THE QUEEN'S SOUTH AFRICA MEDAL AWARDED TO LIEUTENANT (LATER LIEUTENANT-COLONEL) WILLIAM BROWN RENNIE, DSO, MC, 3RD BATTALION EAST LANCASHIRE REGIMENT (EAST LANCASHIRE MILITIA), 19TH HUSSARS AND STAFF, 16TH (IRISH) DIVISION, WHO SAW SERVICE WITH THE EAST LANCASHIRE MILITIA AND THE 19TH HUSSARS DURING THE BOER WAR AND DURING WW1 WAS A SENIOR STAFF OFFICER WITH THE 16TH (IRISH) DIVISION, INITIALLY AS DEPUTY ASSISTANT ADJUTANT AND QUARTER-MASTER GENERAL AND ENDING THE WAR AS ASSISTANT ADJUTANT AND QUARTER-MASTER GENERAL OF THAT DIVISION. Queen's South Africa Medal, type 3 reverse, 4 clasps: Cape Colony, Natal, Orange Free State, Belfast (officially named, engraved "officer" style in sloping serifed letters: Lieut : W.B. RENNIE, E : Lanc : Rgt :).
Almost Extremely fine, the Natal clasp scarce to the 19th Hussars, only approx. 78 clasps being awarded to the regiment, 1 officer and 77 men, Rennie's Natal clasp thus being the only one awarded to an officer of the 19th Hussars.
Medal accompanied by copied extracts from 1891 and 1911 census returns, 2 pages of Militia officer's service papers (3rd Battalion East Lancashire Regiment), photocopied QSA Medal rolls (4) and KSA Medal roll, the QSA Medal rolls confirming medal and clasps (note, "Boer War Services of Military Officers" incorrectly records Rennie as being entitled to only a 3 clasp QSA Medal, the medal rolls, however, clearly record entitlement to 4 clasps). Medal also accompanied by WW1 Medal Index card, along with copied extracts from Army Lists and London Gazettes of the period and copied research re. the 16th (Irish) Division in WW1.
William Brown Rennie (1876-1959) was born in Garston, Lancashire, on 27/9/1876. He is recorded in the 1891 census as being the 14 year old son of Frank Rennie (born Edinburgh), a physician, living in Harrogate, Yorkshire, with his wife Isabella, son William Brown, two daughters and five servants (cook, nurse, waiting maid, housemaid and coachman). Rennie was first commissioned 2nd Lieutenant, 3rd Battalion East Lancashire Regiment (East Lancashire Militia), on 8/1/1900. Militia service papers confirm Rennie as having been embodied with the 3rd East Lancashires from 24/1/1900 to 20/4/1900 and on active service with that battalion in South Africa from 16/2/1900 to 20/4/1900. Whilst serving in South Africa with the East Lancashire Militia, Rennie obtained a commission in the regular army, being appointed 2nd Lieutenant, 19th Hussars, 21/4/1900.
Rennie first saw active service during the Boer War with the 3rd Battalion East Lancashire Regiment, but he was only briefly with that battalion. The 3rd Battalion East Lancashire Regiment landed at Capetown on 13/3/1900, and was stationed initially at De Aar for six weeks. By the time the battalion moved on, Rennie had been commissioned into the 19th Hussars, being appointed 2nd Lieutenant in that regiment on 21/4/1900, just five weeks after landing in South Africa. He saw service exclusively with the 19th Hussars for the remainder of the Boer War, being promoted Lieutenant, 30/12/1900. In South Africa the 19th Hussars, with the 5th Lancers and 18th Hussars, formed the 2nd Cavalry Brigade, Natal Army. With that brigade Rennie took part in the operations in the Transvaal, east of Pretoria, 1st July to 29th November 1900, including the actions around and capture of Belfast, 26th-27th August 1900, and Lydenberg, 1st-6th September 1900, the operations in the Transvaal, 20/11/1900 to 31/5/1902, and the operations in the Orange River Colony, May 1902.
