Kate Annie Cogswell Batts and her Family Sheila Bartlett January 2017
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These wonderful photos were taken in Basra by Reginald Batts, the middle son of Kate Annie Cogswell and George Batts.
They are small, sepia, faded reminders of the First World War found by Sheila Bartlett in PM Cogswell's photo album in 2012.
The photos have notations on the back, Left: Natives of Basra; Middle: Women in Minawi, Mesopotamia; Right: Woman in Basra
They are small, sepia, faded reminders of the First World War found by Sheila Bartlett in PM Cogswell's photo album in 2012.
The photos have notations on the back, Left: Natives of Basra; Middle: Women in Minawi, Mesopotamia; Right: Woman in Basra
This is the story of a Box girl, Kate Annie Cogswell, and her family. Like many women of that period she experienced the death
of her sons and the struggle through the horrors of two World Wars. The story is a tribute to the power of survival and an indictment of the wasted opportunities wrought by military conflict.
of her sons and the struggle through the horrors of two World Wars. The story is a tribute to the power of survival and an indictment of the wasted opportunities wrought by military conflict.
A Woman's Life in Victorian Times
Kate Annie was born in the autumn of 1859 at Brookwell Cottage, Box. She was the younger daughter of Mark Cogswell and Elizabeth Jerum Draper, who had three sons and two daughters. This is the story of Kate Annie and her family. She went to school in the village; we don't know precisely where because this was before the building of the New Box Schools on the London Road. She may have attended the girls' school at Henley run by Alice Sudell and her sister, Elizabeth Horlock, wife of the vicar.
By 1881 the 21 year-old Kate Annie was employed as a children's maid to a family called Ford. Her employer, Captain Charles Wilbraham Ford, aged 61, was on half-pay, presumably his pension from HM lndian Army. He was born in Bath and his wife, Fanny 43, in London. They had two daughters and two sons, born in Kelston, Somerset, and two other daughters born in Weymouth and Bath. Obviously a well-to-do family, in 1881 they lived in Charlcombe, Batheaston, Somerset, and their household also included a cook, a parlour maid and a housemaid.
Kate did not stay with the Fords for long as she married George William Batts on 21 January 1882 in Box. The witnesses to their marriage were Eliza and quarryman John Thomas Maslen who lived in Box with their two small children. George William Batts, was born in the village of Highworth, Wiltshire, in 1855, and he later moved to Box, residing with Jane Osmond, who kept a Lodging House in the village. He worked as a railway switchman and, as her father also worked on the railway, perhaps Kate Annie and George met on one of her visits home.
Kate and George had three sons all born in Box: Frederick Harry in 1883, Reginald George in 1889 and then Richard Mark in 1894. In the 1891 census Kate and her family were living in Ashley. George was 35 years old, working as railway relief man,
Kate was 31, Frederick 8 and Reginald 2.
On the 1901 census they had moved and their lives had taken a different direction. Kate and her sister, Mary, were visiting their brother, Harry Cogswell and his family at Darley Road, Battersea whilst George was at their home at Pit Lane, Gravel Hill, Winford, Somerset with the children, 18 year-old Frederick now a carpenter, Reginald 12 and Richard 7 who were still scholars. George now described himself as a farmer with private means.[1]
Their next move by 1911 was to Southmead Farm, Strode, near Winford, Bristol. George and Kate (now 55 and 51) still had 17 year-old Richard with them. They had obviously prospered as their farmhouse had nine rooms and George was a grazing farmer on own account. Life on the prosperous farm must have seemed good but soon separations and tragedy were to enter their lives.
Frederick Harry Emigrated
Their eldest son, Frederick Harry, born in Box in 1883, had become a carpenter. In July 1902 he decided to visit his uncle, Joseph, in Niagara Falls and bought a passage on the SS Lucania which left Liverpool for the United States. He paid for his own ticket and arrived with $44 in his pocket.[2]
Kate Annie was born in the autumn of 1859 at Brookwell Cottage, Box. She was the younger daughter of Mark Cogswell and Elizabeth Jerum Draper, who had three sons and two daughters. This is the story of Kate Annie and her family. She went to school in the village; we don't know precisely where because this was before the building of the New Box Schools on the London Road. She may have attended the girls' school at Henley run by Alice Sudell and her sister, Elizabeth Horlock, wife of the vicar.
