Sir Peter Nevile Wake Jennings, (born 19 August 1934) is a retired British public servant, who served as

Serjeant-at-Arms of the House of Commons The Serjeant at Arms of the House of Commons is a parliamentary official responsible for order in the House of Commons. The office dates to 1415 and traditionally included responsibility for security. The role is now mainly ceremonial. The Hou ...

from 1995 to 1999. Before joining the staff of

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

in 1976, he was an officer in the Royal Marines.

Career

Jennings was commissioned into the Royal Marines as a second lieutenant on 1 November 1952. He was made an acting

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often ...

on 20 April 1954, and promoted to lieutenant on 1 May 1956 (with seniority in that rank from 1 February 1956). He was made a

local Local may refer to: Geography and transportation * Local (train), a train serving local traffic demand * Local, Missouri, a community in the United States * Local government, a form of public administration, usually the lowest tier of administrat ...

lieutenant colonel on 29 June 1974, and relinquished the rank on 1 August 1976. He retired from the Royal Marines on 29 November 1976 with the rank of major. In 1976, Jennings joined the staff of the

as a deputy assistant. From 1995 to 1999, he served as the Serjeant-at-Arms, the parliamentary official responsible for order in the House of Commons. In retirement, Jennings was Chairman of the

St Martin-in-the-Fields St Martin-in-the-Fields is a Church of England parish church at the north-east corner of Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, London. It is dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours. There has been a church on the site since at least the mediev ...

Almshouse Charity (2004–2010), the Bowles Outdoor Centre (2004–2010), and the English-Speaking Union (2014–2015).

Honours

In the

1999 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1999 for various Commonwealth realms were announced on 30 December 1998, to celebrate the year passed and mark the beginning of 1999. The ''Honours list'' is a list of people who have been awarded one of the various orders, d ...

, Jennings was appointed

Commander of the Royal Victorian Order The Royal Victorian Order (french: Ordre royal de Victoria) is a dynastic order of knighthood established in 1896 by Queen Victoria. It recognises distinguished personal service to the British monarch, Canadian monarch, Australian monarch, o ...

(CVO) in recognition of his service as Serjeant-at-Arms. In the

2000 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2000 for the United Kingdom and New Zealand were announced on 31 December 1999, to celebrate the year passed and mark the beginning of 2000. The ''Honours list'' is a list of people who have been awarded one of the various ...

, he was appointed a

Knight Bachelor The title of Knight Bachelor is the basic rank granted to a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not inducted as a member of one of the organised orders of chivalry; it is a part of the British honours system. Knights Bachelor are th ...

following his retirement as Serjeant-at-Arms, and therefore granted the

title A title is one or more words used before or after a person's name, in certain contexts. It may signify either generation, an official position, or a professional or academic qualification. In some languages, titles may be inserted between the f ...

sir ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as ...

''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jennings, Peter 1934 births Living people Serjeants-at-Arms of the British House of Commons Royal Marines Commando officers Commanders of the Royal Victorian Order Knights Bachelor