The medal group of WO II Raymond Bateman includes a 1937 Coronation Medal. Born in Stoke Mandeville in April 1889 but now living in Albert Street in Aylesbury, Raymond Joseph Bateman was a pre-1914 Territorial who took the Imperial Service Obligation on 22 August 1914 and embarked with 1/1st Bucks Battalion for the Western Front on 30 March 1915. He was promoted to Lance Sergeant in May 1915 and to Sergeant in August 1915. He was wounded in the right thigh and leg on 19 March 1916 when the battalion was at Hébuterne. Evacuated to England, he only rejoined the battalion in July 1918 and suffered from an infected knee in August 1918, being again evacuated to England. He remained in the Territorials after the war and, as a keen footballer, represented both B (Aylesbury) Company and also the 1st Bucks Battalion on many occasions. He competed in various rifle competitions and attended most Old Comrades’ Association meetings. He received both the Territorial Efficiency Medal, instituted for 12 years’ service in 1921, and the Efficiency Medal, instituted for 12 years’ service in 1930. Employed as a printer’s warehouseman, Bateman was now living in Walton, Aylesbury and, as RQMS, he was one of eight men from B Company to march in the Coronation procession on 12 May 1937, whilst others lined the route. He was then one of only five men in the battalion awarded the Coronation Medal. Bateman died in December 1960.