By 1881 the 21 year-old Kate Annie was employed as a children's maid to a family called Ford. Her employer, Captain Charles Wilbraham Ford, aged 61, was on half-pay, presumably his pension from HM lndian Army. He was born in Bath and his wife, Fanny 43, in London. They had two daughters and two sons, born in Kelston, Somerset, and two other daughters born in Weymouth and Bath. Obviously a well-to-do family, in 1881 they lived in Charlcombe, Batheaston, Somerset, and their household also included a cook, a parlour maid and a housemaid.
Kate did not stay with the Fords for long as she married George William Batts on 21 January 1882 in Box. The witnesses to their marriage were Eliza and quarryman John Thomas Maslen who lived in Box with their two small children. George William Batts, was born in the village of Highworth, Wiltshire, in 1855, and he later moved to Box, residing with Jane Osmond, who kept a Lodging House in the village. He worked as a railway switchman and, as her father also worked on the railway, perhaps Kate Annie and George met on one of her visits home.
Kate and George had three sons all born in Box: Frederick Harry in 1883, Reginald George in 1889 and then Richard Mark in 1894. In the 1891 census Kate and her family were living in Ashley. George was 35 years old, working as railway relief man,
Kate was 31, Frederick 8 and Reginald 2.
On the 1901 census they had moved and their lives had taken a different direction. Kate and her sister, Mary, were visiting their brother, Harry Cogswell and his family at Darley Road, Battersea whilst George was at their home at Pit Lane, Gravel Hill, Winford, Somerset with the children, 18 year-old Frederick now a carpenter, Reginald 12 and Richard 7 who were still scholars. George now described himself as a farmer with private means.[1]
Their next move by 1911 was to Southmead Farm, Strode, near Winford, Bristol. George and Kate (now 55 and 51) still had 17 year-old Richard with them. They had obviously prospered as their farmhouse had nine rooms and George was a grazing farmer on own account. Life on the prosperous farm must have seemed good but soon separations and tragedy were to enter their lives.
Frederick Harry Emigrated
Their eldest son, Frederick Harry, born in Box in 1883, had become a carpenter. In July 1902 he decided to visit his uncle, Joseph, in Niagara Falls and bought a passage on the SS Lucania which left Liverpool for the United States. He paid for his own ticket and arrived with $44 in his pocket.[2]
The house on the right of the picture, painted reddish brown, is 828 Ashland Avenue, Niagara Falls. This is where George Batts' brother, Joseph, lived in 1902 and where Kate Annie and George visited in 1929. It still survives today. Photo found on the website of an Estate Agent at Niagara Falls:
https://www.trulia.com/homes/New_York/Niagara_Falls/sold/21716696-828-Ashland-Ave-Niagara-Falls-NY-14301#photo-1
https://www.trulia.com/homes/New_York/Niagara_Falls/sold/21716696-828-Ashland-Ave-Niagara-Falls-NY-14301#photo-1
According to USA documents, Frederick Harry settled in Bute, Montana, and married Mayme O'Neill on 1 February 1909 in the County of Silver Bow, Montana. He listed his parents as George William Batts and Katharine Ann Batts, formerly Cogswell.[3] The ceremony was by licence at a Baptist church. The groom was 26 and his bride 25. Her father was John O'Neill born in Ireland, and her mother Ella, née Nash.
The US Census for 1910 showed Frederick Batts and Mayme living in Basin, Jefferson, Montana.[4] He was now 28, his wife 27, and he was still working as a carpenter. His death was recorded on 20 October 1917 in Silver Bow, Montana, buried in Mount Moriah Cemetery. He was only 34 years old.
