JENNINGS, Henry John

  1. Service Details
  2. Personal Details
  3. Unit and Rank Details
  4. Notes
  5. Sources

Service Details

Branch of Service
Army
Conflict
World War I (1914-1918)
Date of Enlistment
06/08/1915
Date of Discharge
04/08/1919
Place of Enlistment
Goulburn NSW

Personal Details

Gender
Male
Place of Birth
Ginninderra ACT
Address (at enlistment)
Goulburn NSW (previously Ginninderra ACT)
Occupation
Fireman
Next of Kin
Mrs. Catherine Sykes (aunt), Mulwaree Street, Goulburn NSW

Unit and Rank Details

Service Number
8910
Final Rank
Driver
Final Unit
4 Field Artillery Brigade AIF

Notes

According to his attestation form, Jennings was born in the Parish of "Jininderra" (Ginninderra) and his birth was registered in Queanbeyan in 1887 to parents Henry and Amelia Jennings. An older sister was born in the Queanbeyan area in 1885 but a younger sister was born in the Young district in 1892.

Jennings was working as a fireman on the railways at Goulburn when he enlisted on 6 August 1915. Three months later he embarked as a Driver with No.1 Section in the 2nd Divisional Ammunition Column but after landing in Egypt he was transferred to a howitzer battery. In May 1916 Jennings arrived in France where he was transferred to the 4th Field Artillery Brigade (part of the 2nd Division artillery) as a Driver. The guns and limbers of the field artillery were drawn by horses and they required a driver to ride the leading animal. During early 1917 the guns of the 2nd Division advanced from positions between Albert and Flers on the Somme battlefields to the valley around Lagnicourt from where they could bombard the German held Hindenburg Line in the vicinity of Bullecourt.

Late in April 1917 Jennings fell sick with asthma and influenza and was evacuated to England where he spent the rest of the year. He rejoined the 2nd Divisional Ammunition Column in France in January 1918 but it took until October before he was transferred to the 4th Field Artillery Brigade. By then the Australians had been withdrawn from the frontline. Jennings returned to Goulburn after the war and married Mabel Gilligan in 1920. He died in Sydney in October 1953 and was cremated at Rookwood.

Description - height 5 feet 6½ inches, weight 130 pounds, chest 33 inches, dark complexion, blue eyes, dark brown hair, Catholic, scar on his right knee.

Sources

NAA RecordSearch - Series B2455 (First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920)
NSW Births, Deaths & Marriages - http://www.bdm.nsw.gov.au/familyHistory/search.htm
Goulburn Evening Penny Post - 24 June 1920
Sydney Morning Herald - 27 October 1953

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