Olive BATLEY (aka Delores) [c.1925-1949]

Submitted by Admin on Wed, 09/12/2012 - 21:45
Names
Given
Olive
Family
Batley
Alias / nickname
Delores
Sex
Female
Status
Deceased
Born
Date
(Day, Month, & Year are approximate.)
Died
Date
Cause of death
Died in plane crash

Her gravestone inscription:

17---/12/10- In loving memory of/ Olive Batley/ died on duty 24th February 1949/ through the Cathay Pacific/ Airways crash on Mount Butler/ aged 24 years/ "As a star that is lost when the daylight is given/ she hath faded away to shine brightly in heaven"/ erected by her loving mother/ sisters - Mary, Ivy and Edith. Wm Nodes Ltd. # 10484
Connections: This person is ...
Child of
Ah Li / Mary BATLEY [c.1901-1966]
Alfred William BATLEY / BATTLEY [1888-1932]

Sibling of:

Photos that show this Person

Cathay- Catalina flying boat-Passenger-Batley present-pilot's log-book page
1948
Cathay Pacific crash February 1949
1949
Braemar Hill crash victim -Olive Batley-declared Estate
1949
See more photos of this person

Comments

David

We can probably update the heading dates for the Batley Girls if you get a moment.

If Olive was 24 at the time of the crash we can assume she was born circa 1925.

From the Hong Kong War diaries we know her sister Edith was 20 in 1941 so her date of birth must have been 1921, and finally Ivy was 22 in 1941, so she must have been born in 1919. (Extract reference posted on the Edith Batley page)

Good luck with the talk on 2 Nov. I would love to go along but unfortunately I will be in Australia next weekend.

Best for now

Julian

Her funeral was reported on page 2 of The China Mail, 1949-02-28:

Funeral Of CPA Air Crash Victim

A large gathering of friends and relatives including Flying Personnel of the Cathay Pacific Airways attended the funeral yesterday of Miss Olive Batley, CPA air hostess who was one of the victims of the Dakota crash on Thursday. 

The service was conducted by C. Percy Smith, the vicar of Christ Church.

Besides the chief mourners who included her mother and her sister Edith,  others present were Captain Furley, Messrs. M. Boder, D.O. Silver, Gardner, Ribeiro, Val Carnack, Mrs. Egan, V.L. Spink, and Misses Fernades, C. Vinesky, E. Demee, I. Porter, Azevedo, L. Castro, I. Machado, L. Fernandes and many others.

Many wreaths were sent by relatives and friends.

Miss O. Batley was a former student of the Italian Convent Hong Kong. About a year before Joining CPA, she was a star vocal artiste with Eddie Guzman and his Orchestra at the Ritz, where she was known as "Dolores” Batley. She was partly educated in the Colony and partly in Shanghai. She was 24 years old. Miss O. Batley is survived by her mother, and three sisters, one of whom is in Australia.

In the HK newspapers reporting the internment of the Captain of the ill-fated aeroplane, the attendees are listed, among whom are Mr & Mrs C Eather.

Captain Charles Eather is a long standing Cathay Pacific captain who although retired, and now at the age of 96 years, has a website covering his career and Hong Kong.

The site is maintained by others, but a message via the website "Contact Chic" invitation might elicate answers from him to some of the outstanding Batley questions.

His website can be easily found by Googling his title and name.

Don't all try all together to post questions, you might exceed your welcome