Reginald George's War Service
Kate and George's second son, Reginald George, was born in Box in September 1888.[5] In the 1901 census, 12-year old Reginald was living with his family and at school in Box. After this, he and his brother vanish from UK records. I searched for the possibility that they had also travelled to the United States but found no information at all. However, a flash of inspiration led me to a passenger list for the Orient Line passenger ship SS Otranto leaving the Port of London for Sydney, Australia on 12 September 1913. On board was a 24 year-old Reginald G Batts described as farmer. This would account for his disappearance from UK records.
According to the Master of the Otranto, DRW Parsons, the ship arrived in Sydney on 23 October 1913 after about 41 days at sea.[6] Less than twelve months later, with hardly time to settle down in his new life, World War I was declared and Reginald left Australia to fight. He joined up on 28 August 1914 with the Australian Imperial Force, when he was described as 25 years and
11 months of age; 5ft 7ins tall, weighing 11 stone 6lb, with a dark complexion, brown eyes and dark brown hair. He joined C Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry Brigade, Australian Imperial Force (AIF) as a private, service number 262.
He joined his ship at Sydney on 18 October and travelled via the Suez Canal, disembarking at Alexandria, Egypt, on 8 December 1914, bound for Gallipoli. He also served in the Sinai Desert, at Ishmailia near Port Said, and at some point was at Basra in Mesopotamia, now Iraq. Apparently the Australian soldiers were bound for England but were advised that there was insufficient accommodation for them and so they were diverted to Egypt, very conveniently placed to reach Gallipoli. Perhaps this was the intention all along?
Avenue of Sphinx, Luxor
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Tented Ordnance Camp
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The photographs above were taken by Reginald Cogswell during his time serving in Egypt (courtesy Sheila Bartlett)
Reginald had been fighting in Gallipoli for only six weeks, when, on 29 May 1915, he was wounded by a bullet to the jaw. Transferred by hospital ship to Malta, he was admitted to St George's Hospital where he stayed for about 20 days before being moved to St David's Hospital on the island. Eventually, after 8 months of treatment, he was sent to the Lewisham military hospital in London to convalesce. Whilst there he went absent without leave a couple of times and was fined six day's pay.
By April 1916 he was declared fit for overseas and was able to rejoin his unit, transferring to the 54th Battalion to serve in Egypt. From there he served in France and Belgium. After several more bouts of sickness, including neuralgia, rheumatism and dysentery, he again returned to his unit in February 1917, being promoted to Corporal on 1 December 1917. On 24 April 1918 he was Wounded in Action with gas poisoning and admitted to several field hospitals, finally to one in Oxford before being invalided out and discharged on 2 May 1918. He was officially demobbed on 14 February 1919, awarded The British War Medal, The Victory Medal and the 1914-15 Star. Later in life he applied for his Anzac Medal also, see letter below.
Reginald must have been a really tough chap, surviving the serious jaw injury and the gas poisoning. On 22 June 1918 he married his sweetheart, Edith Sarah Keel. Edith was born in Clutton, Somerset on 17 November 1890. On his army papers his wife replaced his mother as next of kin and her address was given as School Farm, Chew Stoke, Bristol. She was a school teacher with Somerset County Council before she married. The couple had one daughter, Gwendoline H Batts, born in the second quarter of 1923 at Long Ashton, Devon.
By April 1916 he was declared fit for overseas and was able to rejoin his unit, transferring to the 54th Battalion to serve in Egypt. From there he served in France and Belgium. After several more bouts of sickness, including neuralgia, rheumatism and dysentery, he again returned to his unit in February 1917, being promoted to Corporal on 1 December 1917. On 24 April 1918 he was Wounded in Action with gas poisoning and admitted to several field hospitals, finally to one in Oxford before being invalided out and discharged on 2 May 1918. He was officially demobbed on 14 February 1919, awarded The British War Medal, The Victory Medal and the 1914-15 Star. Later in life he applied for his Anzac Medal also, see letter below.
