Photo 1928 from Aviators Cert
1904 May 9. Born Taunton from RAF Records & GRO (1904 is certainly the correct year from GRO registration). ( Son of Dr. Charles Middleton Coates: his father went to Cambridge. . His brother Vincent, was born 18 May 1889 and played rugby for England 25 January 1913: The match was played at Twickenham. Coates scored three tries, as England won 20-0 against France. MA. MD. University Cambridge. MRCP( London). Captain RAMC France Salonika. MC. Died 14 November 1934 and a big obituary in the Times.)
1911 census at Monckton Coombe, Bath
I would suspect that Dr Coates sent his sons to Haileybury
1920 He did not go to Sandhurst, certainly under his own name
1920/1921 Lawless' WS1043. At first I stayed at Flemings, but as they would not accept payment for my keep there, Archie Boron introduced me to Mrs. James Connolly, the widow of the executed Leader, who lived at the time at St. Annes Rd. Drumcondra, and who kept one or two lodgers. I stayed at Connollys for a couple of months, but as they really had no room in the rather small house, I got alternative accomodation in the Ballybough district where I stayed for the following few months. While I was staying at Connollys I made the acquaintance of a rather strange character who a1so stayed a while there, and with whom in fact I had to share my bed while he stayed. This was a man named Coates, Who I understood to be an Englishman, but was never quite sure about his origin. He claimed to be a. Socialist, a creed of which we understood nothing at the time, and preached in a quiet sort of Way on the 'enlightened doctrine of Karl Marx'. Once I was invited by Heron to attend a lecture in the Trades Hall, Capol St., and there with some friends we heard, what I would now recognise as a propaganda speech, expounding the "glories of the Communist State' under the name of Socialism. We were not impressed by the lecture or the lecturer and, when some time later, probably the following day Coates asked me what I thought of his lecture, I told him I thought it was a lot of rubbish, or something to that effect. Our relationship thereafter was somewhat strained though we still occupied the same bed, and I was glad to see the last of him when he left to go to England, I had changed my 'Digs ' by the time he returned a I suppose he did. The name of this man, Coates, came again to my notice recently in the course of a talk 1 had With Dr. Patrick McCartan. In the course of his official repcrt on his mission to Russia in 1921 for the recognition of the Irish Republic, Dr. McCartan mentions the name Coates as given to him by Tchecherin, the Soviet Secretary of State for Forign Affairs, who stated that Coates was or had bean an acredited Russian agent in Ireland.
And WS766 9. in Ireland. I then named the Communists of Ireland and gave him a personal sketch of each He added Coates to the number and I said it did not know Mr. Coates and was not sure whether or not he belonged to the Communist group in Ireland. I added that the article on Sinn Féin. in the Communist International by Mr. MacAlphine and Connolly was by no means accurate.
1921 Jul 23 Commissioned 2nd Lt 4th Bn Somerset Light Infantry — Donald Bateman Coates . This is a territorial army appointment
1923 May 9. Infy. 4th Bn., Som. L.I. —2nd Lt . D . B . H . Coates , from Active List , to be 2nd Lt . (London Gazette).
1923 Oct 12. Left UK for Ceylon. He is a Tea Planter and his address is as on 1911 census
1925 Apr/Jun married in Bath to WINIFRED E COCHRAN
1925 Jun 25 Firearms offence
1926 Dec 17 Leaves UK for Ceylon. His wife Winifred is with him
1927 Jun 4. Arrives in UK from Ceylon. He is with his wife Winifred
1927 Oct 4. Bound over to keep the peace
1928 Mar 26 Gets Aviators Cert no 8233
1928 May 9. Commissioned Pilot Officer in Auxiliary Air Force. His address is given as c/o Vice Admiral C H Cochran MVO, The Retreat Weston, Bath.
