BATCHELOR, William Henry Edwin Cyril
| Service Number: | 1595 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 15 December 1914, Adelaide, South Australia |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 10th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Semaphore, South Australia, Australia, 6 August 1892 |
| Home Town: | Gilberton, Walkerville, South Australia |
| Schooling: | Pulteney Street School |
| Occupation: | Clerk, Bookkeeper |
| Died: | Killed in Action, France, 6 May 1917, aged 24 years |
| Cemetery: |
No known grave - "Known Unto God" Villers-Bretonneux Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux, Picardie, France, Hersin Communal Cemetery Extension, Hersin-Coupigny, Lens, Nord Pas de Calais, France |
| Memorials: | Adelaide Gilles Street Primary School WW1 Honour Roll (New), Adelaide National War Memorial, Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Gilberton Soldiers Memorial Swimming Reserve, Villers-Bretonneux Memorial (Australian National Memorial - France) |
World War 1 Service
| 15 Dec 1914: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 1595, 10th Infantry Battalion, Adelaide, South Australia | |
|---|---|---|
| 19 Feb 1915: | Embarked AIF WW1, Private, 1595, 10th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Runic, Melbourne | |
| 19 Feb 1915: | Involvement AIF WW1, Private, 1595, 10th Infantry Battalion, Enlistment/Embarkation WW1, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '10' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Runic embarkation_ship_number: A54 public_note: '' | |
| 7 May 1915: | Involvement AIF WW1, Private, 1595, 10th Infantry Battalion, ANZAC / Gallipoli | |
| 28 May 1915: | Wounded ANZAC / Gallipoli, GSW (left shoulder) | |
| 9 Sep 1915: | Involvement AIF WW1, Private, 1595, 10th Infantry Battalion, ANZAC / Gallipoli | |
| 6 May 1917: | Involvement AIF WW1, Private, 1595, 10th Infantry Battalion, Bullecourt (Second) |
Attended Pulteney Street School
Attended Pulteney Street School 1905-1908
Born at Semaphore, Cyril Batchelor was the son of Major Henry Charles Rainsford and Amy Catherine Batchelor. He attended Pulteney Street School in 1905, starting in Form IIIa and completing Form VIa in 1908. In 1906 he won the U13 Spelling Bee competition for Pulteney Street School at the Church Day School Exhibition. He was a choirboy, choirman and lay reader at St Paul’s, Pulteney Street.
The family moved to Mount Gambier where Cyril worked as a clerk at Mount Gambier Preserving works and by 1914 was book-keeper for Messers George Wilcox & Co Mt Gambier. Prior to enlistment he was a first Lieutenant in the Senior Cadets, but enlisted in 1914, joining the reinforcements rather than wait promotion in a later contingent. He and sailed from Melbourne with 2nd reinforcements 10th battalion, 1915.
He was at the Gallipoli landing and on June 22 was severely wounded. He was hospitalized in Malta, Gibralter and later London. He returned to active duty in France and Belgium in June 1916. He was killed at Bullecourt May 6, 1917 and has no known grave. He is remembered at the Australian National Memorial, Villers-Bretonneux, France.
Courtesy of Pulteney Grammar School
Submitted 6 February 2016 by Faithe Jones
Biography contributed by Nicholas Egan
Margaret Phillips
Club Historian Gilberton Amateur Swimming Club Inc.
Batchelor was born at Semaphore 6 August 1892 and was the grandson of James E. Dempster, solicitor of Port Adelaide, part of the firm of Dempster, Webb & Dempster which was one of the oldest legal firm practising in Australia. He was a choirboy, choirman and a lay reader successively of St. Paul’s Adelaide.
He had attended Pulteney Street School and served for three years in the Senior Cadets 78th Battalion. Cyril was one of the first officers appointed as a Lieutenant in the Compulsory Training Scheme of Senior Cadets on 1 July 1911. He enlisted as a private in the AIF, 10th Battalion, and declined to await a possible commission in a later battalion.
He was working as a book keeper for George Wilcox & Co. Mt Gambier prior to enlistment. He railed from Melbourne with the 2 nd reinforcements of the 10 th Battalion in February 1915 and with others left Alexandria to join his battalion on April 25th, the day of the landing of Gallipoli. He was wounded the following June and spent several months in hospital at Malta. A few weeks after his return to the trenches he contracted enteric fever. He was taken to Gibraltar Hospital and having suffered a relapse, was conveyed to Harmsworth Hospital, London. Batchelor left England in June 1914 for Belgium and France and had no furlough from that time onward. The Register 2/6/1917 p8
Serving at the front at Bullecourt, France, Batchelor was sitting on a box of bombs when a shell hit the box and blew him up. His wounds were severe with little likelihood of recovery and died on the way to the D/S. Australian Red Cross Files
Biography
Son of Henry Charles Reginald BATCHELOR and Amy Catherine nee DEMPSTER
"...1595 Private William Henry Edwin Cyril Batchelor, 10th Battalion, of Gilberton, SA. An accountant and clerk who served four years in the Senior Cadets before enlisting in December 1914, Pte Batchelor left Australia for Egypt with the 3rd Reinforcements, and arrived on the Gallipoli peninsula in May 1915. He was wounded in the left shoulder several days after arrival and was repatriated to Malta before rejoining the battalion in September. He was evacuated from Gallipoli a second time in October 1915 with enteritis and was hospitalised in Gibraltar and later London. After rejoining the battalion in France for service on the Western Front in August 1916, Pte Batchelor was killed during the Second Battle of Bullecourt on 6 May 1917, aged 25, and has no known grave. Accoring to his Roll of Honour circular, Pte Batchelor "was one of the first officers apponted as a Lieutenant in the Compulsory Training Scheme of Senior Cadets on 1 July 1911. He enlisted as a private in the AIF, 10th Battalion, and declined to await a possible commission in a later battalion". - SOURCE (www.awm.gov.au)
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