Walter George Clement Batstone

Story:
Walter George Clement Batstone was born in Alyesbeare, Devon, on 5 Apr 1886 the son of Walter Batstone and Alice Maria Batstone (nee Ponsford).  He lived his early life in Aylesbeare until by 1901 he and the family had moved to Corscombe, Dorset.  He married Alice Mary Blackford Tanner at the Parish Church, Crewkerne, Somerset, on 6 Jul 1910.  By 1911 he had set up home at 2 Stoughton Cottages, West Clandon, Guildford, Surrey, working as a Cowman on a Farm.  He had enlisted and joined the Royal Engineers as a Driver (Service No. 16131).  He later transferred to the Labour Corps as a Private with Service No. 641086.  He served in France & Flanders from 20 Aug 1914 and on his discharge was awarded the Victory and British War Medals as well as the 1914/15 Star.  His address in 1918 per the Absent Voters List was given as 18 Compton Abbas, Shaftesbury, Dorset.  The 1921 census shows him living in Station Road, Southminster, Essex, working as a Chauffeur/Gardener for a local vicar. By the time of the 1939 Register he was living at Drayton House, Bullingdon, Oxfordshire, working as a Foreman to a Farmer and Market Gardener.  His wife died in 1952 and he went on to remarry Annie B. Druce in Honiton, Devon, during 1954. His death was recorded at Stenson Harcourt, Oxfordshire, on 2 Jan 1979 where he had retired to at 1 Fox Lane.