18 replies to this topic

[klemcoll]

Does anyone have an original program for this race? We would like to know if Bob Gerard was shown in n. 19 or n. 20.

[RCH]

The 1937 TT was at Donington.

[taylov]

1937 Donington TT - Car #20 was a Riley entered by F.R. Gerald to be driven by A.Daunt-Bateman.

 

Tony

[RCH]

http://wsrp.ic.cz/prewar1937.html#25

 

According to Martin Krejci's website Bob Gerard and Daunt-Bateman shared the no. 19 Riley, JF Gee entered and drove the no. 20 car.

Edited by RCH, 23 August 2013 - 12:32.

[taylov]

 

 

Tony

[Roger Clark]

Anthony Blight's the French Sports Car Revolution contains two photographs of number 20, both captioned as being Gerrard.  

[D-Type]

The Motor Sport report of the race does not mention Gerard or Daunt-Bateman.  The results listing has Gerard in a Riley finishing 9th, with no mention of Daunt-Bateman.  If they both drove the car I don't know whether Motor Sport would have listed both drivers or just the driver in the car at the finish.

[Vitesse2]

Richard Hough's "Tourist Trophy" lists both Gerard and Daunt Bateman in both the entry list and results in car number 20.

 

At the risk of introducing confusion (or possibly clarification) they apparently shared the same car in the Donington 12 Hours earlier in the year - although on that occasion it carried 29.

[taylov]

Who is/was this "Daunt-Bateman" ?

 

The only candidate I found searching on-line appears in the UK Navy Lists as Arthur Daunt-Bateman, OBE, VRD, FRCS, LRCP, DLO  born c1913 who served in the Royal Naval Reserve during and after WW2 as a Surgeon Lieutenant Commander.   Is anything else known?

 

Tony

Edited by taylov, 24 August 2013 - 06:32.

[Eric Dunsdon]

 

 

Tony

Wouldnt a shilling for a programme have been quite expensive in those days?.

[taylov]

1/- for the programmes for major car races but only 6d (sixpence) for the motorbikes - even for the "Grand prix" events.  Nice to see that Donington milked the "posh boys"

 

Brooklands and Crystal Palace programmes pre-WW2 were also 1/- (with the exception of pre-WW1 Brooklands which were sixpence.)

 

In fact by today's prices this was cheap.  1/- in 1937 is less than £3 in today's terms.

 

Tony

Edited by taylov, 24 August 2013 - 10:43.

[ReWind]

Who is/was this "Daunt-Bateman" ?
 
The only candidate I found searching on-line appears in the UK Navy Lists as Arthur Daunt-Bateman, OBE, VRD, FRCS, LRCP, DLO  born c1913 who served in the Royal Naval Reserve during and after WW2 as a Surgeon Lieutenant Commander.   Is anything else known?

Arthur Daunt Bateman, b. 07 December 1913, d. 1994.
Since he seems to have been a resident of Bath, Avon
http://www.companies.../arthur-bateman
perhaps Vitesse2 can find out more.

[Vitesse2]

Arthur Daunt Bateman, b. 07 December 1913, d. 1994.
Since he seems to have been a resident of Bath, Avon
http://www.companies.../arthur-bateman
perhaps Vitesse2 can find out more.

I'll have a look in Bath Central Library's local collection next time I'm there, Reinhard. Possibly something in their cuttings files or an obituary in the Bath Chronicle.

 

The death register has him as both Arthur Bryan Daunt Bateman and Arthur Bryan Bateman, died in Bath, July 1994. I've found a marriage for him too - to a Gwendoline Florence Gray in Kensington, first quarter of 1938. She also died in Bath, in October 1986.

[Vitesse2]

Also found him in the UK Medical Register on various dates. He appears to have been a consultant surgeon at the Royal United Hospital in Bath - and successful enough to own a house on The Circus, which is one of the city's most exclusive addresses!

[taylov]

Here's Daunt-Bateman as Principal Medical Officer onboard HMS Bellona during WW2. (Public access photo)

 

 

Tony

Edited by taylov, 24 August 2013 - 11:39.

[Vitesse2]

His OBE wasn't one of those they handed out with the rations either. Military division, not civil:

 

CENTRAL  CHANCERY  OF  THE  ORDERS
OF  KNIGHTHOOD.
St. James's  Palace, S.W.1.
1st December, 1942.
The  KING  has  been  graciously  pleased  to
give  orders  for  the  following  Appointments  to
the Most Excellent  Order of the  British Empire,
for  coolness  and  devotion  to  duty  during  an
enemy air attack:
To  be Additional  Officers  of  the  Military Division
of  the  said  Most  Excellent  Order:
Temporary  Acting  Surgeon  Lieutenant-Com-
mander  Arthur  Daunt  Bateman,  M.R.C.S.,
L.R.C.P., R.N.V.R.
Acting  Superintending  Nursing  Sister  Muriel
Evelyn  Cawston,  Q.A.R.N.N.S.

 

http://www.london-ga...s/5225/page.pdf

Edited by Vitesse2, 24 August 2013 - 12:05.

[Vitesse2]

Now found his exact date of death: July 6th 1994.

 

Source: death announcement in The Times, July 9th 1994

[Vitesse2]

This is Arthur Daunt Bateman's obituary from the Bath Chronicle, July 9th 1994:

 

A former surgeon at the Royal United Hospital has died after a short illness at the age of 80.

 

Former ear, nose and throat consultant surgeon Arthur Daunt Bateman, known as Bryan, died on Wednesday.

 

He served with the Royal Navy during the Second World War when he set up a hospital at Tynemouth in support of convoys to Russia. Mr Bateman received an OBE for his work at the hospital.

 

Mr Bateman was one of the first surgeons to be awarded the ear nose and throat fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons of England and was involved in the Clinical Society of Bath until recently.

 

He was a keen racing driver during his younger years.

 

He was also a member of the Samaritans, a long-serving governor at Stonar School near Atworth and was president of the Bath branch of the English Speaking Union at the time of his death. He leaves four daughters and five grandchildren.

Now, as we know that his OBE was for a specific military action, that seems to raise more questions than it answers. I can't find any reference to a Naval Hospital in Tynemouth - although it could of course perhaps be a ward or wing in a general hospital. The North East Diary website does record some attacks on hospitals during 1942, although the only major one seems to be in Newcastle.

 

So I wonder if - having seen the picture above - the action in which Daunt Bateman won his OBE was actually at sea during one of the Russian convoys? Could he and Sister Cawston actually have been on their way to the Royal Naval Auxiliary Hospital which was set up at Vaenga on the Kola Peninsula? There does seem to be a two-part academic paper covering the hospital's history:

 

http://www.unboundme...l_arrangements_

 

http://www.unboundme...ospital_Vaenga_

 

There are print copies of the Journal of the Royal Naval Medical Service in all the copyright libraries, but the only others I can find are (naturally) in specialist libraries - the Wellcome, King's College, Greenwich NMM and the University of Manchester.

[Tim Murray]

There are several mentions of Daunt-Bateman in Mr Bob, the new Gerard biography. He's described as a good friend of Gerard, and in addition to the racing they competed together in several rallies and trials in the mid-'30s, including the RAC Rally and the Durch Deutschland trial. D-B appears to have been working as a doctor in London in this period. There's no indication of how and when he and Gerard became friends.