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Position:Home>Genealogy> My Aunt said that in 1870's a relative of ours was assigned as a "BatmaQuestion:sound right has she got the right terminology if she has what is a "Batman" and it has nothing to do with Cricket Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: sound right has she got the right terminology if she has what is a "Batman" and it has nothing to do with Cricket A batman (or batwoman) is a soldier or airman assigned to a commissioned officer as a personal servant. The term is derived from the obsolete bat, packsaddle (from French bat, from Old French bast, from Late Latin bastum) + man. A batman's duties often 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 other miscellaneous tasks the officer does not have time or inclination to do The action of serving as a batman was referred to as "batting". In armies where officers typically came from the upper class, it was not unusual for a former batman to follow the officer into civilian life as a domestic servant. A batman is what they used to call an officers aide. (valet) The information below was all the I could find for you, *Batman* Army officers' servant - still current I have included the link to the site where that information came from for your future reference. http://rmhh.co.uk/occup/index.html Hope this helps. A Batman is an officer's personal servant in any of the armed forces. derived from Old French 'bat', 'bast', from the Medieval Latin 'bastum' meaning = packsaddle. It is not an obsolete term, it is still in use. (A batman was also a Persian weight of 400 drams) |