The Liverpool Scottish Order of Merit
The Liverpool Scottish Order of Merit is an award
introduced by the Liverpool Scottish Regimental Council in 2007.
STATUTE FOR LIVERPOOL SCOTTISH ORDER OF MERIT
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PHOTO OF ORDER OF MERIT
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The first award of the Liverpool Scottish Order
of Merit was made to Lieutenant Colonel J.C. Bateman at an Officers' Association
Dinner held at the Adelphi Hotel in Liverpool on 28th April 2007 to mark the
40th Anniversary of the establishment of 'V' (The Liverpool
Scottish) Company. Lieutenant Colonel Jim Bateman received the rare distinction
of brevet promotion to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in 197? when
Second-in-Command of the 51st Highland Volunteers T&AVR.
Citation for the
Liverpool
Scottish Order of Merit
Lt Colonel J.C. Bateman
28th April 2007
The 1st Battalion, The Liverpool Scottish,
was disbanded on
April 1st 1967
and the responsibility for carrying forward the Regiment’s proud name and
traditions fell to ‘V’ (The Liverpool Scottish) Company, 51st
Highland Volunteers. Jim Bateman was selected as the first company commander of
the newly-independent ‘V’ Company and it was his very high standards of
commitment, energy and dedication that set the benchmarks that assured ‘V’
Company its laudable success over the following 25 years of its history. It was
Jim who established as ‘usual’ that ‘V’ Company should win the annual
Battalion inter-company competition, that it should be the best-recruited
company in the Battalion, that it should be the best-represented company at any
Battalion gathering and that its officers, NCOs and men should be looked on as
shining examples of all that is best in the Territorial Army. The Company’s
reputation for excellence throughout its years in the Orbat of the British Army
was directly due to the standards which Jim established from the outset and his
outstanding example endured well beyond his term as Company Commander to set
‘norms’ for the Liverpool Scottish family that remain evident to this day.
Selected, on merit, for the post of Second-in-Command of the Battalion,
Jim continued to represent the interests of ‘V’ Company with vigour, yet
with a diplomacy which earned him, and the Company, much respect across the
Volunteer Army. His ability to
exercise tactful and wise counsel both within the Liverpool Scottish
‘family’ and, in wider military circles, on its behalf, continued to good
effect long after his active military service
ceased.