Major Clive Rendle, who died on 29 April 2026 at his care home at Cadogan Court in Exeter, will be remembered by many of our older DERR members as a larger than life character, a consummate regimental officer and a devoted family man.
Your Secretary has been inundated with stories about him. Major Alan Ladds relates that, "I have known Clive since 1963, when he joined I GLOSTERS in Episkopi, Cyprus. He met Clare there, who was Peter Varwell's (The Bachelor CO) niece. My first recollections of him were doing para rolls over the armchairs of the Officers' Mess, as he had recently served with the Parachute Regiment.”
Major Paul Bradley recalls him from his Exeter days, where he was famous for carrying his children (sometimes several) around in his rucksack, even when beagling. Lt Col Norman Minty also remembered him from the Exeter Depot and remarked that he doubts he “will ever meet a man so much larger than life ever again!”
His enthusiasm for the sport of beagling remained with him throughout his service in the UK. Lt Col John Silvester recalls, as a young soldier, being sent to tell him the CO wanted to see him. Reporting to his CSM, he was told: “Go in and tell him. I knocked on the door and was told to enter. On entering, I could hardly see Clive across the room. I did not count them but he had a least a dozen Beagles from the Garrison pack in there with him. I told him he was required by the CO immediately. Oh, he said as he grabbed his cap and ushered the dogs outside. Tell him I am on a run he shouted over his shoulder as he ran off up the road in his Service Dress”. In later years Col Silvester recalls that shortly before he was commissioned, Clive “appeared on the doorstep of our quarter in Warminster with a drawn sword. This is for you he said, a present from the regiment. Congratulations!”
Col Terry Daly recalls being told, before he met Clive, that he was a “‘romping stomping para’ type, so I had an image long before our first meeting. That was when Clive was posted to 1 DERR in Minden in 68. It was in the loo in the Mess. I was washing my hands when Clive bustled in and introduced himself. I was fighting with the always recalcitrant pull-down roller towel when Clive moved to the basins and put his hand on a tap - with Para vigour it seems, as the tap came off the basin and a jet of water shot up to the ceiling and spread out. I ducked towards the door and shouted to Clive to turn off the small tap in the pipework below all German basins (I’d been House Member!), while I shot out to get the Mess Staff and a bucket, and a brolly I’d noticed someone had left under the hat pegs in the corridor. A soaked Rendle was laughing uproariously.”
His ever ready laughter was infectious and his sense of fun and kindness defined his character. He was known as ‘Para Henry’ to his soldiers and ‘Uncle Clive’ to the subalterns (not to his face). Rumour has it that he kept his care home staff amused with stories of Army life and was known to them as ‘Rambo’. All of which hint at the character of this kind, energetic and much loved officer, husband and father.
Colonel Michael Cornwell writes:
“Clive Rendle was commissioned into the Wiltshire Regiment on 21 December 1956 and initially was on the Held Strength of the Wessex Depot in Exeter before joining 1st Battalion The Wiltshire Regiment in Cyprus in 1957, where the Battalion was posted during the EOKA terrorist campaign.
Clive joined B Company as the Platoon Commander of 4 Platoon. During this posting Clive at one time commanded a composite platoon that had been formed to enter the Brigade Assault At Arms competition and was commended for coming second with a scratch platoon. He also began to show his military prowess by dint of his fitness and shooting skills, being earmarked to train for the battalion team that was entering the Duke of Edinburgh’s Trophy Competition; competed for by all regiments, Arms and units who had H. R. H. The Prince Philip as their Colonel in Chief or Colonel Commandant.
During one operation against the EOKA Clive was congratulated during his platoon’s stay in Yaila for finding two EOKA shotguns (though his platoon felt he should have taken his respirator with him to enter the cave into which he had already lobbed a Tear Gas grenade). Prior to leaving Cyprus in 1958 he was appointed as the Machine Gun Platoon Commander. Whilst in Cyprus Clive represented the Battalion at Boxing and went on to fight in the Island Individual Championship, reaching the quarter finals in his weight division.
Returning to UK, prior to the amalgamation with the Royal Berkshire Regiment, ceremonial duties for the Wiltshire regiment included the final Ferozeshah Parade, followed by the Trooping of the Colours of the 1st and 2nd Battalions The Wiltshire Regiment at Salisbury prior to their being laid up in the Cathedral. For both parades Lieutenant C G Rendle was the Regimental Colour Ensign for 1st Battalion The Wiltshire Regiment.
