Robert Rendall spent most of life in Kirkwall

Kirkwall

Kirkwall is the biggest town and capital of Orkney, off the coast of northern mainland Scotland. The town is first mentioned in Orkneyinga saga in the year 1046 when it is recorded as the residence of Rögnvald Brusason the Earl of Orkney, who was killed by his uncle Thorfinn the Mighty...

, Orkney. He spent much of his spare time in marine research and writing poetry.

He compiled a catalogue of the marine mollusca of Orkney (1956, Proc.Roy.Soc.Edin.)

Robert Rendall was born in Glasgow in 1898 but was of Westray parentage. Rendall was a man of many talents and is known as a poet, essayist, historian, naturalist and theologian. A plaque bearing his name is in the presbytery of St Magnus Cathedral.

He attended Kirkwall Grammar School until he was 13 and then entered the family business. He joined the Royal Navy in 1916 and served in Scapa Flow during World War I. In 1946 he semi-retired from business and devoted his life to his scientific and cultural interests, and fishing.

Rendall was widely published and contributed to a range of periodicals, newspapers and societies. Classical and Norse writers are ranked among his influences.

Works include:
Country Sonnets (1946),
Orkney Variants (1951),
Shore Poems (1957),
Orkney Shore (1960).