TOPIC:

Picture courtesy of DNW

IGS 1854 (1) Burma 1885-7 (Captain H. R. Lloyd 2nd Bn. Som. L.I.);
QSA (3) CC OFS Tr (Major. H. R. Lloyd. Somerset L.I.);
KSA (2) (Lt. Col. H. R. Lloyd. Som. L.I.)

Lieutenant-Colonel H. R. Lloyd served with the Burmese Expedition 1885-7 (Medal with clasp). Served in the South African War 1899-1902 - took part in the operations in the Transvaal in May and June 1900. In the Transvaal, east of Pretoria, July 1900. In the Transvaal, west of Pretoria, August to November 1900. In Orange River Colony, August and November 1900. In Cape Colony 1900. In command 2nd Bn. Somerset L.I., 7 July 1901 to 31 May 1902. Again during operations in the Transvaal, 30 November 1900 to 31 May 1902. Also in Orange River Colony, December 1900. Despatches London Gazette 10 September 1901 and 29 July 1902 (Brevet of Lieutenant-Colonel, Queen’s medal with 3 clasps, and King’s medal with 2 clasps).

A Burma DCM group to the SLI.


Picture courtesy of DNW

DCM VR (Sergt E. W. Bath. 2/Som: L.I. (26th June 1886.));
IGS 1854 (1) Burma 1885-7 (30 Sergt. E. W. Bath. 2nd Bn. Som. L.I.);
QSA (5) Cape Colony, Tugela Heights, Orange Free State, Relief of Ladysmith, Transvaal (3470. Sjt. Maj. E. W. Bath. Somerset: L.I.);
British War Medal 1914-20 (Deal 14061-S- Pte. E. W. Bath. R.M.)
[VM]

DCM awarded for action at Quingyee, Upper Burma, 26 June 1886. Recommendation submitted to the Queen, 30 August 1892 (Army Order 190 of 1892), the details of which appear in Campaign Histories of The Infantry Regiments of The British Army, by Rudolph: ‘Colour-Sergeant E. Bath - The officer commanding his detachment having been shot in action, Colour-Sergeant Bath continued the action and brought it to a successful conclusion.’

Edwin William Bath was a native of Portsmouth, and was born in 1865. In a letter to The Secretary of State for War, dated 14 November 1920, Bath relates his service:

‘I respectfully beg to request that you will allow me to receive the War Gratuity as a Warrant officer for the period September 1914 to 9th April 1915. I was for eight years Sergeant Major of the Somerset Light Infantry prior to going on pension. I rejoined the Colours in Septr. 1914 as a Warrant Officer, was sent to Codford Camp to form the 10th Devons, was training officers and NCOs for one month when I received a Commission as Lieut. and Quartermaster in the XI Cheshire Regt. on October 14th 1914 which I held until April 1915 when I was allowed to resign my commission as the result of a Medical Board after illness. I applied to the Sec. War Office for the gratuity but was informed that as I had not been on full pay as an officer for 6 months I was not entitled. I received the thanks of my Comdg. Officer (Col Dyas) the day I left the Battn., for the good hard work I had done as Lieut. & Qr. Mr., expressing a hope that I would return when my health permitted; I served since as a Corporal in the Royal Marine Labour Corps for sixteen months prior to the Armistice, was demobilised in March 1919, rejoined again as Sergeant in the RASC. British Military Mission South Russia, demobilised July 1920. Served in the Burmese War 1885-7. Awarded the DCM, also in the Boer War 1899. 1900. 1901. 1902. So having failed to qualify for the officers gratuity, would you grant my request as above.’

Whilst Bath briefly mentions his D.C.M., The History of the Somerset Light Infantry (Prince Albert’s) 1685-1914, by Major-General Sir Henry Everett, KCMG, CB gives the following:

‘On 24th June [1886] Lieutenant H. T. Shubrick marched with 2 guns and 30 men of the Regiment from Pyinmana to Theagon on the Yamethin Road about 6 miles distant. After destroying several villages near Theagon on the 26th, Shubrick occupied the hamlet of Quinqyi [sic], where, while halted for breakfast, he was attacked on all sides by dacoits. After some fighting the enemy were driven off, but Shubrick himself was killed, being struck in the neck by a bullet, while two men were wounded. The force then returned to Pyinmana under Lieutenant Coxhead, R.A. Serjt. E. A. [sic] Bath, who assumed command of the detachment of the Regiment on the death of Lieutenant Shubrick, was afterwards mentioned in despatches for gallant conduct on this occasion and was awarded the silver medal for distinguished conduct.’

Bath, during his nomination for a commission during the Great War, later wrote of the event that he had been ‘Recommended by Sir George White for a commission in 1886 for distinguished conduct in the field but received D.C.M. instead.’

During the Second Boer War, Bath continued to serve with the Regiment and received a special mention for his services in Lord Roberts’s Despatch of 4 September 1901. After continued and varied service during the Great War and in South Russia he was finally discharged in July 1920. Bath is entitled to a Victory Medal, which according to his MIC he was issued with under Army authority in May 1931, his British War Medal having been previously issued under Naval authority.

1 of 11 DCMs awarded for the various Burma campaigns between 1885-91, including 2 to the Somerset Light Infantry.

From the next Morton and Eden auction.

