{"id":379,"date":"2014-11-05T12:22:27","date_gmt":"2014-11-05T12:22:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/plattwarmemorial.org\/?page_id=379"},"modified":"2024-05-22T18:36:35","modified_gmt":"2024-05-22T18:36:35","slug":"alfred-bathurst-1887-1917","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/plattmemorialhall.org\/warmemorial\/world-war-one\/alfred-bathurst-1887-1917\/","title":{"rendered":"Alfred Bathurst (1887 &#8211; 1917)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><div class=\"fusion-fullwidth fullwidth-box fusion-builder-row-1 nonhundred-percent-fullwidth non-hundred-percent-height-scrolling\" style=\"background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0);background-position: center center;background-repeat: no-repeat;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;margin-bottom: 0px;margin-top: 0px;border-width: 0px 0px 0px 0px;border-color:#eae9e9;border-style:solid;\" ><div class=\"fusion-builder-row fusion-row\"><div class=\"fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-0 fusion_builder_column_1_1 1_1 fusion-one-full fusion-column-first fusion-column-last\" style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;\"><div class=\"fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-column-wrapper-legacy\" style=\"background-position:left top;background-repeat:no-repeat;-webkit-background-size:cover;-moz-background-size:cover;-o-background-size:cover;background-size:cover;padding: 0px 0px 0px 0px;\"><style type=\"text\/css\"><\/style><div class=\"fusion-title title fusion-title-1 fusion-sep-none fusion-title-text fusion-title-size-three\" style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:31px;margin-left:0px;\"><h3 class=\"title-heading-left fusion-responsive-typography-calculated\" style=\"margin:0;--fontSize:24;line-height:1.5;\">Pte Alfred Bathurst (1887 &#8211; 1917)<\/h3><\/div><span class=\" fusion-imageframe imageframe-dropshadow imageframe-1 hover-type-zoomin\" style=\"-webkit-box-shadow: 3px 3px 7px rgba(0,0,0,0.3);box-shadow: 3px 3px 7px rgba(0,0,0,0.3);margin-right:25px;float:left;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/plattmemorialhall.org\/warmemorial\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/alfred_bathurst2.jpg\" class=\"fusion-lightbox\" data-rel=\"iLightbox[1c9c7236ce7e75e9017]\" data-title=\"Pte. Alfred Bathurst (1888 \u2013 1917)\" title=\"Pte. Alfred Bathurst (1888 \u2013 1917)\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"179\" height=\"300\" src=\"http:\/\/plattmemorialhall.org\/warmemorial\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/alfred_bathurst2-179x300.jpg\" alt class=\"img-responsive wp-image-5683\" srcset=\"http:\/\/plattmemorialhall.org\/warmemorial\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/alfred_bathurst2-179x300.jpg 179w, http:\/\/plattmemorialhall.org\/warmemorial\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/alfred_bathurst2.jpg 597w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 179px) 100vw, 179px\" \/><\/a><\/span><div class=\"fusion-text fusion-text-1\"><p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">In March 1916, the<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0Military Service Act was passed. This imposed conscription on all single men aged between 18 and 41 but exempted the medically\u00a0<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">unfit,<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0clergymen, teachers, and certain classes of industrial workers.<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0Married men of the correct age were exempted until May 1916.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The\u00a0Wrotham Urban Council held the first Military Service Tribunal in Borough Green in late February 1916. These Tribunals\u00a0<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">were formed<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0to hear applications for exemption from conscription into the Army, and although not recruiting bodies themselves, played an\u00a0<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">essential part in the conscription process.\u00a0<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Many men from Platt were brought<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0before the tribunal by their employers, who often made the case that they\u00a0<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">were not able to<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0continue business without them. One of these was a groom from Crouch named Alfred Bathurst. In most\u00a0instances, the men were given a temporary exemption\u00a0but\u00a0eventually found their way into uniform shortly afterwards; Alfred was\u00a0not so fortunate and was drafted almost immediately\u00a0after his hearing.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Alfred Bathurst was born in Horsmonden, Kent, on 27 December 1887, the sixth of nine children of Alfred and Mary Ann Bathurst (n\u00e9e Russell.)\u00a0<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">His father was a waggoner, so the family frequently moved around. In 1891, they lived at the Blue Boys Gate House in Kippings Cross before moving to Capel in 1893, where Alfred and several of his siblings attended the village school. In December of the\u00a0<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">next<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0year, they moved again to Hadlow and, by 1901, to Winfield Farm in Crouch.