Edward James Rendell (1896-1973), farm labourer, soldier and engineer
Introduction
Edward James Rendell enlisted in the Grenadier Guards shortly after the outbreak of the First World War and served until 4 November 1918. After the war, he trained as a fitter with a firm in Leytonstone. He later lived in Bury St Edmunds and Yeovil before settling at Redlynch in Wiltshire.
Childhood
Edward was born on 15 April 1896 at Hardington Moor, the second of eleven children of James Rendell and his wife, Louisa (née Newberry).[1] The eldest child died in infancy. James Rendell worked as a newsagent, but Edward did not follow his father into that occupation; by the age of fourteen he was employed as a farm labourer.
Military career
On 8 September 1914, at the age of eighteen, Edward enlisted in the Grenadier Guards, and was posted to the 3rd battalion, serving as a private under number 19717.[2] His acceptance into the Guards suggests that he was at least five feet ten inches tall. Early in the war, the battalion was stationed at Wellington Barracks in London, and they did not deploy to France until July 1915.
In January 1915, Edward was included in Hardington’s Roll of Honour.[3] On 5 October 1915, he landed in France.[4]
On 4 November 1918, he was discharged from the reserve battalion due to chronic rheumatism. He was awarded the Victory, British War and 1915 Star Medals.[5]
Marriage
After leaving the Guards, Edward worked for Messrs Farey & Son of Leytonstone, a regional builder and public works contractor based at Grove Green Yard, Leytonstone, which primarily operated in East London and Essex.[6] Edward appears to have acquired his engineering skills while working for the firm.
After losing his job, Edward returned to Hardington Moor, likely due to the post-war slump. There, he formed a relationship with Marjorie Cora Eason, who lived in Roping Path in Yeovil. Marjorie had been born out of wedlock and raised by relatives. Around Easter 1920, she became pregnant, and the couple married by licence at St John’s Church, Yeovil on 7 September 1920.[7]
Bury St Edmunds and Yeovil
They moved to Bury St Edmunds, where they lived at 46 College Street. Their son, Douglas George, was born on 30 December 1920 and baptised on 20 February 1921, but he died before the census in June.[8]
Their time in Suffolk was brief, and they soon returned to Yeovil, where their second child, Edward James, was born on 21 February 1922. When he was baptised on 23 April 1922, they lived at Roping Path, suggesting they were staying with Marjorie’s relatives.[9]
Edward’s father died at Hardington on 6 February 1922, although his mother remained in the village until her death in 1948.[10]
Wiltshire
Edward and Marjorie eventually began a new life in Wiltshire, although the exact timing is unclear. Their third son, Brian John, was born in the Salisbury registration district in 1932. By September 1939, the family lived at 7 Vale Road, Woodfalls, Redlynch. Edward worked as a “plumber general engineer,” and his eldest son was an apprentice electrical engineer. When Edward applied for letters of administration for his mother’s estate on 14 September 1949, he still lived at the same address and recorded his occupation as an electrical engineer. At that time, he and his siblings probably inherited equal shares of his mother’s estate.[11] Under their father’s will, they were also entitled to equal shares of his estate after their mother’s death.[12]
Edward later moved to Clearbury View, Paccombe, Redlynch. He died on 23 January 1973 at the age of seventy-six, leaving an estate valued at £29,546.[13] After his death, Marjorie remained in the property for another twenty-two years, dying on 23 December 1994 at the age of ninety-eight, with an estate valued at £127,564.[14]
Conclusion
Edward’s life took him far from Hardington. After beginning work there as a farm labourer, he volunteered for military service, initially serving in London and later on the Western Front. After the war, he lived in Essex and Suffolk before eventually establishing a permanent home at Redlynch in Wiltshire.
References
[1] Civil registration birth index; 1939 Register; family reconstitution.
[2] Silver War Badge Records, 1914-1920; World War I Service Medal and Award Rolls, 1914-1920.
[3] Western Chronicle, 5 February 1915, p.6.
[4] British Army World War I Medal Rolls Index Cards, 1914-1920; World War I Service Medal and Award Rolls, 1914-1920.
[5] British Army World War I Medal Rolls Index Cards, 1914-1920.
[6] RG14, Bury St Edmunds, ED6, schedule 133.
[7] Marriage register of St John’s Church, Yeovil.
[8] Baptism register of St Mary, Bury St Edmunds.
[9] Baptism register of St John’s Church, Yeovil.
[10] Death certificate of James Rendell.
[11] National probate calendar.
[12] Will of James Rendell, dated 18 November 1921, proved at Taunton on 11 May 1922.
[13] National probate calendar.
[14] National probate calendar.