On the formation of 1 DERR Clive continued in the post of Machine Gun Platoon Commander until 1960 when he undertook a three year secondment with the Parachute Regiment. In 1963 Clive was posted to 1st Battalion The Gloucestershire Regiment who were serving in Cyprus. During this tour of Cyprus he and Clare became engaged and then married on 9 May 1964 in Episkopi. Leaving Cyprus and the Glosters in early 1965 the Rendle’s moved to Singapore where Clive was posted to the Far East Training Centre, staying there until October 1967.
Clive rejoined 1 DERR in April 1968 in the mechanised infantry role with the British Army of The Rhine (BAOR). Having passed an Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC) instructor course he was promoted to substantive Captain and became A Company 2IC for a short period before taking over from Major Piers Dunn as OC Support Company. It was during this period that Clive won the Officers Pistol Cup Competition.
Apparently whilst at Sennelager, during the Battalion’s field firing training, Clive had suggested to his Company that they may like to practise their infantry skills by marching some of the way from Sennelager to their barracks at Minden. The suggestion was taken up by his company and several stout souls from C Company also volunteered to accompany Clive on his “Stroll from Sennelager” as his account in the Regimental Journal recalls.
1969 saw 1 DERR return to the UK, to Catterick and in October 1970 the Battalion (less C Company who were in British Honduras) went on exercise in Canada. During this visit a small group, which included Clive, visited our alliance regiment The Algonquin Regiment. Major Jimmy Morris i/c this DERR party recalls how, on a boating trip on Lake Tout, they started shipping water through a drain hole. Clive quickly sprang into action by imitating the Dutch Boy and the leaking dyke, placing his finger in the drain hole until someone was able to locate a replacement bung. Clive’s action saved the boat, the day and the occupants.
In October 1971 Clive moved to take over as OC Junior Soldiers Company at the Wessex Depot in Exeter. For Clare it must have seemed like a homecoming as she originally hailed from Okehampton. It is a matter of conjecture who was more popular with the Junior Solders, Clive or his dog. In the spring of 1973 Clive and Clare returned to 1 DERR in Ballykinler where the Battalion was undertaking a married accompanied tour as Province Reserve in Northern Ireland. He took over as OC Admin Company and once again proved his skills with the pistol by walking off with the silverware for the Champion Pistol Shot at the Battalion Skill at Arms competition.
1975 saw 1 DERR return to England and take up residence in Shoeburyness, with Clive assuming the post of Unit Families Officer, a role he continued as the Battalion moved to Warminster as the Demonstration Battalion from 1976 - 78. When the Battalion moved back to BAOR in 1978 the Army created a new infantry unit, the School of Infantry Demonstration Battalion and for his last year of service Clive remained in Warminster as their Unit Families Officer.
Those of us who had the privilege of serving with Clive knew him as a larger than life character, full of bonhomie and laughter. Nothing was ever too much bother for him. He was the essence of a good infantry officer on which a county infantry battalion relies. One of my abiding memories of Clive goes back to 1969 when we had return from Germany to Catterick and he was cajoling the subalterns to join him on a beagle hunt because it would improve our appreciation of the ground and how to move over it as well as there being a good ‘bevvy’ at the end of the day.
On retiring to Devon Clive worked variously for the National Trust as a Job Creation Officer and for the Exeter Chamber of Commerce, and he and Clare have been unwavering in their support of national and local charities. He was also a committee member of the Devon Branch of the Army Benevolent Fund and an enthusiastic organiser of fundraising events. Looking after veterans and others - that is the mark of the man. Rest in Peace.”
Clive is survived by Clare, their daughters Alison, Sally and Mary, and son James. Sadly, their daughter Jane predeceased him. The Association extends its condolences to his family.
Major Rendle’s funeral will be held on Friday 5 June at 12:00 noon at the Church of Sts. Cyr and Julitta in Newton St. Cyres, near Exeter, EX5 5BN. Refreshments will be available afterwards at the village hall. His family have requested family flowers only; donations can be made to the Army Benevolent Fund in Clive's memory either in the retiring collection at his funeral or via the undertakers:
M Sillifant & Sons, 19 - 20 Holloway Street, Exeter, EX2 4JD
Telephone: 01392 272688. Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