Reginald must have been a really tough chap, surviving the serious jaw injury and the gas poisoning. On 22 June 1918 he married his sweetheart, Edith Sarah Keel. Edith was born in Clutton, Somerset on 17 November 1890. On his army papers his wife replaced his mother as next of kin and her address was given as School Farm, Chew Stoke, Bristol. She was a school teacher with Somerset County Council before she married. The couple had one daughter, Gwendoline H Batts, born in the second quarter of 1923 at Long Ashton, Devon.
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In January 1968 Reginald George applied to the Australian authorities requesting his Anzac Medal:
l served with the AIF in Egypt and at the landings at Gallipoli. I served there for about six weeks and then received a bullet wound and was in and out of hospital for 8 months. I joined the 2nd Battalion at Randwick on 26 August 1914. After the evacuation of Gallipoli I was put into 54th Battalion 14th Brigade, 5th Division and served in Egypt in the Sinai Desert, from there went to France and served at Fromelles, the Somme, Ypres, and Passchendaele and was gassed at Villers Bretonneux. I had a brother killed at the Battle of Passchendaele. He is buried at a cemetery near Poperinge in Belgium: his name and particulars are #1901 Richard Mark Batts, 3rd Bn 1st Brigade, 1st Division. He was in the 5th reinforcements to the 3rd Bn, served in Gallipoli for about 4 months. lf it is in order, I would like to apply for his Anzac medal as well as my own. Yours sincerely, RG Batts No reply to this letter was found with his papers so we do not know if the medals were ever received. |
Reginald and Edith were together for 37 years before she died aged 65 in Weston-super-Mare in September 1955. Reginald lived to be 90 years old, remarkable given such terrible suffering the war caused him. He died in March 1979 at Barnstaple, Devon.
l just wish I had known he had lived so long: I would have gone to meet him. From the Australian papers there is a great deal more detailed information on Reginald, too much to write here.
l just wish I had known he had lived so long: I would have gone to meet him. From the Australian papers there is a great deal more detailed information on Reginald, too much to write here.
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Above Reginald's photos of life in Egypt, Left: Prisoners of War, and Right: Turkish Prisoners in Baghdad (courtesy Sheila Bartlett)
Richard Mark's Life and Death
The youngest Batts' son, Richard Mark, was born in 1894. He was on the census for 1901 and 1911, when he was aged 17, calling himself a farmer's son. The family were living at Winford, near Bristol, where his father George had become a grazing farmer. He also appeared on a passenger list as Richard Mark Batts, farmer, bound for Sydney, Australia on the SS Omrah on 29 March 1912, arriving on 9 May. So the younger brother had left home first and Reginald joined him a year later.
Richard also joined the Australian Imperial Force at Liverpool, New South Wales, slightly later than his brother, on 16 January 1915, aged 21 years and 5 months. Weighing 135lb, his height was 5ft 5¾in with a fair complexion, blue eyes and dark hair. He said he was a miner, perhaps no farmer job was available in Australia. He was appointed to 5th Reinforcements 3rd Battalion: service number 1909. His embarkation came on 13 April 1915.
Early in 1915, whilst fighting in Gallipoli, Richard was injured and taken to hospital at Mudros, a port on the Greek island of Lemnos, very near to Gallipoli, where there were two Australian Stationary Tented Hospitals. His records show several bouts of illness and sickness (dysentery) during the next year or so. He was in hospital in Malta for a while before being taken by the Hospital Ship HS Somali to Naples and then by HS Formosa for transfer to HS Britannic bound for England. He was admitted to Wandsworth General Hospital with dysentery on 9 February 1916. By 22 June he was deemed fit again, reported for duty and rejoined his regiment in France, where, on 18 August 1916 he was wounded in action and taken again to hospital, this time in Etaples. Richard was wounded yet again, in his left leg, on 10 November but rejoined 3rd Bn from hospital on 24 of that month. These boys were certainly made of strong stuff.
