What exactly was a Batman?

[rozgroggins]

What exactly did a Batman do? Was he enlisted as a batman, promoted, moved aside to, or demoted to one? Did this carry on when he left the army to the same officer?

I ask because my mam has just told me that my grandfather was a batman working for an office when he met my grandmother, who was a ladies maid. He was twenty years older than her, and was supposedly in the Coldstream Guards.

I have mentioned him on here before - Thomas Ford/e - and have gone through all the channels looking for him in the past. We have come to the conclusion that he either changed his name, or that his record has been lost. We don't have his medals, apparently lost years ago, but my uncle may know something, and we may never know.

Anyway, back to the original question, did the position carry on - he was injured and had an army pension, would he have left when the officer left, and would there have been any records of batmen anywhere?

Thank you

Rosemary

[armourersergeant]

A Batman was basically the army equivilent of a Gentlemans servent. He would clean and provide for the officer, accompanying him on his travells etc. It was not necesserily a sideways or up or down move for the man. As for staying with the officer when he left, that would depend on his army release and the officer then wishing to take him on a a servent after the war.

I feel it unlikely there would be any records of Batman.

good luck hunting.

Arm

[Michelle Young]

I was recently told that during ww1 officers had serevants- the term batman only came into being in ww2. The book I am reading at present (Stand To by F C Hitchcock written pre ww2 refers to both servant and batman) so can anyone shed some light on the definitive answer please?

Sorry ti hijack the thread somewhat.

Thanks, Michelle

[armourersergeant]

This is from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Batman (army)

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For other uses of Batman, see Batman (disambiguation)

A batman is a soldier assigned to a commissioned officer as a personal servant.

The term is derived from the obsolete bat, packsaddle (from French bât, from Old French bast, from Late Latin bastum) + man.

A Batman's duties often include:

acting as a "runner" to convey orders from the officer to subordinates

maintaining the officer's uniform and personal equipment as a valet

driving the officer's vehicle, sometimes under combat conditions

other miscellaneous tasks the officer does not have time or inclination to do

In armies where officers typically came from the upper class, it was not unusual for a former batman to follow the officer into civilian life as a domestic servant.

In the German army the post was known as der Putzer (cleaner) or Bursche (fellow). A popular German army song 'Ich war der Putzer vom Kaiser' sung during World War I tells of a soldier who missed the horrors of service on the Western front by being the batman to Kaiser Wilhelm II. It was set to a contemporary tune for a whistling version in 1967, and released under the title 'I was Kaiser Bill's Batman' in the United Kingdom and United States. The artist, John O'Neill, recorded it under the name 'Whistling Jack Smith'.

In the United States Army the term "dog robber" was used, but it could also be applied to a junior officer who acted as a gofer to somebody with high rank. The position was made famous by James Garner in the movie The Americanization of Emily. One example of a famous officer and batman was British actor David Niven who had fellow actor Peter Ustinov as his batman.

In the Indian army the word batman is now replaced with the Hindi word Sahayak which translates to Assistant or care taker. Orderly was another term which was used, which is also now done away with.

Baldrick is Blackadder's batman in Blackadder Goes Forth.

regards

Arm

[Steven Broomfield]

I believe "Servant" was more common in the British service in the Great war, with "Batman" used as the RSM's servant. I suppose "Servant" was less popular in the more egalitarian Second World War.

[armourersergeant]

Heres a link to an account of an officers experience of a Batman.

Recollections from memory about batmen

Columnist Brig (Retd) Muhammad Akhtar Khan talks about the “batman” issue.

Arm

[Muerrisch]

It is complicated.

Peace establishments are mealy-mouthed on the servant/ batman issue, but, in general, officers had servants, who they paid privately over and above the soldier's pay. These servants in some battalions were expected to do duty in the Mess if the oficer was not in need that day.

War Estabs. provide for a batman for each officer, and two for horsed officers No mention of servants.

Finally, many sergeants and above paid a private soldier to do kit cleaning etc. In some regiments [Guards I believe] the Sergeant Major certainly had a batman. Even now he has a stick orderly on Trooping the Colour .......... whether this is his batman, only the Guards would know.

[PhilB]

This may be of interest:-

http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/i...c=12919&hl=

Phil B

[JulianB]

I have read of a number of officers who promptly put their butler or valet in uniform thus transforming them into 'batmen' and who then resumed their civilian servant status again after the war (if they survivd).

There's one such case from the 2WW where Colonel 'Bloggs' was exasperated by his batman (butler) being captured and berated him in 1945 asking 'where the blazes have you been' !

[Mary Anne]

I was recently told that during ww1 officers had serevants- the term batman only came into being in ww2. The book I am reading at present (Stand To by F C Hitchcock written pre ww2 refers to both servant and batman) so can anyone shed some light on the definitive answer please?

Perhaps not a definitive answer, Michelle, but I have access to my father's WWI diaries and he uses batman most often, but also servant. He was a Canadian officer (Lieutenant), and had a batman, presumably because the British officers also did. Once he got home, he kept in touch with his batman, as they had become friends.

[stuartd]

Alfred Anderson, the last surviving Old Contemptible who died last year aged 109, was Fergus Bowes-Lyon's batman sometime in 1915. You could look him up - Anderson that is - and see if he left any recollections.

[Coldstreamer]

if you get any new leads send me a PM and Ill see what I can do

[Auimfo]

Oh, come on, who's going to say it........it's got to be done!

The Batman was the partner of Robin and protected Gotham City against evil doers.

I'll get me coat on the way out!

Tim L.

[Coldstreamer]

kerr powww

[armourersergeant]

Oh, come on, who's going to say it........it's got to be done!

The Batman was the partner of Robin and protected Gotham City against evil doers.

I'll get me coat on the way out!

Tim L.

Keep going, turn left at the bottom, the Pacific is that big blue thing in front of you, start swimming.

Oh alright we all thought about it, but some of us had better sense

Arm

[Auimfo]

Sorry, you'll have to excuse me, I'm one of those uncouth colonial chappies from the antipodes!

[rozgroggins]

Thank you all for your replies. My grandfather was in WW1, not that it makes a difference, just the name - servant/batman. He must have stayed with the officer when he left the army, after the war.

Best wishes

Rosemary