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Old 05-05-14, 09:46
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Default Week 5 - Samuel Charles William Renyard

Samuel Renyard was the first person recorded on our family tree to be killed in WW1.

Samuel was born towards the end of 1895 at Boldre in the New Forest in Hampshire. He was the only son in a family of six born to Samuel Renyard sr and Annie Eliza, née Wort.

Samuel Sr was illegitimate though his parents married soon after his birth. Despite this marriage, Samuel sr used his mother's surname, Reynard, for much of his life and on most documentation this is his family name and is the name on Samuel jr's birth certificate. However, in 1911 the family are shown on the census as Wallis which was Samuel sr's father's name. At this time Samuel Wallis sr and has son were both recorded as domestic gardeners and Samuel jr used his middle name William, presumably to avoid confusion with his father.

Samuel jr joined the 1st Hampshire Regiment (Private 9290) as soon as the war began - this time as Samuel Charles William Wallace rather than Wallis or Renyard. On 23rd August 1914, less then three weeks after war was declared, he found himself in France.

Samuel's service papers have not survived, but in September 1914 his regiment were serving near Rouen and Samuel was wounded. He was taken to the army hospital, but died of his wounds on 6th October 1914. He is the only person from his regiment buried at Bois-Guillaume cemetery near Rouen in 1914. Samuel had just turned 19.

Samuel was posthumously awarded the British War Medal and Victory Medal for his service, but he did not receive the 1914 Star until his father applied for it at the end of 1919.

Samuel's name appears with 28 others on the war memorial at Boldre. Hampshire.
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Old 09-05-14, 13:50
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The troops of the 1st Hampshire Regiment boarded the Braemar or the Cestrian at Southampton on 21st and 22nd August 1914 and sailed for Le Havre. They were involved in the Battle of Le Cateau on 26 August 1914 and the action at Nery on 1 September - part of the retreat from Mons. The troops were involved in the Battle of the Marne (7-10 September) and then the Battle of the Aisne (12-15 September). In the Battle of the Aisne, the British advanced at night in dense fog. However, when the fog lifted, the soldiers were left totally exposed and easily targeted by the Germans.

Samuel was probably treated at a field hospital before being transferred to the Number 8 General Hospital which was located in a large private villa in Bois-Guillaume - now a suburb of Rouen.

Last edited by Shona; 11-05-14 at 19:43.
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Old 09-05-14, 14:47
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Thanks very much, Shona.

*copies and pastes onto tree*
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