Jenkins, S (Samuel)
Jenkins, S (Samuel)
Private Samuel Jenkins, was the husband of Sarah Jenkins, 19 Strabane Old Road, Londonderry.
Samuel had originally served with the Inniskilling Fusiliers and Labour Corp[1] during the First World War. He survived the war, unfortunately, no details are available of when and where he served with them.
Private Jenkins re-joined the army in 1939 and was present at the battle of Dunkirk,[2] with what battalion is presently unknown. He would, in the end, be serving with the 8th battalion of the Queen’s Own Royal West Kent Regiment, which was brought into existence in 1939 for soldiers who were either too old or too young to fight. Samuel was with this battalion when he moved to new billets on the 16th of July 1941.
During his third night in his new billets, on the 18th of July 1941, Samuel got out of his bed at about 11:03 at night and left the room. He opened a door and walked through it. Unknown to him this was the wrong way to go and a cellar door on the floor was lying open (due to it being used as an air raid shelter). He fell down the hole and hit the back of his head on the concrete steps, fracturing the base of his skull. Corporal Charles Hughes found him and called an ambulance immediately.
Samuel was rushed to hospital,[3] where he remained stable for the rest of the night, although he was unconscious. The sister in charge did not have any worries about the patient and she thought he would recover, but at about 6:30 in the morning his pulse stopped, and he died.
Date of Death: 19/07/1941 (Aged 50)
Service: Signalman: Private, Queen’s Own Royal West Kent Regiment, 8th Battalion.
Service Number: 6468264
Burial Location: Glendermott Presbyterian churchyard, Plot C. Grave 43-44.
[1] Samuel Jenkins service numbers were 11666 & 591156. He was awarded the 1914/15 Star, the British War, and Victory Medals.
[2] British suffered around 68,000 killed or captured at the Battle of Dunkirk, around 340,000 where rescued.
[3] The hospital was Sevenoaks and Holmesdale hospital, located in Sevenoaks, Kent, England.
