Archibald Claude Bates, known as Archie, was born in Hemel Hempstead on Friday, 14th September 1894 and baptised twelve months later on Wednesday, 18th September 1895 at St John the Evangelist Church in Boxmoor. Archie was the second son of Harry Bates and Susan Lizzie (Elizabeth) Baldwin and he had three siblings who were: Percy (Percival) Basil, Harry and Bertha. His mother died in February 1901 from complications following Bertha’s birth and his father Harry remarried a year later. Archie’s stepmother was Harriet Annie Dyer who already had a son, so the Bates family expanded to include a new half-brother George Dyer. He was subsequently joined by two more half-siblings, Ethel Louisa and Edward. All three Bates brothers served in the Great War as well as their half-brother George. Both Percy and Harry survived the conflict but George was killed almost a year to the day before Archie died. George’s biography is also on this site.

When Archie was born his family lived in Boxmoor and his father worked as a Sawyer in Foster’s saw mills on Kingsland Road in the village. Archie went to Boxmoor JMI school on St John’s Road, starting in 1902 and leaving in September 1907 to start work with John Dickinson & Co. Limited in Apsley Mills. He joined the Envelope department as a ‘Printing Hand’, but by the time of his enlistment he had left Dickinsons and worked as a ‘Polisher’. Although his employer is unknown, Archie was a member of the Amalgamated Society of Lithographic Printers in the St. Albans branch. On the outbreak of war, Archie volunteered almost immediately, attesting at High Wycombe on the 13th August, only nine days after Britain had declared war on Germany. He enlisted with the Coldstream Guards and was immediately posted for basic training to Caterham in Surrey.

When he volunteered for service Archie had no military experience whatsoever, but he proceeded to enjoy a meteoric rise through the ranks from Private soldier to Acting Adjutant by the time of his death. His first promotion to Lance Corporal came only two months after his enlistment and just before he was sent to France on the 26th November 1914.

On the 1st July 1915, Archie was promoted Corporal and then Lance Serjeant less than two months later. By the end of October in the same year he was promoted Serjeant. During his first year in France he had fought in the First Battle of Ypres, Winter Operations at Cuinchy, the Battle of Aubers Ridge and the Battle of Loos in September 1915. Two months later in December he was recommended for a Commission and on the 31st July 1916, he was permanently appointed 2nd Lieutenant with the 6th Battalion Northamptonshire Regiment, taking up his post on the 1st August and assigned ‘D’ company.

From his arrival until the end of 1916, Archie led his platoon in every battle of the 2nd and 3rd Phases of the Somme Offensive, beginning at the Battle of Pozières in July and ending at the Battle of Ancre in November. In October 1916 he was with his Company in ‘Regina Trench’ near Albert and it was here that an act of gallantry resulted in the award of the Military Cross (M.C.). Archie and a fellow 2nd Lieutenant, D. I. Gotch, were both buried several times by shells over a period of four days between the 24th and 29th October. Regardless they continued to lead their men and as the official citation recorded “…carried on with cheerfulness and courage, which set a fine example to all ranks.” Additionally, Archie was mentioned in dispatches on the 7th January 1917.

Towards the end of January, Archie was promoted Acting-Adjutant and attached to the Middlesex Regiment. Unfortunately he was taken ill and admitted to the General Hospital at Etaples before being transferred to 39 General Hospital in Le Havre. He remained in hospital until he was discharged to a rest camp on the 10th March 1917. This period away from the regiment meant that his inevitable promotion to Adjutant was delayed and instead of returning to the Front he was posted to a base camp as an instructor. This appointment was two-fold, firstly to make use of his extensive battle experience to train new soldiers and officers and secondly, to allow Archie a well-earned rest as his recupertion continued.

He was then granted home leave and returned to Hemel Hempstead where he married his sweetheart Phyllis Kathleen Gurney in the late summer of 1917 in Marlowes Baptist Church. Phyllis was also from Boxmoor and she was born there in 1899 to Albert William and Louisa Gurney. Her father was a ’Printer’ in the same trade as Archie and this is quite possibly how they first met. Sadly, Archie’s return to France meant they never saw each other again.

When he returned to duty, he requested a posting back to the 6th Northants and by October he was with the Battalion near Ypres. On the 17th October at Poelcapelle, Archie was dangerously wounded and immediately taken out of the line to 12 Casualty Clearing Station. A telegram to his family on the 22nd October gave some hope and reported that there had been a slight improvement in his condition on the 19th, but in fact, by the time the telegram arrived, Archie was already dead.

He died of his wounds received in action on Saturday, 20th October 1917.

His father Harry received a further letter from the War Office on the 26th October, six days after Archie’s death, which supplied “further information” specifically, that he died: “…from the effects of shell wounds to the head, face, leg, right foot and right hand…”. In December 1917, a letter containing an obituary of Archie was published in the Hemel Gazette. The contributor was a Mr. Hiscock who felt moved to write and admonish the Gazette for failing to acknowledge Archie’s remarkable war career and death. He was particularly critical of the fact that two weeks before, the paper had published effusive praise for a son of a town councillor who had also been awarded the M.C., just as Archie had. Mr Hiscock proceeded to set the record straight and wrote in praise of Archie and his letter along with another moving tribute from an ex-commanding office were published in the Gazette.

Archie was commemorated in Marlowes (Carey) Baptist Church where he and Phyllis worshipped.

Archie is Remembered with Honour in Mendinghem Military Cemetery, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium where he is interred in Grave VII. D. 48.

He was 23 years old when he died.

Archie was eligible for the 1914-15 Star, the British War Medal and the Allied Victory Medal.