Name
Hedley Victor Batchelor
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
81053
8th Canadian Forces
32nd Battalion (Manitoba & Saskatchewan)
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Not Yet Researched
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Biography
Hedley Batchelor made his way to Canada a few years before the Great War, and returned to serve with the Canadian Forces. It is inconclusive when Hedley emigrated to Canada. Two Hedley Batchelor’s were found listed in the Outgoing Passenger Records at the National Archives. The first person embarked on 18 August 1910, but as Hedley was listed in the 1911 Census, living at 1 Asylum Road, Abbots Langley, and working as a Gardener, it is unlikely that this was him. The second person sailed from London to Quebec en-route for Montreal on 8th June 1911, with 167 other passengers. However for this person, the age given is too old for Hedley Batchelor from Abbots Langley.
Hedley Batchelor was born on 15th January 1892 at Primrose Hill, Abbots Langley to Richard and Florence (nee Glenister). He was baptised at Kings Langley on 28th February 1892. The couple had two sons and two daughters. Hedley’s older brother, Richard, also served in the Great War. In 1891 Richard (senior) worked as a Baker, probably in Kings Langley. By 1901 the family had moved to Asylum Terrace, living at 1 Asylum Road, and they remained there until after the 1911 Census. Richard (senior) worked as a Builder’s Labourer. In each of the 1901 and 1911 Census Records, Attendants at the Asylum were recorded lodging with the Batchelor family.
The Canadian Service Records indicated that Hedley Batchelor attested at Winnipeg on 22nd December 1914 joining the 32nd Battalion (Manitoba and Saskatchewan). He had served for a year in the Canadian Militia. The Abbots Langley Parish Magazine Roll of Honour first recorded Hedley in October 1914, serving with the 29th Saskatchewan Light Horse Infantry. This was two months before he attested, and referred to his Militia unit. From December 1914 the Roll of Honour recorded him serving with the 8th Canadian Forces through to the end of the War.
The 32nd Battalion, comprising 997 Officers and Men, sailed from Halifax Nova Scotia on 23 February 1915 aboard the SS “Vaderland” (later to be renamed SS “Southland”). They arrived at Avonmouth on 7th March 1915, and moved to Shorncliffe. The men from the Battalion were drafted to reinforce the 5th, 28th and 52nd Battalions of the Canadian Expeditionary Force, as well as being sent to Forestry Corps, Engineers and Machine Gun Corps. A Medal Roll Card for Hedley Victor Batchelor has been discovered showing that at some point in the War he served with the Royal Engineers.
Hedley’s elder brother Richard enlisted in the early months of the War in 1914, and served with the 6th Bedfordshire’s. Both Hedley and Richard survived the War.
After the War, 1919, Hedley married Alice Batten at Southwark, and returned to Canada. In April 1923 the US Border Crossing Records show that Hedley crossed from Canada to the United States in April 1923 moving through the US to California where they were naturalised, having a son by the name of Gordon Stanley Batchelor.
Additional Information
Rank unknown
Acknowledgments
Roger Yapp - www.backtothefront.org
