as an employee of the firm.
Arthur Thomas Baker was
born 1 Jun 1895, at Gravesend, Kent, England, which is about the
size of Hamilton. His earliest recollections are those of the Boer
War, when he was just a child.
As a lad of 16 he was
employed as an apprentice by the Orient Line of Tilbury docks.
Travelling six miles to work, he had to be up at five o'clock in
the morning in order to be at work by seven o'clock, working until
six o'clock at night, then journeying home, arriving there around
eight o'clock. He made the magnificent sum of 1£ 10s, which in
those days was paid in gold and in terms of Canadian funds would
be about $6.50 per week.
He made five trips to
Australia, the 15,000 miles each way taking seven weeks. The trip
today can be made by plane in about 48 hours. Asked how he came to
go to sea, Mr. Baker replied humorously that he used to suffer
from chilblains and that cured him.
He remained with the
Orient Line a line more than two years and came to Canada in 1913,
when he was 18 years of age, the crossing being made on the Cunard
liner, "Ascania," sailing from Southampton.
His parents, Mr. and Mrs.
Thomas Baker, who passed away some years ago, and other members of
their family preceded him by a few months. Mr. Baker Sr. answered
an advertisement in a nursery magazine in England for work at the
Campbell Nursery in Simcoe, which until recently was operated by
Miss Annie Campbell and is now conducted by George Anger Jr. That
was how the Baker family happened to come to Canada and Simcoe.
When Arthur Baker came to
Simcoe he was employed at Canadian Canners for about a year before
joining the E. H. Jackson Co. Ltd. He enlisted with the 133rd
Battalion in the First Great War and was on active service for
three and one-half years.
He married the
former Phyllis Anderson of Simcoe and they have three children,
Joyce, 16, and Patricia and Nancy, twins, three years old.
Mr. Baker, who is the
oldest member of the family, has three brothers and five sisters,
Leslie, George, a former employee of the E. H. Jackson Co. Ltd.,
Wilfred, Mrs. Ernest (Elsie) Smith, Mrs. John (Joan) Watson, and Mrs.
Bruce (Madge) Pritchard, all of Simcoe; and Mrs. James (Ida) Fair
of Wardena, Sask.
Mr. Baker is a member of
Branch 79, Canadian Legion.