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">In 1906, Alfred married Elizabeth Billings from Ightham, and by 1911, three children had been born to the couple. Alfred\u2019s parents had moved away from the area; however, he remained in the parish and lived with his in-laws at Ivy Cottage in Crouch.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">At the time<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0war broke out, Alfred had been working as both a groom and gardener for Mr Adams of \u2018Penilyn\u2019 in Crouch. Smaller households often doubled up on staff to reduce costs, and it seems likely that Mr Adams paid Alfred to look after his horses\u00a0<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">in addition to maintaining<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0the two acres of land he owned. Alfred would have also acted as a caretaker in his employer\u2019s absence and lived locally\u00a0at Bank Cottages in Plaxtol.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">On 8 March 1916, Mr Adams, knowing that he was at risk\u00a0of losing his trusted employee to the war, made an application on behalf of Alfred, asking to exempt him from military service or, at the very least, put him the last group scheduled for conscription. Despite pleading ongoing ill health and pressing Alfred\u2019s status as an \u2018indispensable worker\u2019,\u00a0<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">the committee was not persuaded<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0and refused the application, commenting that \u2018we shall have ten times harder cases than this before us.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">It appears Alfred was called up shortly afterwards and enlisted in Tonbridge. As a conscripted man, he was not given the choice of which regiment to join and found himself posted to the Cambridgeshire Regiment. Unfortunately, Alfred\u2019s military papers have not survived; however, based on the records of those with similar service numbers, it seems likely he\u00a0<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">was sent<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0to Halton Park in Tring, where he would have joined the 3\/1st\u00a0<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Battalion<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">, a reserve unit that fed men into the 1st\u00a0<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Battalion<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">, who had been in France since early 1915.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><div class=\"imageframe-align-center\"><span class=\" fusion-imageframe imageframe-dropshadow imageframe-2 hover-type-zoomin\" style=\"-webkit-box-shadow: 3px 3px 7px rgba(0,0,0,0.3);box-shadow: 3px 3px 7px rgba(0,0,0,0.3);\"><a href=\"http:\/\/plattmemorialhall.org\/warmemorial\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/alfred_bathurst3.jpg\" class=\"fusion-lightbox\" data-rel=\"iLightbox[860b3f0bf094dd6675d]\" data-title=\"The Cambridgeshire Regiment circa 1916\" title=\"The Cambridgeshire Regiment circa 1916\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"757\" src=\"http:\/\/plattmemorialhall.org\/warmemorial\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/alfred_bathurst3.jpg\" alt class=\"img-responsive wp-image-7015\" srcset=\"http:\/\/plattmemorialhall.org\/warmemorial\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/alfred_bathurst3-200x126.jpg 200w, http:\/\/plattmemorialhall.org\/warmemorial\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/alfred_bathurst3-400x252.jpg 400w, http:\/\/plattmemorialhall.org\/warmemorial\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/alfred_bathurst3-600x379.jpg 600w, http:\/\/plattmemorialhall.org\/warmemorial\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/alfred_bathurst3-800x505.jpg 800w, http:\/\/plattmemorialhall.org\/warmemorial\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/alfred_bathurst3.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><\/a><\/span><\/div><div class=\"fusion-clearfix\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"fusion-fullwidth fullwidth-box fusion-builder-row-2 nonhundred-percent-fullwidth non-hundred-percent-height-scrolling\" style=\"background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0);background-position: center center;background-repeat: no-repeat;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;margin-bottom: 0px;margin-top: 20px;border-width: 0px 0px 0px 0px;border-color:#eae9e9;border-style:solid;\" ><div class=\"fusion-builder-row fusion-row\"><div class=\"fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-1 fusion_builder_column_1_1 1_1 fusion-one-full fusion-column-first fusion-column-last\" style=\"margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:20px;\"><div class=\"fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-column-wrapper-legacy\" style=\"background-position:left top;background-repeat:no-repeat;-webkit-background-size:cover;-moz-background-size:cover;-o-background-size:cover;background-size:cover;padding: 0px 0px 0px 0px;\"><div class=\"fusion-text fusion-text-2\"><p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">After several months of training, Alfred was probably among a draft of men who proceeded overseas from Folkestone on 9 December 1916<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">, however<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">, it does not appear that he\u00a0joined\u00a0his unit in the field, as other men who arrived in Le Havre the same day and destined for the 1st Cambridgeshires were all temporarily assigned to an entrenching battalion instead.