Name
Victor William Bates
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
30/12/1917
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
533135
London Regiment (Prince of Wales' Own Civil Service Rifles)
15th (County of London) Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Not Yet Researched
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
CHATBY MEMORIAL
Egypt
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Bushey Town Memorial, St Peter’s Church Memorial, Bushey Heath
Pre War
Born in Hendon, Middlesex in 1892, Victor William Bates was the son of James Philip Bates, a dairy farmer and his wife, Annie. They had six children, one of whom died during childhood.
The family home in 1901 was Burroughs Farm, Queens Road, Hendon and at the time of the 1911 census, Victor and his younger brother were employed there as milk carriers. He married a Florence Colbert, registered in the September quarter in the Peterborough district.
Wartime Service
When Victor enlisted with the London Regiment, the 15th (County of London) Battalion (PWO Civil Service Rifles)as Private 533135, he was resident in Peterborough.
He was on the Troopship S.S. Aragon when she sailed from Marseilles on the 17 December, arriving in Alexandria Harbour on the 30th December 1917, laden with around 2,700 troops bound for Palestine. As she arrived in a convoy bound for the port, the rest of the ships sailed onwards to Alexandria and she lay up ten miles off shore, awaiting her escort. The 9,588 ton ocean liner drifted gently as she waited within sight of land, but was torpedoed by the German Submarine and minelayer the UC-34.
The destroyer HMS Attack and every available ship within reach dashed to her rescue as she quickly sank. Many of the men rescued and taken onto the HMS Attack had just stripped the oil drenched clothes from their bodies and laid on the deck when she too was torpedoed by the same submarine, almost blowing her in two. Of the 2,700 passengers on board SS Aragon, 610 were lost at sea, including servicemen like Victor Bates.
His pension record shows his widow as Florence (born 09/04/93) and a daughter called Peggy Victoria (born 12/08/16) and an address of 8, Mount Pleasant, Stanground, Peterborough. A grant of £5 was paid 09/07/18 and a pension of 20/5 per week commencing 02/09/18.
Victor is remembered with honour on the Chatby Memorial in Alexandria and also commemorated on the Bushey Memorial and at St Peter’s Church, Bushey Heath. His connection with the area is currently unknown but there were several families named Bates living in Bushey at the time.
Additional Information
Information provided with the kind permission of Bushey First World War Commemoration Project – Please visit www.busheyworldwarone.org.uk.
Acknowledgments
Andrew Palmer
Dianne Payne - www.busheyworldwarone.org.uk, Jonty Wild
