On this day in 1917, Warwick Rendle (1891-1917) was killed in action on the Western Front in the Great War.
Warwick, a gunner in 234th Siege Battery of the Royal Garrison Artillery, died on July 18, 1917 in Ypres. He was 26.
In May 1916, after the introduction of conscription, Warwick claimed exemption from war service at a Devon military tribunal.
A master baker, he told the tribunal in Plymouth that he baked and distributed 3,000 loaves a week in an area of 20 miles radius.
He sought exemption because he was ‘engaged in a certified occupation’.
But his appeal was dismissed because it was felt that an older man could do his work.
Warwick was buried at Vlamertinghe New Military Cemetery in Belgium.
His grave includes the inscription: ‘Until the daybreak’. He is also remembered on Modbury War Memorial.
Paul Roberts
NOTES
Warwick’s 24-year-old brother Allen Rendle (1891-1916), a corporal in the 8th (Service) Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment, died on the Western Front on February 14, 1916.
Born in 1892 in Modbury, Warwick was one of nine children of baker George Rendle (1854-1938) and Annie May Rendle (1855-1927).
Warwick’s sister, Sophia May Rendle (1884-1941), married Frederick Charles Johns (1879-1936) in 1909 in Kingsbridge. Frederick was the son of Thomas Johns (1840-1893) and Caroline Roberts (1847-1921). Caroline was the youngest sister of John Roberts (1829-1919), my great-great grandfather who had 30 grandsons serving in the Great War.
Picture below
Warwick’s grave at Vlamertinghe New Military Cemetery in Belgium. Picture on Find a Grave by the International Wargraves Photography Project which was created in September 2005 by Carina and Gary Nelson. Find out more about the project on: https://www.findagrave.com/user/profile/46770518
