Reginald St John Battersby

Reginald St John Beardsworth Battersby (26 February 1900 – 1 December 1977) was, at the age of 15, the youngest known commissioned officer of the British Army of the First World War. He enlisted in the Manchester Regiment at the age of 14 and was promoted to lance corporal within a week. When his father realised what Battersby had done, he intervened and had him commissioned as an officer in the East Lancashire Regiment. Battersby was wounded in action leading a platoon over the top on the first day of the Somme but returned to duty to fight in the 1917 Operations on the Ancre. There, he was struck by shrapnel from a German shell, resulting in the amputation of his left leg. Battersby was asked to resign his commission owing to disability. He insisted he could still be useful to the army if fitted with a prosthetic leg and successfully returned to duty with a Royal Engineers transport unit. After the war, he studied theology and became a vicar at Chittoe, Wiltshire. During the Second World War, he organised the local Home Guard unit and, between 1943 and 1945, served as a chaplain to the Royal Marines at Chatham Dockyard.

Early life Reginald Battersby was born on 26 February 1900, the second son of the Reverend Walter Schofield Battersby and his wife Susannah. His father was the first vicar of Holy Trinity Church in Blackley, His mother died in 1914 and Battersby was raised by his father alone. He enlisted at the recruiting office in Blackley, telling the sergeant on duty that he was a 19-year-old draper. Within a week, he had been promoted to lance corporal with the 14th (Reserve) Battalion of the Manchester Regiment at Whittington Barracks. At just 15 years old, he is thought to have been the youngest commissioned officer in the British Army of the First World War. He was placed in command of a 60-man platoon in C Company, made up largely of men from the Chorley area, and led them over the top of the reserve trenches at 7.30am. Their objective was to cross the British front line trenches and assault the German defences at Serre-lès-Puisieux, some 500 yards away. This killed or wounded all bar one of the officers present, including Battersby who was hit in his upper left leg by a piece of shrapnel. Battersby was asked by the army to relinquish his commission later that year owing to his wounds but replied that he would be capable of returning to duty if he received an artificial leg. They had one son, Anthony, who later served in the Royal Marines. In the 1950s, Battersby served in the volunteer Civil Defence Corps and received the Civil Defence Medal for long service. Battersby retired from the church in 1972. He suffered from phantom pain in his missing leg, which forced him to take strong painkillers, and towards the end of his life suffered flashbacks to his time in the trenches. He died on 1 December 1977 and is buried under an oak tree in his churchyard at Chittoe, facing his parishioners.