Etc. -- Arthur T. Baker has served 25 years
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A lightly edited transcript of a page 14 article from the 16 May 1946 issue of the Simcoe Reformer.

Serves 25 years at local store

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.
 

 
Copyright 2017 John Cardiff