Bellyse Baker
23 June 1886 to 17 November 1947
BAK00165
|
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The Bakers of Highfields Story
The Story of the Dods and Bakers and of Highfields,
Fenton House and Hasfield Court. A journey through the history of Cheshire and
Staffordshire, an Anglo-Saxon nobleman who retained his lands after the
Conquest, pottery at Stoke on Trent, an encounter with Elgar, and the history
of an Elizabethan manor house at Audlem |
The family tree of the Bakers of Highfields |
The Family Tree of the Dods, predecessors to the
Bakers of Highfields |
The Bakers of Fenton House and Hasfield
Court
The Family Tree of the pottery Bakers of Stoke on Trent |
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The genealogy of the family of James Hall, linked to
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Headlines of
Bellyse Baker’s life are in brown.
Dates are in red.
Hyperlinks to
other pages are in dark
blue.
References and
citations are in turquoise.
Context and local
history are in purple.
1886
Bellyse Baker was the elder son of
William and Henrietta Louisa (nee Bellyse) Baker (BAK00121).
Bellyse was born at
Wanganui, New Zealand on 23 June 1886. (Copy of Birth Certificate of
Bellyse Baker, 23 June 1886, Baker Records 40).
1890
The family returned from New
Zealand in about 1890.
He was educated at Christ's
Hospital School.
1891
1891 Census – Farm, Close Lane, Hindley,
Wigan, Lancashire
John B Baker, Head, Married, Male,
40, Farm bailiff, born 1851 Audlem, Cheshire, England
Richmal Baker, Wife. Married,
Female, 32, born 1859, Prestwich, Lancashire, England
Bellyse Baker, Son, Single, Male, 4, born 1887
Dorothy Baker, Daughter, Single,
Female, 2, born 1889
William M Baker, Son, Single, Male, 0, born 1891 Yorkshire, England
1901
1901 Census – Christchurch, Newgate
Bellyse Baker, 14, scholar, born
New Zealand.
1911
1911 Census – 111 South Promenade, St Annes on
the Sea, Lancashire
John Bellyse Baker, Head, Married,
Male, 60, Lodging house keeper, born 1851 Audlem
Cheshire
Richmal Baker, Wife, Married,
Female, 52, born 1859 Prestwich Lancashire
Bellyse Baker, Son, Single, Male, Cotton manufacturer's clerk, 24, born 1887,
Wanganui New Zealand
Dorothy Baker, Daughter, Single, Female, 22, born 1889, Wanganui New Zealand
William Margrate Baker, Son,
Single, Male, 20, Bank clerk, born 1891, Gateforth
Yorkshire
1913
Bellyse Baker married
Lillian (“Lily”) Crosland (16 June 1884 to 28 December
1971), daughter of Joseph Crosland of Blackpool, Lancashire on 16 June 1913 (Blackpool Parish Records).
1914
Bellyse served in the First
World War in the Royal Field Artillery.
1915
Belyse and Lily had a son, John
(“Jack”) Bellyse Baker (1915 to 2010) (BAK00175)
who later married Josephine Henderson.
Bellyse Baker, Army Number 188904,
29 years old, served with 8th Battery, Royal Field Artillery.
1916
After November 1916, 8th Battery,
Royal Field Artillery was transferred into the newly‑formed 72nd Division’s artillery, becoming A Battery of
CCCLII Brigade (352 Brigade) on 20 November 1916, equipped with six 18‑pounder field guns. It then served
on Home Defence duties in Somerset, later Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire,
Wellingborough (early 1917), then Suffolk (May 1917), until the division was
broken up in early 1918.
18 pounder
By late 1916 the British Army was reorganising
artillery formations to support both the Western Front and Home Defence. Many
Territorial and Provisional batteries were reshuffled into new brigades. The
8th Battery was one such unit, absorbed into the 72nd Division, a formation
that never went overseas and was ultimately dissolved.
1917
1918
1921
Bellyse later worked for a
cotton manufacturing firm, starting as a clerk and
rising to be Sales Director.
1921 Census - Holly Bank, Altrincham Road, Wilmslow,
Wilmslow, Cheshire, England
Bellyse Baker, Head, Male, 35, Salesman, Coloured Goods, Parr Baker & Co Ltd, born 1886,
Wanganui, New Zealand
Lily Baker, Wife, Female, 35, Home Duties,
born 1886, Blackpool, Lancashire, England
John Bellyse Baker, Son, Male, 5,
born 1915, Wilmslow, Cheshire, England
Richmal Baker, Mother, Female,
Home Duties, 63, born 1858, Prestwich, Lancashire, England
1939
1939 Register - 26 Altrincham Road, Wilmslow,
Wilmslow U.D., Cheshire
Bellyse Baker, born 23 June 1886, Male, Salesman
Cotton, Married
Lily Baker, 16 June 1884, Female,
Unpaid Domestic Duties, Married
John B Baker, born 29 Nov 1915,
Male Salesman Director Cotton, Single
1944
The family lived at Wilmslow, but
Bellyse repurchased Highfields,
Audlem in 1944.
Eventually, in 1944, his elder
son, Bellyse Baker, bought Highfields back into the family, since when most of
the pictures and other contents have returned. (Baker, J Bellyse (1982), Highfields, Audlem: Sixteenth
Century Home of the Dod and Baker Families,
Audlem District History Society, page 30).
But that was not the end of the
story [of the Bakers of
Highfields], for John’s eldest son, Bellyse, who was born in New Zealand,
later returned to England and towards the end of his life bought the house
back, in 1944. So despite the 1884 sale and 60 year interlude, every generation of the family down to
the present owned the house. (Robinson,
John Martin (1991), Highfields, Audlem, Cheshire, Seat of John Bellyse Baker,
Country Life 31 January 1991, page 50).
Fortunately the pictures, silver and much of the
furniture were stored at the Cedars. John and his young family soon returned to
England and eventually, in 1944, his elder son, Bellyse, bought Highfields and
its gardens back into the family. As the last of the old aunts had died at the
Cedars, much of the contents of the old house was returned. In 1984 a major
restoration was commenced which continued for six years, and
was undertaken by Bellyse Baker's son (Jack) and grandson (John) who continue
to live there with their families. (Latham,
Frank (1997), Audlem: The History of a Cheshire Parish and its seventeen
townships, page 124).
1947
Bellyse Baker died on 17
November 1947. His will was proved on
15 April 1948. Baker Bellyse of Holmside Knutsford
road Wilmslow Cheshire died 17 November 1947 Probate Mancester
15 April to Lily Baker widow. Effects £28735 15s 7d. (Probate Records).
Bellyse Baker died in 1947, when
the property passed to his only son John Bellyse Baker (Baker, J Bellyse (1982), Highfields, Audlem: Sixteenth
Century Home of the Dod and Baker Families,
Audlem District History Society, page 30).
1971
His widow, Lily, died on 28
December 1971. Her will was proved on
27 September 1972.
(The Daily Telegraph, 30 December 1971)