Images Dated 2016 February

Corporal Thomas Edward Rendle, VC. Possibly 1915

Picture of Thomas Rendle (born Bedminster, Bristol on the 14th December 1884 and who was awarded the Victoria Cross) with some of his battalion colleagues, including an officer. He sits in the middle row, second from the left. 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

Lady and soldier on Flag Day, Lemon Street, Truro, Cornwall. 18th October 1916

Collecting day for "Our Lady". The soldier is a sergeant in the 14th (County of London) Battalion, London Scottish Regiment. He has a "Wound Stripe" on the cuff of his uniform jacket. The soldier has been identified by family members as Reginald Grant Jordan, eldest son of the printer and photographer Arthur William Jordan. The photograph was taken outside the family home, Banff House, 42 Lemon Street. Houses at 53 and 54 Lemon Street can be seen in the background. Photographer: Arthur William Jordan

© From the collection of the RIC