William Grantley Bateman

Memorial: Kingswood Methodist Church

Regiment: Machine Gun Corps

Medals: 1914–15 Star, British War Medal, Next of Kin Memorial Plaque 1914 - 1921, Silver War Badge, Victory Medal

Rank and number: Private 97589

Parents: Elizabeth and Mark Bateman

Marital status: Married

Home address: Home Address: Black Horse Road, Kingswood, Bristol. Lived: 1 Hill Street, St. George, Bristol

Pre-war occupation: Motorcycle Erector

Date of birth: 14/01/1891

Place of birth: Kingswood, Bristol

Date of death: 21/03/1918

Buried/Commemorated at: No known burial site but commemorated at Arras Memorial, Pas de Calais, France and Kingswood Methodist Memorial

Age: 27

Further information:

William enlisted in the army in November 1915 and was described as 5' 6" tall and weighing 9 stone. He served initially with the 3rd Glosters before transferring to the 37th Company, No. 3 Battalion, Machine Gun Corps (Infantry) in April 1917. William was posted to France in June 1917 with the British Expeditionary Force and two months after his arrival in France, on 11/8/1917, he was gassed during the Battle of Passchendaele. William was transferred to 7th General Hospital St Omer, from where he was deemed unfit for service and was scheduled to be sent home on 18/8/1917. However, his orders were changed and he re-joined his company straight from the hospital on 2/9/1917. He was awarded a wound stripe on 13/9/1917. On 21st March 1918 his company was serving with the 51st battalion and on the 30th March during the First Battle of Villers-Bretonneux (30 March – 5 April 1918) which was one of the battles of Operation Michael, he was recorded as missing believed killed or captured. Operation Michael was a victory for the Germans at a cost to the allies of 239,800 casualties. William’s body was never found and the Arras Memorial where he is remembered, commemorates nearly 35,000 soldiers of the British, South African and New Zealand forces who fell near Arras during WW1 and have no known grave.

By kind permission, this information is based on the following source(s):

This information has been provided by Sarah Hands, Volunteer Researcher for the South Gloucestershire War Memorials Web Site.
By kind permission, this information is based on the following source(s):
https://www.cwgc.org/
https://www.findmypast.co.uk/
https://www.forces-war-records.co.uk/