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Sergeant Reginald Frank Batho was an airman who lost his life on 6 August 1940 during a mine laying sortie off the coast of Denmark. He is honoured on Runnymede Memorial, Surrey, with over 20,000 World War II airmen whose grave is not known. He is also remembered on the Leamington College for Boys Memorial, and on the Roll of Honour in the Battle of Britain Chapel at Westminster Abbey.
Reginald was born in 1916 in Wem, Shropshire where his father, Frank Batho originated. His mother, Larina Augusta Foster (came from Kirkstall, Yorkshire and they had married on 13 April 1914 in Doncaster, Yorkshire. During WW1, Frank served in the Army Service Corps Mechanical Transport in East Africa.
By 1921, the family were living in St Helens, Lancashire and Frank worked as a grocer’s manager in Cleveland Square, Liverpool. The family moved to Leamington Spa and had a confectionery and grocery shop at 72 Regent St.
Leamington, Warwick, Kenilworth District Daily Circular, 7 Feb 1938
Reginald attended Leamington College for Boys, from the late 1920s to 1932. He was a talented and competitive swimmer and a member of the Warwick Amateur Swimming Association. He was awarded a Proficiency Certificate and Bronze medallion for the Royal National Life Saving Society. Reginald broke a County Record in 1931, achieving 65 seconds in a 100 Yards race. With the Leamington Spa Amateur Swimming Club team, who trained at the Pump Room Leamington Swimming Pool he won the Warwickshire Junior Team Race championships in 1932. Later he regularly played in snooker competitions locally.
Leamington Swimming Club, Warwickshire Champions, 1932
Front Row (L-R) R. Batho, R.P. Heard, R.T. Court, S Brooks Trainer
Back Row: M. Baker, Captain.
(Royal Leamington Spa & Warwickshire Standard 16 Sept 1932)
Reginald joined the RAF in around 1938, alongside many other boys from Leamington College, who may have been inspired by its former pupil and future inventor of the Jet Engine Frank Whittle. His family remained in 72 Regent Street, with Frank employed as a Clerk in an Order Department in Coventry, and Larina looking after their pie, bread and cake shop.
Reginald served as a Sergeant with No. 49 Squadron of the Royal Air Force Bomber Command as an Observer, a Wireless Operator and Air Gunner. He was involved in Navigation and Reconnaissance Exercises from RAF Kinloss and RAF Scampton, Lincolnshire.
On 5 August 1940, Reginald was dispatched on one of twelve Handley Page Hampden bombers from RAF Scampton on a minelaying operation, codenamed “Operation Gardening.” This was intended to disrupt German transport shipping off Frederikshavn, Denmark. Between 1 and 1.30 p.m. on 6 August German anti-aircraft flak batteries at Skagen and Frederikshavn opened heavy fire. Reginald’s plane Hampden I, Serial No. P4377 (squadron code EA-K), was struck by flak. It was spotted burning in mid-air and crashed into the sea.
All four crew members were killed in action: Pilot Sgt Robert J. Jennings (DFM), Wireless Operator/Air Gunner, Sgt Reginald Frank Batho, Sgt J. F. Lindsay, and Sgt J. Jones. Their bodies were never recovered.
Handley Page Hampden (MiGflug.com)
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Additional sources of information
49 Squadron https://www.49squadron.co.uk/documents/kinloss
Battle of Britain Wiki
Imperial War Museum (IWM) Leamington College for Boys Memorial
Index of International Bomber Command Losses 1936-1966
Leamington History Group website
Leamington Spa Amateur Swimming Club
MiGflug.com Aircraft. Handley Page Hampden
St John the Baptist Parish, Cheshire Records The Chronicle & Advertiser
UK, Royal Air Force Operations Record Books, 1911-1963
UK, British Army World War I Service Records 1914-1920
UK and Ireland, Find a Grave® Index, 1300s-Current
UK, World War I and World War II Shipping and Seamen Rolls of Honour, 1914-1945
UK, World War II Index to Allied Airmen Roll of Honour, 1939-1945
Wartime Memories Project
Warwickshire Kelly’s Directory, 1940
