Year of birth: 1895

Place of birth: Birmingham, Warwickshire, England, United Kingdom

Profession: Labourer

Country: Australia

Force: Australian Imperial Force

Rank: Company Sergeant Major

Service number: 237

Enlistment date: 13/07/1915

Enlistment place: Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

Units:  —  Australian Infantry, 31st Bn.  (Last known unit)

Date of death: 09/10/1917

Place of death: Remus Wood, Zonnebeke, Belgium

Cause of death: Killed in action (K.I.A.)

Age: 22

1914-15 Star Medal

British War Medal Medal

Victory Medal Medal

Horace Clifford Jenns was the Company Sergeant Major of the Australian Infantry 31st Battalion’s “A” Company. The 31st Battalion was part of the 8th Australian Brigade, of the 5th Australian Division. On the 9th of October 1917 the 31st Australian Battalion participated in the Battle of Poelcapelle, a stage in the Third Battle of Ypres.
Although it didn’t attack the 31st Battalion relieved the 7th Australian Battalion in the support line on the 9th of October 1917. The Battalion was in support to the 1st Australian Brigade of the 1st Australian Division, which was in the frontline just South of the hamlet of Broodseinde. The 31st Battalion consequently occupied the left support sector on the Broodseinde-Noordemdhoek road.
German artillery shelled the 31st Battalion’s positions rom 04.57 p.m. till 05.40 p.m. The shelling was particularly heavy in the area of Remus Wood. In reply to an allied barrage the German artillery recommenced shelling the support positions from 09.30 p.m. till 10.00 p.m.
Company Sergeant Major Horace Clifford Jenns was killed in action on the 9th of October 1917. He was initially buried along the 31st Battalion’s line near Remus Wood. His remains were exhumed after the war and interred in Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood. The location of his initial grave indicates that Company Sergeant Major Horace Clifford Jenns possibly fell due to the heavy German artillery fire on Remus Wood.

31st Australian Infantry Battalion, (Australian War Memorial, Campbell (AWM), AWM4 23/48/27). https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C1338583 Sources used

Australian War Memorial https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/P10246813 Sources used

First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920, (National Archives of Australia, Canberra (NAA), B2455, JENNS H C). http://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/SearchScreens/BasicSearch.aspx Sources used

Commonwealth War Graves Commission Database https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/480305

Namenlijst (In Flanders Fields Museum) https://namenlijst.org/publicsearch/#/person/_id=965ccf63-6f88-4b14-afe0-174eb4eeb277

Lives of the First World War (Imperial War Museum) https://livesofthefirstworldwar.iwm.org.uk/lifestory/7502123

The AIF Project (UNSW Canberra) https://www.aif.adfa.edu.au/showPerson?pid=153792