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Pte. Stanley Albert Bathe
British Army 4th Btn. Royal Fusiliers
from:Sydenham, SE London
(d.25th Sep 1918)
Pte. Stanley Albert Bathe was born in Sydenham, SE London, in 1896, the youngest of the five Bathe brothers to serve in the First World War. He served an apprenticeship with the engineering firm of Merryweather – the manufacturer of fire engines – in Greenwich but then enlisted in the 4th Btn, Royal Fusiliers in May 1918. After training, Stanley went to France on 8 September and towards the end of that month, he was with his regiment at the Front near the Hindenburg Line preparing for what was to be called the Battle of Cambrai. From the village of Moeuvres, the front system of the Hindenburg Line followed the bank of the Canal du Nord for 4,000yards, then crossed it, sweeping in a bold curve round the village of Havrincourt and south of that of Ribécourt. Along the banks of the Canal du Nord there were at intervals spoil heaps consisting of the chalk dug from its bed. One heap was at the sharp bend west of Havrincourt, where the canal turned westward along the Grand Ravin. It was known as Yorkshire Bank. The 4th Battalion moved to Yorkshire Bank on 25 September where hostile bombing was to continue all night and the relief of Z and X companies greatly interfered with. The units suffered one soldier killed and two wounded that day. The soldier killed was Stanley Bathe, just 18 days after he had landed in France. He is buried at Flesquieres Hill British Cemetery and commemorated on the family grave in Lewisham & Brockley Cemetery and on the memorial panel in St Michael & All Angels, Sydenham, where he was once a choir boy.
