Battye, Walter Rothney (1874 - 1943)
by
 
Royal College of Surgeons of England

Asset Name
E003821 - Battye, Walter Rothney (1874 - 1943)

Title
Battye, Walter Rothney (1874 - 1943)

Author
Royal College of Surgeons of England

Identifier
RCS: E003821

Publisher
London : Royal College of Surgeons of England

Publication Date
2013-04-10

Subject
Medical Obituaries

Description
Obituary for Battye, Walter Rothney (1874 - 1943), Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of England.

Language
English

Source
Plarr's Lives of the Fellows

Full Name
Battye, Walter Rothney

Date of Birth
20 January 1874

Place of Birth
Rawalpindi, India

Date of Death
27 April 1943

Place of Death
Bournemouth

Occupation
General surgeon

Titles/Qualifications
DSO 1916
 
MRCS 29 July 1897
 
FRCS 10 June 1909
 
BSc London 1893
 
MB BS 1897
 
MS 1908
 
LRCP 1897

Details
Born at Rawalpindi, India, on 20 January 1874, the fourth child and fourth son of Major Legh Richmond Battye, Indian Army, and Margaret Moffat, his wife. He was educated at Redland Hill House School, Bristol, and Combe Down School, Bath, and at University College, London, where he won an entrance exhibition and took first-class honours in zoology at the BSc examination 1893. He received his medical training at St Bartholomew's and St Thomas's Hospitals, qualifying in 1897, and won the Parkes memorial medal at the Army medical school, Netley, in 1898. He passed second into the Indian Medical Service, being gazetted surgeon-lieutenant on 27 July 1898, and posted to an Indian cavalry regiment. He saw active service and won the medal during the Boxer rising in China in 1900, and was promoted captain on 27 July 1901. In 1903 he transferred to the civil branch, was posted to the coveted political section, and served in Persia and Rajputana. He took the London MS in 1908, and the Fellowship in 1909, and was promoted major IMS on 28 January 1910. During the first world war Battye served in Egypt 1914-15, Gallipoli 1915, France 1916-17, where he won the DSO gazetted 1 February 1916 and the Legion d'Honneur in the rank of Chevalier, 24 February 1916, and in Iraq 1917-19, first as deputy assistant director of medical services (DADMS) at Bagdad, and then as secretary for health and director of the civilian medical service in Mesopotamia. He had been promoted lieutenant-colonel on 28 January 1918. He was mentioned in despatches on 23 January, 21 June, and 13 July 1916, and on 21 February 1919. Returning to India he was residency surgeon at Indore and superintendent of the King Edward Hospital and medical school, and chief medical officer for central India. He was placed in the select list for promotion on 31 May 1923, and retired on 28 January 1929. He later served for a period as medical superintendent of the King George V Merchant Seamen's Memorial Hospital at Malta, living first at 5 Harper Lane, Floriana, and later at 55 Victoria Avenue, Sliema. He was a Commander of the Order of St John of Jerusalem. Battye married in 1898 Maud St George Molesworth, who survived him with two sons and a daughter. He died at Sandecotes Road, Parkstone, Bournemouth, after a long illness, on 27 April 1943 and was cremated. Publications:- Climate and health of Meshed, Persia. *Gazetteer of Persia*, 1906. *Plague in Ajmer Merwara*. 1910. Spinal analgesia. *Ind med Gaz*. 1913, 48, 99.

Sources
*Brit med J*. 1943, 1, 617
 
Crawford's *Roll of the IMS*, general list No 39
 
Information given by Mrs Maud Battye

Rights
Copyright (c) The Royal College of Surgeons of England

Collection
Plarr's Lives of the Fellows

Format
Obituary

Format
Asset

Asset Path
Root/Lives of the Fellows/E003000-E003999/E003800-E003899

URL for File
376004

Media Type
Unknown