Eight sons; John Wesley, Charles Henry, Francis, Walter, William Augustus, Lewis Benningfield, Arthur Ernest Albert and Samuel Benningfield, and eight daughters; Emma, Rachel, Edith Elizabeth, Maud Mary, Myra, Matilda, Jessie and Ethel Eliza.

Walter Bateman also succeeded his mother as postmaster from April 1855 to November 1861, served on the Town Trust in 1860, 1862, and 1864–65, and was chosen in Fremantle's first parliamentary election for nomination to the Legislative Council, where he sat from 1868 to 1870.

John Bateman Jnr took no active role in politics, but throughout his long life zealously pushed Fremantle's claims as a harbour, having an unrivalled knowledge of the nearby coast.

As exporters of timber, sandalwood and horses, and importers of sugar and other tropical produce, the firm developed a considerable trade between Fremantle and south-east Asia during the century.

Until the coming of steamships in 1888, the firm had a monopoly of the coastal trade to the north-west and the Kimberley, and continued to supply many sheep and cattle stations with stores and credit well into the twentieth century.