Officers' Servants

[Geoff Winnington-Ball (RIP)]

When did the practice of officers having batmen go out of style and/or was abolished outright? From all I've read, it was a cushy billet for the man offered the job, and it fostered a close relationship between an officer and his men. When did this practice die out, and why?

[Bill Murray]

Geoff:

Interesting topic.

I am nowhere near an expert on the subject but I think this gives us some thought starters

In the British Empire, most if not all Officers came from the upper class all the way through the beginning of the 1939-1945 war.
It is my understanding that most if not all of these officers provided their own batmen maybe at least up until the 1914-1918 war. It was, in any case pretty well entrenched whether paid for by the individual Officer or by the services.

In the US, it was a little more "democratic: so to say but not much more. Up until at least the American Civil War, one could buy an Officer's Commission and presumably those officers could afford a "personal attendant".

I cannot speak to the situation in the British Empire, but in the US Forces, officers of Flag Rank, ie Generals or Admirals, had two categories of "batmen". When my father reached that level, he was allocated two "Stewards" who took care of his quarters and looked after the family. He was also assigned a personal "aide", usually a Captain, who took care of the daily military housekeeping details. Appointments, transportation etc. A glorified personal secretary if you will.

In the Marine Corps, at least, if you were a Base Commander you also had access to a pool of enlisted men to handle such things as receptions, official parties etc.

I will have to check with my father on the details, but as best I remember all of that came to a screeching halt sometime in the mid/late 1960's when a US Congressman who's name escapes me for the moment (I want to say Les Aspin) succeeded in getting
legislation passed eliminating these perks for Flag Rank officers.

In a large number of circumstances, Flag Rank officers could still draw on the pool of enlisted men mentioned earlier to help out with parties etc. but unless it was an "Official" affair they had to pay out of pocket for that service.

As a side note, at that same time, Officers were no longer provided with a car and driver (that extended down to the rank of Col. in the Marine Corps) and no longer had their lawns mowed by prisoners.

Having said all of this, it may be of interest to you to know that the Stewards that my father had during his 10 year tenure as a Flag Rank Officer and the aide that he had during a good part of that same length of time are still today steadfast friends. In fact his former aide, who retired as a Col. is one of Pat's and my best friends and lives not more than 15 minutes away from my fathers home and is a regular email pen pal keeping me abreast of my fathers condition. Which, sadly is not too good right now.

I realize, Geoff, that a Batman in the English sense and a steward in the American sense are not quite the same thing but I think there is a pretty good link.

As to the situation in the British Empire, better make that Commonwealth, and the US, it was probably a blending of a matter of economics and perhaps even social changes that spelled the end of the custom.

In the US, virtually all stewards were either African Americans (Army, Marine Corps, Air Force) or Filipinos (Navy, Coast Guard).

As I said, interesting topic
Cheers
Bill

Originally posted by Geoff Winnington-Ball
When did the practice of officers having batmen go out of style and/or was abolished outright?

An interesting question of sociology, Mr. Ball-Spinnington.

I recall some trivial references in family conversation to the ol' chap's batman as a small child. Since he put himself through college pre-war and obtained an automotive degree, the authorities keenly engaged his services in the Royal Engineers during 1939.

Although leaving basic army training as a Captain, he seems to have served the war years in various posts with a multitude of cap badges until the formation of REME; all these appointments would seem to be as an acting Colonel or Brigadier although he was promoted to Major in the latter years.

A handy army system, they get the work and responsibility without paying for it and at the cessation of hostilities it seems that suddenly there were plenty of people to fill these posts.

As best I recall it seemed to be rather random wether the set-up at various postings provided a batman, sometimes he had one provided during the years in the TA at annual camps. I also seem to recall that getting the job done was far more important than anything to do will army "bull" and he seemed to wear overalls more often than not but occasionally battledress and the peaked cap with either when necessary.

I can not refer to the record now since I donated all that stuff to the REME museum some years ago, I can neither ask the ol' chap since Maj. H. M. Notton. TD. AMI.Mech.E. AMBIM. died 29 Nov 1971 and me being a 25yr old ignoramus back then, well before I took a serious interest in military stuff and its history.

Worse, I recall mother finally turning out the house to move into something smaller and saying "I've come across your father's old army stuff and uniform, you don't want it do you?"

"Nah" I said. . . . . . . . . . . . .

20-20 hindsight is a wondrous thing.

R.

[Tony Smith]

The Australian Infantry kept the practice of Batmen attached to Officers during ther Vietnam War and it was still in use in the Reserves (TA to some) in the early '80s, however, like Richard said, it was rather hit and miss when used and was not a permanent appointment where the Batman would spend years with the officer to become "Jeeves" when the Officer was pensioned off! It was more common to see the practice on field excercises when the batman would attend to setting up the Hootchie, dugout and tucker while the Officer organised the unit and admin tasks. It was a good system with payoffs for all involved. Is the system still in use? Dunno, could be. I haven't actually heard that it has been abolished.

The most important job for a batman was to act as a personal bodyguard for an officer when in action. He also might double as his driver.

[Bill Murray]

I am pressed for time just now, but.

Talked with my Dad and a couple of things he mentioned may help as far as the US forces are concerned.

First, no batmen as such.
Officers of field rank, Major and above, were assigned something called orderlies who provided, as far as my Dad was concerned, more or less the same services as a batman in the social sense.
The same rank of Officer was almost always assigned a driver who was also reasonably responsible for making sure his Officer was safe.

Orderlies were apparently assigned on the basis of "who is available at any given time" and did not necessarily serve a given Officer for any length of time unless there was a bond formed and the Officer arranged for a "permanent" assignment. The same was true for drivers but drivers tended to get attached to one Officer for the duration of a campaign and sometimes for the duration of an entire conflict or even the whole war.

The term I used earlier, "Stewards" was a Naval term and seemingly only used by the Navy and Marine Corps. Stewards were more or less a sort of male domestic servant, to use the words a bit harshly, and my recollection was that was pretty much what the Stewards that my Dad had did in terms of their job description. Housekeeping, housecleaning, babysitting, bar tending, car washing and so on.

Finally, it was Congressman Les Aspin who put paid to most of these traditions, particularly Stewards and whatever the equivelant title the Army and Air Force used and the Services became a little more Politically Correct. From what my Dad said, this occured in the 1970's as far as he can remember.

Another little historical footnote.
Bill

[Garry Shipton (RIP)]

Originally posted by Geoff Winnington-Ball
When did the practice of officers having batmen go out of style and/or was abolished outright? From all I've read, it was a cushy billet for the man offered the job, and it fostered a close relationship between an officer and his men. When did this practice die out, and why?

Sunray,during the First Div's stay between Jan/1940 to 1942,the old CMP driver was assigned as a driver for a world famous doctor from the Royal Victoria Hospital here in Montreal.He also drove for a CMQ lawyer,where they travelled around the towns of England,bailing out army truants,who were arrested for various demeanors.He wined & dined with these gentlemen,but he was never a batman.