Fighting in Belgium, Richard was killed at Passchendaele on 13 November 1917 by a shell wound to the chest. With his records, there is a copy of his will dated 11 September 1917, in which he appointed his mother, Kate Annie, to be executrix and to whom he bequeathed everything. A note from the authorities to Kate said that his effects were wallet, notebook, letters, photos, cards, fountain pen, knife and two badges. All were sent by Messrs Thos Cook and Son, free of charge, asking for an acknowledgement of receipt from Mrs Batts. He was buried in Lyssenthoek Military Cemetery 1¾ miles south west of Poperinghe, Belgium. His gravestone is a cross, Plot XXII, Row BB Grave 12. In 2014 I bought a ceramic poppy from the Tower of London installation: I have dedicated it to Richard.
George and Kate Annie
We must feel extremely sorry for poor George and Kate Annie. Their eldest son, Frederick, died aged 34 on 20 October 1917 in Montana, USA and less than a month later, they lost Richard, who suffered the terrible chest wound from which he died at 3.20 am on 13 November.
Several years after the war, on 22 June 1929, George and Kate sailed from Southampton on the SS Carmania, arriving via Canada at Niagara Falls on 2 July. The passenger list said they were visiting George's brother, Joseph H Batts (naturalised US citizen), staying at 828 Ashland Street, Niagara Falls. George was now 73 and had retired from farming; Kate stated she was a housewife aged 69. Good for them, travelling at such an age! They returned on 4 August, leaving from Montreal, Canada on the Cunard ship Ausoria. On 16th August 1936, George died at Eastrop, Highworth, aged 80. According to the probate granted on 10th October he left £2,588.17s to his wife Kate Annie and to Reginald Batts (in modern values £166,000, so quite a lot of money). In March 1946, ten years after George, Kate Annie died in Chelsea, aged 86.
The youngest Batts' son, Richard Mark, was born in 1894. He was on the census for 1901 and 1911, when he was aged 17, calling himself a farmer's son. The family were living at Winford, near Bristol, where his father George had become a grazing farmer. He also appeared on a passenger list as Richard Mark Batts, farmer, bound for Sydney, Australia on the SS Omrah on 29 March 1912, arriving on 9 May. So the younger brother had left home first and Reginald joined him a year later.
Richard also joined the Australian Imperial Force at Liverpool, New South Wales, slightly later than his brother, on 16 January 1915, aged 21 years and 5 months. Weighing 135lb, his height was 5ft 5¾in with a fair complexion, blue eyes and dark hair. He said he was a miner, perhaps no farmer job was available in Australia. He was appointed to 5th Reinforcements 3rd Battalion: service number 1909. His embarkation came on 13 April 1915.
Early in 1915, whilst fighting in Gallipoli, Richard was injured and taken to hospital at Mudros, a port on the Greek island of Lemnos, very near to Gallipoli, where there were two Australian Stationary Tented Hospitals. His records show several bouts of illness and sickness (dysentery) during the next year or so. He was in hospital in Malta for a while before being taken by the Hospital Ship HS Somali to Naples and then by HS Formosa for transfer to HS Britannic bound for England. He was admitted to Wandsworth General Hospital with dysentery on 9 February 1916. By 22 June he was deemed fit again, reported for duty and rejoined his regiment in France, where, on 18 August 1916 he was wounded in action and taken again to hospital, this time in Etaples. Richard was wounded yet again, in his left leg, on 10 November but rejoined 3rd Bn from hospital on 24 of that month. These boys were certainly made of strong stuff.
Fighting in Belgium, Richard was killed at Passchendaele on 13 November 1917 by a shell wound to the chest. With his records, there is a copy of his will dated 11 September 1917, in which he appointed his mother, Kate Annie, to be executrix and to whom he bequeathed everything. A note from the authorities to Kate said that his effects were wallet, notebook, letters, photos, cards, fountain pen, knife and two badges. All were sent by Messrs Thos Cook and Son, free of charge, asking for an acknowledgement of receipt from Mrs Batts. He was buried in Lyssenthoek Military Cemetery 1¾ miles south west of Poperinghe, Belgium. His gravestone is a cross, Plot XXII, Row BB Grave 12. In 2014 I bought a ceramic poppy from the Tower of London installation: I have dedicated it to Richard.
