Source: Michael Doyle Their Name Liveth For Evermore: The Great War Roll of Honour for Leicestershire and Rutland.
He was the son of William Jennings, a hosiery trade warehouseman, born on the 29th December 1860 in Hinckley, Leicestershire (son of James Jennings, 1817-1881 and Elizabeth Palmer, 1819-1871) and his wife Fanny Jennings (nee Everitt, married on the 15th October 1882 in St. Editha’s Church, Tamworth, Staffordshire), born on the 27th November 1858 in Atherstone, Warwickshire and baptised on the 6th February 1859 in St. Mary’s Church, Atherstone (daughter of John Everitt, 1831-1903 and Sarah Cook, 1832-1913). Gordon was born in the July quarter of 1894 in Hinckley, his siblings were, Annie Elizabeth, a hosiery trade finisher, born in the April quarter of 1883 in Atherstone, Lilian Sarah, a hosiery trade finisher, born in the July quarter of 1885, Ethel Blanche, a hosiery trade finisher born on the 5th July 1887, Stanley, born in the July quarter of 1889, William Everitt, born in the July quarter of 1891 and Dudley Beasley, born on the 9th January 1898, the latter five siblings were all born in Hinckley, in March 1901 the family home was at 20, Derby Road, Hinckley. In April 1911 Gordon was employed as a hosiery trade maker and was residing in the family home at 57, Derby Road, Hinckley, together with his father, a hosiery trade manager, his mother and siblings, Ethel, a hosiery trade linker, Stanley, a hosiery trade counterman, William, a grocer’s clerk, and Dudley, also residing in the family home was Gordon’s widowed maternal grandmother Sarah Everitt, born 1833 in Atherstone. Gordon’s older brother Stanley, was killed in action on the 3rd May 1917.
The Brigade of Guards service records all exist, but were deposited in 2018 with the Ministry of Defence in Glasgow, the exception being the Scots Guards, whose service records are now in the possession of the Trustees of the Scots Guards Charitable Trust, and are free to access. The remainder of the Foot Guards records are available at the current cost of £30.00 per inquiry (2019).
Therefore, the currently available information pertaining to Gordon’s military service has been obtained from the following sources: - 1921 HMSO Publication, Soldiers Died in the Great War, 1914 - 1919, WW1 Service Medal and Award Rolls, Army Registers of Soldiers’ Effects, WW1 Medal Rolls Index Cards, WW1 Pension Ledgers and Index Cards and the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Registers.
Enlisted/Attested in Hinckley on the 3rd September 1914.
Joined. At Guards Depot, date not known.
Posted. To Coldstream Guards, Private, date not known.
Allotted the Regimental Service number 11873.
Posted. To 3rd Battalion Coldstream Guards, Private, date not known.
First entered the theatre of war in France on the 22nd January 1915.
Wounded in action. In the Field, date not known.
Transferred to Rawal Pindi Hospital, Boulogne, date not known.
Died. In Rawal Pindi Hospital, Boulogne. 10th February 1915.
Buried in Wimereux Communal Cemetery, France.
Awarded the 1914-15 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal.
In the event of his death, Gordon nominated his father, William as his sole legatee.
On the 6th August 1919, Gordon’s mother was awarded a weekly Army Pension of five shillings to commence on the 6th November 1918 and continue until the 29th of January 1919, this was then increased from the 30th of January 1919 to fourteen shillings.
On Saturday February 20th 1915, The Leicester Chronicle and Leicestershire Mercury published the following article under the heading. “HINCKLEY MEN’S DEATHS.” – Official intimation has been received in Hinckley of the death of Private Gordon Jennings, of the 4th Battalion Coldstream Guards, which took place at the Anglo-American Hospital, at Wimereux, on February 10th, from wounds received in action at La Bassee the previous day. Jennings was 20 years of age, and enlisted last September. He was well known in the locality. Private John Young, of the Somersetshire Light Infantry, has also been killed in action. He was 37 years of age, and leaves a wife and four children.