Alfred Jenner

Rank: Battery Sergeant Major

Regiment: Royal Field Artillery

Wife: Mrs Elizabeth Rhonda Jenner

Address: Bexhill

Other Info: ‘In Greece’ text reads “… who is the proprietor of the Whitefriars Hotel, Priory Road, Hastings. He has served his country in various part of the world, and retired on pension in February 1914. He served under Lord Kitchener in Egypt at the Battle of Omdurman, for which he received the Egyptian Omdurman Medal and also the Khedive’s Omdurman Medal. Also served in the South African War and received the Queen’s South African Medal.  Then went to India and served there for seven years until he returned on pension and received a Long Service and Good Conduct Medal.

When the war broke out he could not settle himself down, so he volunteered again in September 1914. He was given a Battery to train and when proficient was sent out with it to the East. He is now at Salonika with his Battery. Writing home to his wife last Christmas he said they were all very comfortable in their dug-outs, but the snow and wet were awful. It was a great worry to him that although they were all cared for, his beautiful horse had to be tethered out in the cold and snow. Unfortunately he had the one shown in the photograph shot under him, and he also had a short time ago a near escape from a piece of shrapnel, which passed close to his head. One supposes they are rather short of clothes in Greece, for some Greeks one day stole his jacket which had all his medal ribbons on. He is a Bexhill man, and during his absence his wife is carrying on his business.

The Hastings & St Leonards Observer wrote a report in 2013 about his descendants visiting the town from Australia, which can be read here.

Published: April 1916

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