Name
Joseph Batchelor
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
31/10/1914
29
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
2484
3rd (Prince of Wales's Own) Dragoon Guards
Attd Life Guards
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 (Mons) Star, British War and Victory Medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
YPRES (MENIN GATE) MEMORIAL
Panel 3.
Belgium
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Watford Borough Roll of Honour,
St James' Church Memorial, Watford Fields,
Bushey Town Memorial,
Bushey Baptist Church Memorial, Bushey,
Wesleyan (Bushey & Oxhey Methodist) Church Memorial, Oxhey
Pre War
Son of Eliza (Elizabeth, formerly BATCHELOR, nee NEWLAND) WOODSTOCK of Watford, and the late Joseph BATCHELOR; husband of Agnes Gertrude (nee BLYTHE) BATCHELOR of North Kensington, London.
His parents married 17 August 1884 at Christ Church, Brondesbury, London. Joseph died 1900 in Watford aged 38, and was buried 5 July in Vicarage Road Cemetery, Watford. Elizabeth and her five children settled at 10 Oxhey Street, now part of Oxhey Avenue, and Henry, who had just left school, worked as a railway invoice sorter to help provide for the family.
Eliza remarried 1905 in the Watford district to William Henry WOODSTOCK who already had a family, and moved to 42 Tucker Street, just off Watford Lower High Street. She died 6 September 1940 in Watford aged 80, and was buried 10 September in Vicarage Road Cemetery, Watford. ; William died 16 June 1943 in Watford aged 75, and was buried 19 June, also in Vicarage Road Cemetery.
Joseph was born 1888 in Chelsea, London [not Kilburn, London], and married 1913 Agnes G V Blythe (registered in Watford district) and moved to London; they had one child. He resided in the Harrow Road. Agnes never remarried, and died 1975 in the Hastings, Sussex, district, aged 85.
On the 1891 Census, aged 2 he lived in Chelsea, with his parents and one sibling. On the 1901 Census, an ironmonger aged 12, he lived in Oxhey, Herts, with his widowed mother and three siblings. On the 1911 Census, a Private in the 3rd Dragoon Guards aged 24, he was stationed at Wellington Lines, Aldershot, Hants.
Wartime Service
When war was declared, Joseph enlisted as Private 2484 with his brother, Henry, with the 3rd battalion of the Dragoon Guards. They served together in Belgium Henry’s overseas qualifying date being 6 October 1914 – his brother’s was the day before. Both killed in action on the same day, 31 October 1914.
Records show that they are one of 322 sets of brothers who served in the British Army (including the Commonwealth forces) and who are currently known to have died on the same day. They are remembered with honour at the Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing at Ypres and also commemorated on the plaque in Bushey Baptist Church.
Joseph's pension record shows Agnes (born 14/02/86) as the widow, living at 94, Kilravock St. Queens Park, London, and Stanley Henry Joseph (born 17/06/15) as a child. It also shows a pension of 15/- per week with effect from 28/06/15 and is separately annotated "widow not eligible for grant".
Joseph was entitled to the Victory, British War and 1914 Star medals, his qualifying date being 6 October 1914, and was killed in action.
Additional Information
Unfortunately, Joseph’s Service Record appears to be one that did not survive the World War Two bombing. Recorded as serving only in the Life Guards in the Borough Roll of Honour. His brother Henry died 31 October 1914 and also features on Watford Borough Roll of Honour.
Information provided with the kind permission of the Bushey World War One Commemoration Project - Please visit www.busheyworldwarone.org.uk.
Acknowledgments
Sue Carter (Research) and Watford Museum (ROH on line via www.ourwatfordhistory.org.uk)
