Kenora Great War Project

 

Personal Details
Date of BirthApril 4, 1892
Place of BirthLondon
CountryEngland
Marital StatusSingle
Next of KinMrs EA Rendell, mother, London, England
Trade / CallingFireman
ReligionChurch of England
Service Details
Regimental Number439042
Service Record Link to Service Record
Battalion52nd Battalion
ForceCanadian Expeditionary Force
BranchCanadian Infantry
Enlisted / ConscriptedEnlisted
Place of EnlistmentKenora, Ontario
Address at EnlistmentKenora, Ontario
Date of EnlistmentDecember 22, 1914
Age at Enlistment22
Theatre of ServiceEurope
Prisoner of WarNo
Survived WarYes
Death Details
Date of DeathJuly 22, 1958
Age at Death66
Buried AtForest Lawn Memorial Park, Burnaby, British Columbia

Rendell, Hedley William

Hedley William Rendell was born on 4 April 1892 in Islington, London, England. He was the first born child of Ernest Alfred and Annie Sophia (née Pavitt) Rendell who were both from Yeovil in Somerset where they had married in 1891. Ernest was a schoolmaster, enabling the family to employ a servant. Other known children born to the family were Leonard (1893), Gladys (1899), Roland (1900), and Dora (1903). It appears that another child, Doris Annie, was born in 1895 but sadly died at the age of two.

Hedley was found on the passenger list of the Pomeranian that left London on 28 April 1911. By the time he signed his attestation papers on 22 December 1914 he was living in Kenora, Ontario and working as a fireman, likely for the Canadian Pacific Railway.  The 52nd (New Ontario) Battalion, CEF was raised in Northern Ontario  during the spring of  1915 with its mobilization headquarters at Port Arthur (Thunder Bay), Ontario. Recruiting took place during the spring and summer, drawing from Kenora, Fort Frances, Dryden, Port Arthur and Fort William. Along with a number of other local fellows, Hedley left for Port Arthur in mid June. In early November the battalion left Port Arthur for New Brunswick on the first leg of the journey overseas.  On 23 November 1915,  with the 52nd Battalion,  Private Frank Hedley Rendell embarked from Saint John aboard the California. Once in England, the battalion spent 6 weeks of training under British instructors at Witley Camp, and then moved on to Bramshott for 2 more weeks. By late February, the 52nd Battalion was in France.

In October of 1916 Hedley was attached to the No 8 Railway Company for duty, rejoining the 52nd in late December and awarded a Good Conduct Badge. In mid January of 1917 he was granted a two week leave, returning on the 27th. Granted permission to marry and a fourteen day leave, Hedley returned to England on 4 December 1918.

On 9 December 1918, in Lambeth, London, Hedley married Jessie Elizabeth Willis. Born in Lambeth, Jessie was the daughter of Albert and Jane (née Rolfe) Willis. With the end of the war, Hedley and Jessie embarked from Liverpool aboard the Corsican on 15 April 1919. Hedley was discharged from service on demobilization on 30 April in Saint John, New Brunswick, intended residence given as Fort William.

In the early 1920’s Hedley and Jessie moved to British Columbia, living in Nelson for a while where it appears that they gave birth to son Hedley in 1924. Shortly after his birth the family moved to Vancouver where Hedley found work as a piano tuner, his occupation upon returning to Canada after the war. A 1945 Voters List gave Hedley Jr’s occupation as Merchant Navy and he was also found working on the as a radio officer on the  Silverteak that sailed from Buenos Aires in 1948. He later was listed as a purchasing agent out of Vancouver and bought the boat the Meander along with Dennis Feroce, owning it from 1976 to 2006.

Hedley died on 25 July 1958 in Vancouver, followed by Jessie in 1965. He is interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Burnaby.

By Judy Stockham

Rendell-Hedley-William-2 Rendell-Hedley-William-3 Rendell-Hedley-William-4 Rendell-Hedley-William-5 Rendell-Hedley-William-6

Hedley’s grave marker photograph provided by Karen Hanna.

 


« Back To Soldier Biographies