Private Christopher BATTISCOMBE
Malay States Volunteer Force

Date of birth: 23rd June 1889
Date of death: 25th August 1915

Died aged 26
Buried at Bidadari
He was born at St Mary Cray in Kent on the 23rd of June 1889 the second son of Dr Christopher George Battiscombe MD and Mary of "Rowlands", St Mary Cray. He was christened at St Mary Cray on the 1st of August 1889.

He attended the King's School Canterbury from January 1905 to July 1907.

The year after leaving school he joined Harris Brothers, ship brokers at the Baltic Exchange, and worked for them until 1910. In 1910 he went to Grenoble to study French and then went on to Berlin to study German until 1912. He sailed for Singapore on the 13th of December 1912 and began working for the Bukit Sembawang Rubber Estates of Singapore, part of the North Borneo Rubber Trust Company, on the 11th of January 1913. While he was there he joined the local militia, part of the Malay States Volunteers.

On the 15th of February 1915 815 men of the Indian Army's 5th Light Infantry battalion along with around 100 men of the Malay State Guides Mule Battery mutinied. The mutineers headed for Tanglin barracks where they killed all but one of the guards and tried to set free the 309 German prisoners held there. Only 17 Germans joined them and by dark the Malay States Volunteers arrived and exchanged sporadic fire with them during the night. Reinforced by a party of French marines on the 17th a number of the mutineers were forced to surrender while others continued a sniping exchange. On the 20th of February the 1/4th Battalion King's Shropshire Light Infantry arrived from Rangoon and the mutiny was finally put down.

Christopher Battiscombe was taken ill with slight fever in early August 1915 and moved into Singapore itself to stay with a friend, Mr Burkill, at the Botanic Gardens. His condition became worse and after consultation he was moved to Singapore General Hospital where he was operated on by Dr Smith for an affliction of the knee. The operation was successful and he was recovering when he died suddenly from a blood clot on the heart at around noon on the 25th of August 1915.

His funeral took place at Bidadari the following day.


His death is not recorded by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
 

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