Pte 53741 Rennie Driver

Rennie Driver was born in Trawden, Lancashire, in the December quarter of 1894, the only son of Driver Driver (not a mistake!) and Emily (née Pickles). His parents were both born in Trawden, married in 1886, and had two children. Rennie had an older sister Minnie.

 

In 1901 the family is at 2 Clarence Street, Colne. His father is 33, a shopkeeper/grocer, employer, working at home, his mother is 34, Minnie, 14, is a shop assistant, and Rennie is 6.

 

In 1911 Rennie is still living with his parents at 2 Clarence Street.  His father is 44, a baker, his mother is 45, Rennie is 16, also a baker.  Living in the household are his married sister Minnie, 24, a grocer, her husband, 25, a cotton warpdresser, and their daughter Mabel, age 1.

Rennie enlisted in Colne and was formerly T/4/110031, Royal Army Service Corps. The amount of the War Gratuity suggests that he served 34 months, enlisting in about May or June 1915. Following a transfer, he was serving in the 18^th Battalion, The King’s Liverpool Regiment as Private No 53741 when he was killed in action on the 22^nd March 1918, during the German Spring Offensive. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Pozieres Memorial.

The POZIERES MEMORIAL relates to the period of crisis in March and April 1918 when the Allied Fifth Army was driven back by overwhelming numbers across the former Somme battlefields, and the months that followed before the Advance to Victory, which began on 8 August 1918. The Memorial commemorates over 14,000 casualties of the United Kingdom and 300 of the South African Forces who have no known grave and who died on the Somme from 21 March to 7 August 1918.

The cemetery and memorial were designed by W.H. Cowlishaw, with sculpture by Laurence A. Turner. The memorial was unveiled by Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien on 4 August 1930.

The Battalion diary records the events of the day and a summary isshown below: 

On the morning of  22nd March 1918 the Battalion was called upon by the G.O.C. of the 90th Brigade, to carry ammunition to Stevens Redoubt. Fifty men under the command of J A Fisher were dispatched for this task and when they arrived, they were retained by the Officer Commanding the 2nd Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment, who held the Redoubt, to help its defence.

Shortly after this, at about 10.00am, the GOC of the 90th Infantry Brigade reported that the Germans had broken through on the left of the northern forward defences, and called for two Companies of the 18th Battalion to make a counter attack under the command of the O/C of the Bedford. Captain Villar left immediately for Stevens Redoubt to confer with this officer, leaving the Adjutant Captain F Lawless in temporary command.

At about 10.30am No’s 2 and 3 Companies moved forward to the Redoubt, but found the situation there so serious, that they abandoned the idea of a counter attack and remained there helping the defence of the Garrison. By late afternoon the situation had become critical and the Battalion was ordered to withdraw to Ham. The flanks of the Garrison at Stevens Redoubt had given way by this time and the Commander there also decided to pull back.

The Battalion arrived at Ham at about 19.30pm and prepared defensive positions.

Rennie’s name appeared in the list of Missing published in the Weekly Casualty List on 28th May 1918.  His death was later presumed for official purposes, to have occurred on 22nd March 1918. He was 23 years of age.  

 

The pension card records Missing 21st-28th March.  His mother, Mrs. Emily Driver, of 170 Keighley Road, Colne, enquired with the International Red Cross in hopes that Rennie had been taken prisoner, but she received the reply, sent on 16th August, and another on 9th October, that they held no information.  Intriguingly, she referred to him as Pte. 88299, 2nd Company, 7th Platoon.  No records in the name of Driver have been found with this regimental number.  The pension card, showing his mother, age 57, at the same address, appears to show that a pension was refused.  His father received his army effects and a War Gratuity of £16.

 

It was not until January 1919 that his parents received news.  An article in the Burnley Express and Advertiser on 18th January reported:

“Definite information has just been received of the death in action of Pte. Rennie Driver, the only son of Mr. and Mrs. Driver, of 170 Keighley Road, Colne, on 21st March 1918. The deceased soldier enlisted in June 1915.  During the advance of the King's Liverpool Regiment he was shot down, while his companion, a Manchester soldier, who has confirmed his death, was taken prisoner, and has only just returned from Germany.  Pte. Driver was a scholar in the Trawden Wesleyan Sunday School.”

 

Soldiers Effects to mother Emily and father Driver

His mother died at age 70 in 1936 and his father in 1938 aged 71.

 

Rennie is commemorated on the Colne Memorial.