George and Kate Annie
We must feel extremely sorry for poor George and Kate Annie. Their eldest son, Frederick, died aged 34 on 20 October 1917 in Montana, USA and less than a month later, they lost Richard, who suffered the terrible chest wound from which he died at 3.20 am on 13 November.
Several years after the war, on 22 June 1929, George and Kate sailed from Southampton on the SS Carmania, arriving via Canada at Niagara Falls on 2 July. The passenger list said they were visiting George's brother, Joseph H Batts (naturalised US citizen), staying at 828 Ashland Street, Niagara Falls. George was now 73 and had retired from farming; Kate stated she was a housewife aged 69. Good for them, travelling at such an age! They returned on 4 August, leaving from Montreal, Canada on the Cunard ship Ausoria. On 16th August 1936, George died at Eastrop, Highworth, aged 80. According to the probate granted on 10th October he left £2,588.17s to his wife Kate Annie and to Reginald Batts (in modern values £166,000, so quite a lot of money). In March 1946, ten years after George, Kate Annie died in Chelsea, aged 86.
Family Tree
Mark Cogswell and Elizabeth Jerum Draper had three sons and two daughters, including Kate Annie.
Kate Annie Cogswell (1859 - 1946) married George William Batts (1855 - 1936) on 21 January 1882. Children:
Frederick Harry Batts (1883 - 1917) who married Mayme O'Neill in Montana, USA, on 1 February 1909;
Reginald George Batts (1888 - 1979) who married Edith Sarah Keel in Clutton, Somerset on 22 June 1918;
Richard Mark Batts (1894 - 1917), killed in World War 1.
Mark Cogswell and Elizabeth Jerum Draper had three sons and two daughters, including Kate Annie.
Kate Annie Cogswell (1859 - 1946) married George William Batts (1855 - 1936) on 21 January 1882. Children:
Frederick Harry Batts (1883 - 1917) who married Mayme O'Neill in Montana, USA, on 1 February 1909;
Reginald George Batts (1888 - 1979) who married Edith Sarah Keel in Clutton, Somerset on 22 June 1918;
Richard Mark Batts (1894 - 1917), killed in World War 1.
References
[1] It is my belief that George inherited a farm from his mother's family, but this is still under investigation
[2] Uncle Joseph (George's brother) was living at 828 Ashland Avenue, Niagara Falls. There are documents recording Joseph's immigration into the United States in 1884; the grant of American citizenship in 1891 and he became a police sergeant. George and Kate Annie visited him at Ashland Avenue in 1929 so perhaps encouraged him to make a trip back to England, which he did in 1931 on the SS George Washington.
[3] I think this is an Americanism as Kate Annie is never referred to as Katharine Ann, even on her baptismal details.
[4] The details are incorrectly recorded under the name Bathe.
[5] On later army records he calls himself George but I am using his first name to avoid confusion with his father.
[6] In May 2015 a distant Cogswell cousin, Kath McKay who lives in Australia, looked up records there and sent me 100 pages of fascinating and helpful information, for which many thanks.
[1] It is my belief that George inherited a farm from his mother's family, but this is still under investigation
[2] Uncle Joseph (George's brother) was living at 828 Ashland Avenue, Niagara Falls. There are documents recording Joseph's immigration into the United States in 1884; the grant of American citizenship in 1891 and he became a police sergeant. George and Kate Annie visited him at Ashland Avenue in 1929 so perhaps encouraged him to make a trip back to England, which he did in 1931 on the SS George Washington.
[3] I think this is an Americanism as Kate Annie is never referred to as Katharine Ann, even on her baptismal details.
[4] The details are incorrectly recorded under the name Bathe.
[5] On later army records he calls himself George but I am using his first name to avoid confusion with his father.
[6] In May 2015 a distant Cogswell cousin, Kath McKay who lives in Australia, looked up records there and sent me 100 pages of fascinating and helpful information, for which many thanks.