First World War Gallery

Corporal Thomas Edward Rendle, VC. Probably 1915

Thomas Rendle (born Bedminster, Bristol on the 14th December 1884) with a dog, wearing his Victoria Cross medal. At the time of his award he was a bandsman in the 1st Battalion, Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry and was acting as a stretcher bearer. He was 29 years old. His citation reads "For his conspicuous bravery on 20 November 1914 near Wulvergem, when he attended to the wounded under very heavy shell fire and rifle fire, and rescued men from the trenches in which they had been buried by the blowing in of the parapets by the fire of the enemy's heavy howitzers". He was the only stretcher bearer to receive a Victoria Cross in World War 1. His medal is held at the DCLI Museum in Bodmin. He was awarded the medal by King George V on 12 July 1915. He died in 1946 in Cape Town South Africa. (During the war a soldier called Thomas Randle impersonated Rendle and attended talks and meetings etc. until he was eventually caught!) Photographer: Arthur William Jordan

© From the collection of the RIC