Joseph Edward Batty (SN 1252) was a 22 year old butcher from Clayton Street Ballarat when he enlisted on June 26th 1915. He trained in Melbourne with the Light Horse before embarking on the Ballarat on September 9th 1915. On arrival in Egypt he joined the 3rd Light Horse Training Regiment but in April 1916 he was hospitalised with blepharitis. Eye problems continued throughout his period of service, which was completed almost entirely in Egypt. While in hospital in February 1917, he was charged with being ‘improperly dressed in that he was wearing a cap not the regulation pattern’. It seems that no further action was taken against him and no penalty imposed. He completed his service with the 8th Light Horse Regiment. After the war he returned to Australia on the Euripides, disembarking at Melbourne on October 20th 1919. He died in January 1965 aged 72.

Lucas’s Staffs Appreciation of Brave Men, the original Avenue register, records his name as Edward J. Batty.