Tribute to a Batman

 

Capt. Blackadder and His Loyal, but Inept, Batman Baldrick
(Sorry, It Was the Only Photo I Could Find Definitively Identifying a Batman)

Before World War II, when officers were indeed gentlemen, in the British sense of the word, having a soldier-servant was the accepted order of the day. The word batman comes not from cricket bats, as some have suggested, but from the French word bât, which means pack saddle. A batman was, therefore, the man who took care of the luggage carried on the pack-horse or pack-mule. In time, the word also came to mean an officer’s valet, who, among other things, also took care of his officer’s baggage. 

A batman's duties could include:

• acting as a "runner" to convey orders from the officer to subordinates
• maintaining the officer's uniform and personal equipment as a valet
• driving the officer's vehicle, sometimes under combat conditions
• acting as the officer's bodyguard in combat
• digging the officer's foxhole in combat, giving the officer time to direct his unit
• other miscellaneous tasks the officer does not have time or inclination to do

 

The literature of World War I recounts a number of examples of the loyalty and devotion of batmen to the officers they cared for. Lieutenant Colonel Graham Seton Hutchison (1890–1946)—the author of numerous books on World War I—wrote a tribute to his batman, Peter McLintock, who was a piper from the 2nd Battalion of the  Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders.

He was a faithful servant, a friend and counselor, an ever-present companion to give me confidence in the darkness of a dangerous night, and good cheer, when fortune favored a visit to battalion headquarters. . .

[Peter’s] friendliness took complete possession of the necessary, though often inconvenient, affairs of life. In such things Peter’s service was priceless. No matter at what hour I would return to the cubby hole for sleep, it was as dry and as warm as human ingenuity could devise. Eggs and small comforts he conjured from behind the lines without any promptings from me. . . . He would . . . prepare a varied menu from interminable bread, plum-and-apple jam, and the sickly meat and vegetable ration. He would clean my limited wardrobe, wash and mend the socks and shirts, keep me supplied with tobacco, dry my boots and stockings. The batman was Multum in parvo to his charge, omnipresent, yet ubiquitous. . . . And he would run when his officer went over the top, and fight by his side. When the officer dropped, the batman was beside him. . 

Peter’s friendship expressed itself in little acts of vigilant kindness. Opportunities for the rendering of trifling services and for the doing of kindness were for ever present, every hour and every day. The batman’s attitude was one of self-subordination, and he tarried neither to consider the worthiness of his charge nor the nature of the service asked. He gave freely, the man of humble origin and pursuit, to one at least temporarily exalted with authority. By his ready service, words and gestures he won affection, by his forethought and unknown sacrifices he penetrated quietly and unobtrusively into the heart of the master of his goings and of his comings.

Peter McLintock died at Hutchison’s side in 1917 and is buried in Ration Farm Military Cemetery, la Chapelle-d’Armentières, France. Postwar, Col. Hutchison first was active in championing the British veterans,  supporting the formation of the Royal British Legion and the Old Contemptibles Association and becoming a successful author. As WWII approached his outspoken sympathy for the Nazis made him highly controversial.

Sources:  Biography of a Batman; "Frodo's Batman" by Mark T. Hooker, Tolkien Studies, Vol. 1, 2004: Wikipedia: "Batman"