Horace Batchelor

Boy 1st class J/28285, H.M.S. Formidable, Royal Navy, sunk by a U-boat in the English Channel. Died 1 January 1915 aged 17. Remembered on Chatham Naval Memorial.

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HMS Formidable was a battleship serving with the Royal Navy in the Channel. It had a crew of 780 men. On New Year’s Day, 1915, the fleet was returning from firing exercise. Six battleships and two cruisers were sailing in line through Lyme Bay . HMS Formidable developed engine trouble and was last in the line. Unknown to the navy the fleet was being shadowed by a German submarine. At 2.30am, in bright moonlight, HMS Formidable was torpedoed. Nearly 600 men were drowned or died of cold in the freezing waters.

Born in Leigh , Kent on the 31st January 1898. Baptised on the 1st May 1898 Son of Alfred and Esther Batchelor of 20 Powdermills, Leigh.

Remembered on the Leigh and Hildenborough War Memorial.