SIDNEY ROYSTON JENKINS
There are surprisingly few casualties from WW1 that could trace their family's roots in Portsmouth back a hundred years or more. Sidney Royston Jenkins was one of them.
His grandfather was Charles Jenkins who was born in Portsmouth in 1819. Records show that Charles spent his entire working life as a butcher and later a Master Butcher, probably practising his trade in the Hyde Park Road area of Southsea whilst living at 73 Grosvenor Road and later at 58 Hyde Park Road. The censuses record that he had nine children but are somewhat confusing when it comes to his wife who seems to have had four different names between 1851 and 1881 - Mary, Amelia, Jemima and Joanna. It seems likely that Mary and Amelia are the same person and she died in 1862 and that Jemima and Joanna are the same person as they are of the same age and born in Gosport.
The sixth child born to Charles and his wife was Thomas Jenkins who was apprenticed to a grocer in 1881 and went on to become a grocer's assistant for much of his working life. He seems to have married his wife Edith around 1885, though the local marriage register does not record this, and they had five children whilst living at 64 Bradford Road (1891) and 2 Manners Road (1901). Their fourth child was Sidney Royston Jenkins.
In 1904 Sidney Royston began attending the Secondary School at Victoria Road North and studied there for three years at the end of which he secured a nomination as Boy Artificer in the Navy. After completing his training on H.M.S. Fisgard (which is where he was for the 1911 census) he served in a number of H.M. ships, including the Victory, Good Hope and Caroline. In January, 1917, as an Engine Room Artificer, he was one of the crew of Submarine E36 which sailed from Harwich in the company of E43 on 19th January for a patrol off Terschelling in the North Sea. The sea was running high and the two submarines separated, and later came back together without either sub noticing until it was too late - E43 struck E36 which sank with all hands.
Further Information
The photograph above is taken from a memorial booklet published by Southern Grammar School from which extracts also appear above.
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) website lists Engine Room Artificer 3rd Class Sidney Royston Jenkins, (M/104), Royal Navy, HM Sub E36, date of death, 19/01/1917, age 25, commemorated on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial (Panel 25).
Sidney Jenkins is also remembered on the Southern Grammar School WW1 Memorial (as Royston Sidney) and on the Cenotaph. He is not listed in the 'National Roll of the Great War'.