W S Batten Pooll
Walter Stewart Batten Pooll was the second child of 5 born to Robert Pool Henry Batten-Pooll and Sophia Frederica Christina Hastings nee McRae. Robert was the owner of Road/Rode Manor, having inherited the property as a minor, under condition of changing his surname to Batten-Pooll.
Walter and his siblings (Robert Duncan, John Alexander, Mary Margaret, and Arthur Hugh) grew up at the manor house in some considerable luxury. The 1891 census shows the family as having 10 servants, including a languages tutor.
However, wealth did not shield the family from tragedy. In 1894, Walter's eldest brother, Robert, contracted chickenpox while at school in Fareham. This illness progressed into acute rheumatic fever, leading to Robert being taken from school to 60 Curzon Street, Mayfair, for further treatment. Sadly, his condition deteriorated, and Robert passed away on August 11th from pericarditis and blood poisoning, now known as sepsis. He was 13 and a half years old. A detailed account of Robert's funeral can be found in the Bristol Times and Mirror, dated 18 August 1894.
Walter progressed through his own schooling, at Eton, before joining the North Somerset Territorial Yeomanry. According to the Shepton Mallett Journal (28 May 1909), in April of that year Walter was promoted to second lieutenant. A year later, Walter stood as an independent candidate for Somerset County Council (Frome North). He was defeated, but the papers were very effusive about his campaign and the narrowness of his defeat against "the radicals". Later on in 1910, Walter became the Chair of Frome Junior Conservatives.
Early on in WW1, Walter was made up to Captain and appointed as adjutant (assistant to the Commanding Officer). In May 1915, he was one of 300 members of the North Somerset Yeomanry fighting at Ypres; he survived the fighting, and was seconded to Intelligence Staff in July 1915.
After the war, Walter returned to Somerset and was elected as a JP in November 1919. However, in 1924 he found himself on the other side of the bench, when he was summoned for causing an obstruction in Milsom Street with his car for 65 minutes. He was punished lightly, with a fine of just 10s - due to the courteous way in which he treated the constable (Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette, 16 Aug 1924).
Walter died at Rode Manor on 13 October 1953. He had never married, although he was engaged at one time to Miss Katherine Augusta Dolby. This was called off in January 1931. After Walter's death, Rode Manor was demolished, and the lands bought by Donald and Betty Risdon who turned the estate into a tropical bird garden.
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