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The Marjorie Baker Photo Collection:
​Those Who Served

Those Who Served is a photo restoration project focused around a selection of Marjorie Baker's wartime portraits. Individually restored and first put together to mark the 75th anniversary of Victory in Europe in May 2020 and of Victory over Japan in August 2020, further portraits continue to be gradually restored and added.

​They well display her skill at bringing out the varied character of her subjects. Many soldiers were stationed in Henfield during the war, including a large number of Canadians. The following description from the wartime diary of the recently arrived new Vicar of Henfield, Henry de Candole, describes Henfield billets in September 1940: 


'A busy ‘pastoral’ autumn with much going on but no terrific pressure, and free so far from bad war anxieties. We have become a much more military place. The first soldiers (apart from the dozen searchlight men who have now melted away) were a troop of English R.E.s who occupied Martyn Lodge into the first week of September. They fortified the village with gun emplacements, innocent-looking but cunning “block-houses” or whatever they are at many points, and no doubt much else that we do not know. They were succeeded by Canadians; Canadians also at the Pools (Anti-Tank), Barrow Hill and now Magnolia House (Gunners), R.A.M.C. at Terry’s Cross; English A.S.C. men at Batts, Olivette (bungalow) and Rye Farm House. The Canadians have proved a very nice lot: more church going incidentally than any Britishers! ... Already we have 2 Canadian marriages on view!' (text courtesy of Lambeth Palace)


Marking Victory in Europe 75

All five of these portraits were taken at the end of the war and the subjects had seen and were still to see in some cases many shades of light and darkness. The portraits include a member of the ATS, a sailor, an airman, a soldier and a WREN.

Marking Victory over Japan 75

These portraits were taken earlier in the war, in 1942-3, when the prospect of travelling across the world to the jungles and distant lands of Asia to face off with the Empire of Japan was very real. Also featured is an Italian POW who ended his war here in Sussex.

Restored 2021+


​The attached document lists Canadians photographed by Marjorie during the war. Please contact us if you would like to see a particular photograph.
Wartime Canadian photos by Marjorie Baker.pdf
File Size: 156 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

Read the tragic tale of Flying Officer James 'Jim' Vinall

Picture
Canadian Army at the fuel depot at Grovelands, Wineham, WW2. At this time, the house was home to Sir Gerald Hanson

Terms of Use

All photos in 
the Marjorie Baker Collection are the copyright of Henfield Museum, being digitised from the original negatives. We allow use under the following Creative Commons license:

Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
CC BY-NC-SA


Please contact us if you would like to use any of the photos on this page for commercial purposes or would like a high quality version. We are happy to discuss usage for a negotiable fee. If you would like to order a digital or physical copy of one of Marjorie's photos, please get in touch. We will need to know as many of the following details as possible:
​

- Name of individual or family photographed
- Approximate date
- Address of the family at the time
Click here to return to the Marjorie Baker homepage
​Website funded by the Friends of Henfield Museum, built & maintained by R. S. Gordon. Credit to Mike Ainscough for moving the website idea from discussion to reality.
Henfield Museum, 2023, All rights reserved except where stated otherwise.
  • Home
    • Our Vision
    • The History of Henfield Museum
  • Collections
    • The Marjorie Baker Photo Collection >
      • Those Who Served
    • Costume >
      • Costume: Current Exhibitions
      • Costume: Past Exhibitions
      • Costume: Features
    • Our Art Collection
    • Wade Family Watercolours
    • Historic Photograph Collection >
      • Henfield Past in Colour
      • Ghosts of the Past
      • Henfield's Royal Celebrations
    • Audio Library
    • Maps & Aerial Photos
  • Exhibitions
  • Henfieldians Past
  • Blog
  • Heritage Projects
    • Henfield's Natural History >
      • Arborea
      • The William Borrer Transcription Project
    • Oral Histories
    • A Favourite Object
    • Henfield Heritage Trails
    • Local History Research
  • Friends of Henfield Museum
    • Join Form: The Friends of Henfield Museum
  • Henfield History Group
  • Key Resources
  • Education & Outreach
  • Gift Shop
  • Contact Us and Opening Times