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">On 23 April 1917, Alfred was transferred into the 8th (Service) Battalion, Lincolnshire Regiment, and along with 277 other ranks, joined the\u00a0<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">battalion<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0at Beaufort on 2 May. The Lincolns had recently been in action at Arras and were severely under-strength, losing over 400 men in just two battles.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Alfred spent the whole of May out of the line, and during early June, the\u00a0<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">battalion<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0began to move north towards Ypres, eventually taking over trenches in the Wytschaete sector on the 29th.\u00a0<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Much of July was spent<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0rotating between the trenches and camp at Mount Kemmel, and Alfred is likely to have been involved with regular working parties that performed various maintenance tasks both in and out of the front lines. His first\u00a0<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">experience of life<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0at the front had so far proven to be a relatively quiet affair; however, plans for a major offensive at the end of the month were at an advanced stage, and things were about to take a tragic turn for the worse.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">At 3:50 am on the morning of 31 July, the Lincolns made an attack towards Rifle Farm in an action that would form part of the Third Battle of Ypres (more commonly known as Passchendaele.) \u2018D\u2019 Company led the battalion advance and formed a defensive flank on the right of the 4th Middlesex Regiment. The remaining platoons\u00a0<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">were soon drawn<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0into the fighting, which at times was at close quarter, and found themselves hard-pressed to gain any ground. Runners sent back to the reserve for assistance were all shot before they got there, and there were a large number of casualties. A brigade narrative written after the battle ends the account of the attack with the words,\u00a0<\/span><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u201cThis party fought it out where they were until they were all either killed or wounded.\u201d<\/span><\/em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0The Battalion War Diary also records that\u00a0<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">no trace could be found<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0of \u2018D\u2019 Coy, and based on the report of the rest of the day\u2019s events, it seems likely Alfred was amongst the unfortunates entirely wiped out.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">His body was either never recovered or later identified, and he\u00a0<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">was subsequently recorded<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0as missing, presumed dead. In addition to the Platt War Memorial, Alfred is commemorated on the Menin Gate in Ypres and\u00a0<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">was awarded<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0the British War and Victory Medals.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><div class=\"fusion-clearfix\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":53,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-379","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/plattmemorialhall.org\/warmemorial\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/379","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/plattmemorialhall.org\/warmemorial\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/plattmemorialhall.org\/warmemorial\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/plattmemorialhall.org\/warmemorial\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/plattmemorialhall.org\/warmemorial\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=379"}],"version-history":[{"count":30,"href":"http:\/\/plattmemorialhall.org\/warmemorial\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/379\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10249,"href":"http:\/\/plattmemorialhall.org\/warmemorial\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/379\/revisions\/10249"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/plattmemorialhall.org\/warmemorial\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/53"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/plattmemorialhall.org\/warmemorial\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}