Frederick Charles Batten
Memorial: Old Sodbury - St John the Baptist Church
Regiment: Australian Infantry
Medals: British War Medal, Next of Kin Memorial Plaque 1914 - 1921, Victory Medal
Rank and number: Private (Service No. 4075)
Parents: James and Mary (Nee Porter) Batten
Marital status: Single
Home address: Home Address: Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia Lived: Froom Bridge Farm, Chipping Sodbury
Pre-war occupation: Farmer
Date of birth: 1885
Place of birth: Chipping Sodbury
Date of death: 05/08/1916
Buried/Commemorated at: No Known Grave - commemorated Villers-Bretonneux Memorial, France
Age: 30
Further information:
On his service papers, Frederick gave his next of kin as his (older) brother William Henry Batten who lived in Leominster, Herefordshire.
Frederick enlisted in the Australian Infantry at the end of 1915 and disembarked at Marseilles on 5/5/1916. He was recorded as missing on 5/08/1916, and later reports confirmed he was killed in action.
On the 1901 Census, the family lived at Buckets Hill, Old Sodbury, his father was a farmer, and Frederick worked on the farm. Mary Batten died in 1906, and by the time of the 1911 Census, his father James Batten lived at Frome Bridge Farm, Chipping Sodbury with four of his seven children. Frederick had left home by then. He may have already departed for Australia. James Batten died in 1920.
F Batten is mentioned on both the Old Sodbury, St John's Church memorial and the Chipping Sodbury and District Memorial Cottage Hospital board, now at Yate and District Heritage Centre, under Old Sodbury.
By kind permission, this information is based on the following source(s):
Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Findmypast (Soldiers Died during the Great War, 1901 & 1911 Census etc), Researcher John Davis.