William Charles Jennings 1896-1918

722311 Acting Corporal William Charles Jennings, 1st/24th (City of London) Battalion, Queen's London Regiment

William Charles Jennings was born in April 1896. He was the second son of Tom Jennings (died 1913) and Annie Maria Hucker (died 1951). In 1911 he lived with his parents in 178 Parkstone Terrace, Taunton Road, Bridgwater and worked as a collar maker. Just before the war, however, William now worked as a porter for the Somerset and Dorset Railway.

He enlisted in March 1916 and in June that year he arrived at the front. He was initially in the Somerset Light Infantry, but was later transferred to the London Regiment, where he served as a Lewis Gunner. In October 1917 he married a woman with the surname Meaker of King Street, Bridgwater.

On 1 September 1918 he was wounded in action, probably during the third Battle of Ypres. He died of his wounds on 3 September at No 35 Casualty Clearing Station.

His body seems to have been lost, as his name is on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Ieper, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium.Panels 52-54, but there is no mention of a grave. His death was reported in the Bridgwater Mercury, on 18 September 1918. His name was added to his father's memorial in the Wembdon Road Cemetery.

Each of the war stories on our website have been updated in our book, Bridgwater and the First World War.

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