Driver John Joseph Marren was born in King William's Town, South Africa and attested for the Royal Artillery in London in May 1882, aged 19 years. Advanced to Bombardier Collar Maker in June 1884, he served in the Sikkim operations of 1888, being advanced to Corporal Collar Maker in November of the latter year. Alas, in the early 1890s he appears to have blotted his otherwise clean record book, twice facing a Court-Martial and being reduced to the rank of Driver. Transferred to the Army Reserve in August 1892, Marren was finally discharged in May 1894, his intended place of residence being the Kimberley Diamond Fields in South Africa.