QSA (3) Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Transvaal [these loose upon ribbon] (6892 Pte. C. Moule, Somerset: Lt Infy.)

Also entitled to SA01.

Picture courtesy of DNW

QSA (5) Cape Colony, Tugela Heights, Orange Free State, Relief of Ladysmith, Transvaal (4368 Pte. W. Walsher, Somerset: Lt. Infy.)
[ KSA (2) ]

KSA listed on WO100/323p213

Picture courtesy of DNW

QSA (3) Cape Colony, Orange Free State, Transvaal (5589 Pte. A. Barrett, Somerset: Lt. Infy.);
KSA (2) (5589 Pte. A. Barrett. Somerset: L.I.)

Alfred Barrett. Born 1881 in Bristol, Gloucestershire. Service papers extent. Great War service.

The Batten brothers from Yarcombe
2nd Bn Prince Alberts Somerset Light Infantry ….

What started out as part of First World War research, then involved the same family in the Boer War, sadly with one fatality from the same family in each war.

During the preparations for the commemoration of the Great War, the village of Yarcombe in East Devon, received out of the blue, a large bronze Death Plaque or Widows Penny, one of 1,355,000 issued. This had originally been sent to the family of Thomas Batten and had then found it’s way to the Carillon War Memorial Museum, who in 2019 kindly donated it to our village.

Out of the population of a small Devon parish, ninety three enlisted and eleven did not return. All the names are recorded on a collection of mounted brass plaques in the Baptist Chapel.
There are also six members of the Spiller family recorded, one of whom did not return.

Thomas Batten had enlisted at Dorchester into the 21st Battalion Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry. He appears to have enlisted early in the war as his original service number of 4689 was replaced by 266836 in 1917. He was killed age 28 on April 1st 1918 and is remembered on the Pozieres Memorial as having no known grave. He is also commemorated on a headstone just outside the entrance to the Baptist Chapel. This headstone also commemorates father Eli, wife and mother Mary Jane and their sons John and Thomas Batten.

We had also been offered Thomas Batten’s medals, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal, both generously gifted by Martin Keys who had previously purchased them. Along with a photo of Thomas Batten, there is now a comprehensive collection to the memory of John and Thomas.

The village website has a detailed record of seventy four ancestral searches, but does not appear to feature any Boer War connections, unlike nearby Honiton, which has a memorial dedicated to nine former pupils from nearby All Hallows School, Rousdon.

On enquiring if there was anyone from the village who served in the Boer War, l learnt that there was one person, John Batten, who was an elder brother of Thomas. From the 1891 census it appeared that Thomas did not have an elder brother and the family were living at Beacon Farm, now occupied by a prominent local historian.

On further investigation of the 1891 census, Thomas did have an elder brother John, who was living at a different address in the village, earning his keep as a ten year old servant at Waterhayne Farm. It was not unusual in those days to send children out to other families if their parents could not afford to feed them or possibly helping to support their parents.

In the 1911 census, Thomas Batten was living at The Beacon in Yarcombe, recorded as a farm labourer, working elsewhere, while his sister Louisa was recorded as Housekeeper working at home.
On her death in 1963, she is noted as Louisa Batten Spiller, hence the link between the Batten and Spiller families and the previous mention of the Spiller names also recorded on the Baptist Chapel memorial.

John Batten’s life would appear to have been one of being born into a working agricultural family, with very little chance of improving his life. His maternal grandfather had been a shoemaker, a trade not taken up by his son Eli. The occupations given by the ‘heads of houses’ of the six dwellings in Beacon in the 1891 census, were five agricultural labourers and one woodsman.

Whether it was as a result of the agricultural depression of the 1870s, which tragically impacted on my own paternal family, or the prospect of regular pay, improved conditions, potential promotion or the chance to see some more of the world with the comradeship of fellow soldiers, we will never know his motive for leaving his family, village and agriculture behind.

The next major chapter in John Battens life is that he had joined the 2nd Battalion Prince Albert’s Somerset Light Infantry nr 5065.

His QSA medal is in the possession of a descendant of his sister Louisa and l have been able to locate a picture of John Batten’s medal, which also has clasps for Relief of Ladysmith, Tugela Heights, Cape Colony, Orange Free State and Transvaal.
During his relatively short life, John must have seen plenty of action, most probably all of it during his relatively short military service, for which his very rural upbringing had not been a particularly helpful preparation. It may however have given him some countryside skills he found useful in contributing to him surviving well known actions as demonstrated by his clasps, then only to die from disease.
John Batten died on 30 December 1900 and is buried at Springfontain Military Cemetery, although his headstone is misspelt as Batton.

I do not know if his medal has always been in the family or if it was subsequently purchased by them, either way it is where it deserves to be.

After their losses in the two wars, Eli and Mary Jane Batten still had two girls and three boys, several of whom are thought to have married into local families, with their descendants still living in the locality, although shortly after 2015 there were no Batten family names thought to be still living in the parish of Yarcombe.

Quite a story from a Manor owned by Sir Francis Drake and with family descendants there to this day. Perhaps this will bring another family to search their family history and discover a Boer War connection.

The pictures and confirmation of the marriage connection between the two families, was courtesy of Jonathan Spiller and his cousin, via Ancesty.


I look forward to hearing of any further information about John Batten, which will be forwarded to his family and our enthusiastic local family historians.

Thanks

Clive