An occasional Old Boy has described Rendall as sadistic, but that is unfair in the context of school norms in that era. Rendall appears usually to have kept the cane for serious offences, but to have done a thorough job. However, his ‘moodiness’ sometimes brought allegations of injustice, and R.G. Cumbrae Stewart could never forgive Rendall for a severe caning imposed, without heed to pleas of innocence, for another’s offence.