Sculptor, draughtsman and painter, born in Kirkcaldy, Fife. He studied at Beckenham and Chelsea Schools of Art and gained Board of Education drawing and painting certificates. Batten was an advocate of direct carving of stone and published books on the subject: Stone Sculpture by Direct Carving, 1957, and Direct Carving in Stone, 1966. He gained experience of carving granite in Cornwall in the late 1920s. During World War II Batten served in the Life Guards, training armoured vehicle drivers. Showed with NEAC, Society of Present Day Artists, Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts and RBA, of which he was made a member in 1962. He was elected a fellow of RBS in 1953 and was its president, 1956–61. Bodleian Library in Oxford contains his work, as do British Museum and a number of provincial galleries.