The 19th Hussars took part in at least two significant actions during the Boer War. At Blauwbank on 29/7/1901 the 19th Hussars, assisted by the 18th Hussars, and after a long chase, recaptured one of two pom-poms that had been captured from Australian troops (5th Victorian Mounted Rifles) on 12/6/1901, the two regiments also capturing 32 prisoners and 20 wagons. Later, on 16/8/1901 the 19th Hussars were involved in heavy fighting in dense bush with a large force of Boers at Elandskraal, in the north-east Transvaal. During this action the 19th Hussars initially lost 4 officers and 19 men taken prisoner, but the 18th Hussars came to the 19th Hussars rescue, driving off the Boers and releasing the prisoners.
Following the end of the Boer War Rennie saw service in India, being ADC to the Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal 2/11/1903 to 21/8/1907. Promoted Captain, 13/2/1907, Rennie transferred to the Reserve of Officers in 1911 (the 1911 census return records Rennie as a married "retired Captain of the 19th Hussars", resident on the day of the census in his father's home, Quarr House, Sway, Hampshire).
Rennie was recalled for service during WW1 being appointed Captain and ADC to Lieutenant-General Sir L.W. Parsons, KCB, the commanding officer of the 16th (Irish) Division, on 14/9/1914. He was subsequently appointed Deputy Assistant Adjutant and Quartermaster General, 16th (Irish) Division, 18/11/1915. Promoted Major, 25/2/1918, Rennie was next appointed Assistant Adjutant and Quartermaster General, 16th Division, 12/4/1918 and promoted Lieutenant-Colonel, 28/4/1918. Rennie saw service exclusively in France during WW1, entering that theater of operations on 14/12/1915. Rennie was one of the most senior Staff officers of the 16th Division, and saw service with it during the entirety of its service in France during WW1, 1915 -1918. He is mentioned on numerous occasions in "Ireland's Unknown Soldiers, the 16th (Irish) Division in the Great War" by Terence Denman (Irish Academic Press, 1992), Denman quoting extensively in his history from Rennie's correspondence with the 16th Division's Commanding Officer, Lieutenant-General Parsons. Photocopied extracts from "Ireland's Unknown Soldiers" accompany medal.
The small number of Natal clasps awarded to the 19th Hussars is due to the fact that the regiment took part in the Defence of Ladysmith in Natal, with the result that the officers and men present during the siege received the appropriate "battle clasp" Defence of Ladysmith, which precluded them from the award of the Natal "state clasp". Only Rennie and the other ranks of the regiment who saw service in Natal, but not during the Defence of Ladysmith, would have been entitled to the Natal clasp.
Lieutenant-Colonel Rennie's WW1 Medal Index card records him as having landed in France on 14/12/1915. As a senior Staff Officer, he went ahead of the main body of the 16th (Irish) Division, which began disembarking at Le Havre four days later, on 18/12/1915 and had completed its concentration south of Bethune by 22/12/1915.
Lieutenant-Colonel Rennie's Military Cross was announced in the London Gazette of 1/1/1918, page 44 (New Year's Honours List), "For distinguished service in the field", and his Distinguished Service Order was announced in the London Gazette of 3/6/1919, page 6820 (King's Birthday Honours List), "For distinguished service in connection with military operations in France and Flanders".
In addition to the Distinguished Service Order, Military Cross and Queen's South Africa Medal, Lieutenant-Colonel Rennie was also entitled to the King's South Africa Medal with 2 clasps, the 1914-15 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal with mentioned in dispatches emblem.
WW1 Medal Index card gives Lieutenant-Colonel Rennie's home address as Hainton Grounds, Banbury, Oxfordshire.
Lieutenant-Colonel Rennie married, 1909, Lilian Mary Watson. She died on 2/6/1935, leaving total effects to the value of £60,196 to her husband.
