BORN into a family with long and distinguished connections to the British Indian Army and Colonial Service, Rennick went to Lawrence College in Murree, Pakistan.

At 17 he joined the Royal Signals, which was attached to the Gurkhas, and almost immediately went off to war, fighting in Italy and the Battle of Monte Cassino.

Rennick later joined the Frontier Force Rifles and fought the Japanese in Burma. After the war he was part of the Boundary Force formed to help control the partitioning of India and Pakistan.

At 22 he married Lorna and joined the Malayan police force. His eldest son Nicky was born there.

When Rennick returned to England he went into various partnerships as a heating engineer.

In the late 1960s he started a second family with Susan in Bournemouth and they went to Spain to invest in a restaurant, returning to England a year later.

Rennick had various hobbies including photography, painting and writing. But he never forgot his time serving with the Gurkhas and started raising funds for ex- Gurkhas and their widows along with Karl Stebbings, a soldier he met in Burma.

Now called the Gurkha Welfare Trust, Rennick raised thousands of pounds for the cause organising many events with his wife Theresa, whom he married in 2002.

The couple, who lived in Blandford , provided goods and money after the earthquake and floods in Pakistan. When a village on the North West Frontier of Pakistan and Afghanistan was accidentally bombed by the Americans they helped fund a school there, sending out uniforms, books and writing materials.

After helping the Ministry of Defence train soldiers for the war in Afghanistan and providing invaluable military advice, Rennick was awarded the OBE.

Theresa said: “Even in the last two weeks of his life he was planning ways to help the many injured and disabled servicemen.”

Rennick died on June 19. A memorial service was held at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Wimborne Road , Bournemouth, on July 3.