Name
Harold Batchelor
1886
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
30/04/1915
28
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Corporal
7615
Bedfordshire Regiment
1st Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 (Mons) Star (with Clasp & Roses), British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
ST. SEVER CEMETERY, ROUEN
A. 8. 14.
France
Headstone Inscription
GREATER LOVE HATH NO MAN THAN THIS THAT A MAN LAY DOWN HIS LIFE FOR HIS FRIENDS
UK & Other Memorials
Hemel Hempstead Town Memorial,
St Mary's Church Memorial, Hemel Hempstead,
Holy Trinity Church Wall Memorial, Potten End
Pre War
Harold Batchelor was born in 1886 in Hemel Hempstead, the son of Richard and Caroline Batchelor, and one of 11 children.
On the 1891 Census, the family were living at 6 Boxted Cottages, Hemel Hempstead, where his father was working as an Agricultural Labourer. His father died in 1898 and on the 1901 Census he was living with his widowed mother and 6 siblings at 6 Boxted Cottages, Hemel Hempstead, and working as an Agricultural Labourer.
Wartime Service
Harold must have already been a serving soldier at the outbreak of war as the 1st Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment was a regular army battalion. They were based at Mullingar, Ireland at the time and once mobilised, they landed in France on 16 August 1914. They fought in the early engagements and were involved in the Battle of Mons in August and Le Cateau, as well as the Battles of the Marne and Aisne. They then went north to Flanders for the Battle of La Bassee and the first Battle of Ypres. A local newspaper reported that he had been wounded during this time but had recovered and returned to fight in France.
Harold became ill and died of 'spotted fever' (possibly meningococcal meningitis) at the Meerut British General Hospital in Rouen, France on 30 April 1915, age 28. He is buried at St Sever Cemetery, France.
Additional Information
His mother, Mrs C Batchelor, 6 Boxted Cottages, Hemel Hempstead, Herts. ordered his headstone inscription: "GREATER LOVE HATH NO MAN THAN THIS THAT A MAN LAY DOWN HIS LIFE FOR HIS FRIENDS".
Brother to Sgt William Batchelor MM, Bedfordshire Regiment, who died 27 August 1918 and is also named on the Potten End Memorial. Brother to Alfred Batchelor, Suffolk Regiment, who died 9 April 1917 and is named on the Great Gaddesden War Memorial.
His mother received a war gratuity of £6 and pay owing of £14 2s 0d, She also received a pension of 5 shillings a week.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild, www.dacorumheritage.org.uk, www.roll-of-honour.com, www.hemelheroes.com.,