1929 Apr 29. Auxiliary Air Force, General Duties Branch. No . 600 City of London (Bombing) Squadron- Pilot Officer Donald Bateman Hope COATES relinquishes his commission on account of ill-health and is permitted to retain his rank
1931 He is on Electoral Roll in London
1931 Mar 5. Leaves UK for Havana, Cuba. He is an Air Pilot
1931 Divorced. Divorce Court File: 8651. Appellant: Winifred Eve Coates. Respondent: Donald Bateman Hope Coates. Type: Wife's petition for divorce
1933 Apr/Jun. Married to EILEENE BETTINSON
1934 Mar 21. Leaves UK for Cuba with wife Eileene. He is an Air Pilot and they live in Mexico
1935 May 11. Arrives in UK from Cuba. He is living in Mexico
1937 Nov 1. Leaves UK for New York, where he says he will be in transit to Mexico, where he lives and is rejoining his wife Eileen. He is an Air Pilot
1947 Feb 20 Crosses into USA from Mexico
1960 Index to US patents. Smith. Donald R., and D B. H. Coates, to Western Follower Corp. Cartridge magazine follower for automatic pistols 2,944,357, 7-12-60, Cl. 42—50.
1994 May 10 Died USA. Living at 22304 Alexandria, Alexandria City, Virginia, USA
Conclusions
1. He was definitely born in 1904, not 1903 (British GRO has to be correct)
2. I can find no record of a man called Coates at Sandhurst in 1920. A Donald Bateman did join Sandhurst in 1919 and leave to be commissioned in 1920 - I cannot find that commission. You can buy the Sandhurst register entry for Bateman online for £3.
3. As far as I can see his involvement with Somerset Light Infantry runs from Jul 1921 as a 2nd Lt
4. I cannot find a 1920 marriage, but there is a 1925 marriage followed by 6 months in Ceylon Dec 1926 to Jun 1927. I think this is the basis for the family story. The marriage cert would say if he had been previously married
5. In 1942 "His father, outraged at Donald’s impropriety, again forced him to marry and leave the country" His father died in 1934. DBH Coates re-married in 1933. It is possible that this is a true reference to transposed dates. My dates are correct, and Coates did go to Mexico with his wife soon after their marriage.
6. He did get a US Patent in 1960
7. Re the story of him finding the double holster while searching a house in Dublin - that cannot be true. He would have had to report it, and it would have been up to the owner to prove that they were entitled to the guns
8 This is from James Lawless Witness Statement. Does not really lead anywhere, his name may or may not have been Coates, he may or may not have been an English or a Russian agent, But he was in Dublin
While I was staying at Connollys I made the acquaintance of a rather strange character who a1so stayed a while there, and with whom in fact I had to share my bed while he stayed. This Was a man named Coates, Who I understood to be an Englishman, but was never quite sure about his origin. He claimed to be a Socialist, a creed of which we understood nothing at the time, and preached in a quiet sort of way on the 'enlightened doctrine of Karl Marx'. Once I was invited by Heron to attend a lecture in the trades Hall, Capol St., and there with come friends we heard, what I would now recognise as a propaganda speech, expounding the "glories of the Communist State' under the name of Socialism. We were not impressed by the lecture or the lecturer and, when some time later, probably the following day Coates asked me what I thought of his lecture, I told him I thought it was a lot of rubbish, Or something to that effect. Our relationship thereafter was somewhat strained though we still occupied the same bed, and I was glad to see the last of him when he left to go to England, I had changed my 'digs' by the time he returned as I suppose he did. The name of this man, Coates, came again to my notice recently in the course of a talk I had With Dr. Patrick McCartan. In the course of his official report on his mission to Russia in 1921 for the recognition of the Irish Republic, Dr. McCartan mentions the name Coates as given to him by Tchecherin, the Soviet Secretary of Stato for Foreign Affairs, who stated that Coates was or had been an accredited Russian agent in Ireland
9 DBH Coates certainly did not serve in ADRIC under his own name. To have served under an assumed name, he would have had to have a commission in that name. I have tried Bateman and Hope without success
10. You could try Haileybury School records (it is a well known British private school) If he went to his brother's school, then their records will say when he left school. https://www.haileybury.com/about-the-school/a-brief-history/archives. The archivists are usually very helpful if given the full facts to work on
11. "(1897), while his father got the DSO in Sierra Leone that same year, and later a CMG while serving with the 4th Bn Dublin Fusiliers in the Boer War, dying at a military hospital in Southhampton as a major, while with the Staffords in 1918. The plot has been lost here. His father died in 1933, interestingly a very rich man, leaving £30,000, a tidy sum then. His father does not appear to have had DSO, nor served with RDF in Boer War.
My feeling is that the family stories have some basis in what actually happened, but have wandered from the reality over time. Viz the two marriages. So he may well have been in Dublin, or he may have made up the story. Not enough for me to get any further.