Reference
Z1181
Title
Papers of Leonard Joseph Batchelor, (1902-1978), 2nd Battalion, Bedfordshire & Hertfordshire Regiment.
Admin/biog history
Notes compiled by the donor: The reason my father joined the army was because he was rebelling agianst my grandfather. He persuaded his younger brother, Bob, aged 15, to join the Army and together they went along to the Recruiting Office. The sergeant they spoke to knew my grandfather and got in touch with him saying, ‘I’ve got a couple of your lads here – what do you want me to do with them?’ My grandfather asked him to keep them overnight and he would collect them in the morning. Bob couldn’t wait to go back home but Leonard said he wanted to stay in the Army.My father married Frances Ward in 1929. (Her brother Sgt. William C Ward was also in the Beds & Herts Regiment and was killed at Tobruk on 23rd November 1941). After he left the Army my father was employed by the Luton Gas Co. working as a bricklayer. He then became interested in the actual production of gas and was Carbonising Foreman before he left in 1941 to join the United Kingdom Gas Corporation at Leighton Buzzard, Beds. Before leaving in 1946 he was Works Superintendent. June 1946 – November 1946 – Joined the Severn Valley Gas Corporation, Gloucester as Works Superintendent. December 1946 – November 1949 – Joined United Kingdom Gas Corporation, Radcliffe, Manchester, as Works Superintendent. November 1949 – May 1951 – Joined Eastern gas Board, Luton, as Carbonising Foreman. June 1951 – Joined Southern Gas Board, Weymouth, Dorset, as Works Foreman. In November 1958 the Weymouth gas Works was closed down and he was transferred top Reading Gas Works as Foreman. He was not very happy at Reading and left in 1959. He then moved to Castle Cary, Somerset, and starting working for the RAOC, Castle Cary, as a civilian driver transport ammunition and personnel. Unfortunately, the Depot moved to Devon and he then obtained the post of Town Hall Caretaker and Beadle at Dorchester Town Hall, Dorset. He stayed there until he retired in 1968. My parents then moved to Cleeve, a small village just outside Bristol, to be closer to us. He died in Ham Green Hospital, Bristol, on 15th January 1978. The attestation book at BLARS, Z 910/11/3 p.100, gives the following information: 5944603, ‘R’ [Regular Army]; Leonard Joseph Batchelor, attested 13 April 1921, aged 18 years and 323 days, at Bedford, then a shop assistant. Born: Nottingham, Notts. Harry (father), 17 Dudley Street, High Town Street, Luton, Beds. Discharged: 12 April 1933 at Warley, on termination of engagement. Rank: private. Conduct: Exemplary
Level of description
fonds