BORN – Oswestry
HOMEFRONT – Place / Occupation / St Oswald’s
UNIT – 1 Bn King’s Shropshire Light Infantry
RANK – Private 27134
THEATRE – Kaiser Offensive / Operation Michael. Somme. Noreuil. 1 Bn King’s Shropshire Light Infantry. 21-22 March 1918
DIED – Killed in action 22 March 1918. Aged 20.
COMMEMORATED – Arras Memorial (grave unknown). (CWGC)
Reginald Hopkins Pendry was born in 1898 at Oswestry, the third son of William and Minnie Pendry. Together they would have 8 children: William and Dorothy,(both born in Ireland) Joshua, Reginald, Florence, Ada and Minnie born in Oswestry and the youngest Herbert born in 1905 at Cefn. In 1901 the family were living at 2 Porkington Terrace, Willow Street, Oswestry and by 1911 had moved to 17 Park Avenue. They would later move to School House, (36) Albert Road and then to 2 Castle Street after the war.
Reginald’s father, William, was a former soldier – he was likely serving in Ireland (where his 2 eldest children were born) and had come to Oswestry posted as Sergeant Major, Shropshire Yeomanry, B Squadron (Oswestry) – he would have been one of the permanent staff based in the Drill Hall. By 1911 he had retired from the army and was supplementing his pension working as a house painter. During the war he re-enlisted in the Yeomanry as an Honorary Lieutenant. The rank was given on retirement to men from the ranks as an award for good or deserving service; it provided the same authority but excluded membership of the ‘gentleman officer club’. Aged 51 he was ineligible for combat and would have been engaged instead on ‘home’ war work such as recruitment or administration.
Before the war Reginald, like his father, had served in the Shropshire Yeomanry before joining the KSLI in 1916. He trained as a bomber in the use of hand grenades – one of the ‘specialist troops’ of the new British tactics. He went over to France in October 1917, when he had turned 18, joining 1 Bn KSLI as a draft. He was KIA on 22 March 1918 during the Kaiser Offensive at Queant. The battalion was caught in the opening barrage and then had to fight a desperate action to escape from encirclement. Casualties were 21 officers and 492 ORs killed wounded or missing. Reginald was at first reported missing but later confirmed as killed. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Arras Memorial. He is commemorated on the family grave at Oswestry Cemetery and on the war memorial at St Oswald’s Church, Oswestry.
His brother Joshua also served.
Captured during the same action and died in captivity – Private 11488 Harry Wright, 1 Bn King’s Shropshire Light Infantry, DoW 5 April 1918, Cologne Southern Cemetery
Private 27134 Reginald H (Hopkins) Pendry, 1 Bn King’s Shropshire Light Infantry. KIA 22 March 1918, Arras Memorial (unknown). (Both photos: Louise Culliford)
Pte 27134 Reginald H Pendry, 1 Bn KSLI. KIA 22 March 1918, Arras Memorial (unknown). Commemorated on family grave, Oswestry Cemetery.
Acknowledgements.
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