The Department of National Defence and the Canadian Armed Forces have confirmed the identification of a previously unknown grave as being that of Lance Corporal Morgan Jones Jenkins, a Canadian soldier of the First World War who was buried as an unknown soldier at the Vis-en-Artois British Cemetery, in Haucourt, France.
January 1920, page 14.
Morgan Jones Jenkins was born in Pontypridd, Wales on May 14, 1886. He was the son of the Reverend John Jenkins and Elizabeth Florence Jenkins (née Capenhurst), who lost two other sons during the First World War: Sergeant David Jones Capenhurst Jenkins, who served with the 5th Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) and Second Lieutenant Richard Jenkins, who served with a British unit, the Manchester Regiment.
The Canadian Armed Forces have notified the family of Lance Corporal Jenkins’ identification and are providing them with ongoing support.
A headstone rededication ceremony will take place at the earliest opportunity at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission’s Vis-en-Artois British Cemetery in France.
After immigrating to Canada, Lance Corporal Jenkins studied at the Manitoba Agricultural College before enlisting in the CEF in Saskatoon, and joining the 3rd University Company, based out of McGill University. The company sailed for England on September 4, 1915.
Overseas, he was transferred to Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry (PPCLI), wounded, promoted, and assigned to the Canadian Corps’ intelligence service for 18 months. Having rejoined PPCLI, he was declared killed in action on August 28, 1918, during the Second Battle of Arras, following a difficult advance on Jigsaw Wood, a position used by the enemy to defend the Fresnes-Rouvroy Line in France. He was 32 years old.
In May 2019, the Directorate of History and Heritage received a report from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission detailing the potential identification of Grave 12, Row A, Plot 5 in the Vis-en-Artois British Cemetery, in Haucourt, France.
Lance Corporal Jenkins is commemorated on the Canadian National Vimy Memorial, erected in memory of Canadian soldiers killed in France during the First World War who have no known grave.
