Ernest Claud Evans
- Family History
- Military History
- Extra Information
- Photographs
Ernest Claud Evans was the son of Alfred Evans and his second wife Charlotte Mills who married at Nottingham in 1885. Alfred had previously married Harriett Bulliman at Nottingham in 1874; she died in Nottingham in 1884 aged 32. There were a number of children from Alfred's first marriage including: Albert Henry (b.1874), Florence Mary (b.1875), Lilly Elizabeth (b.1877) and Cecil John (b.1879). There were at least seven children from Alfred's second marriage to Charlotte: Thomas William (b.1886), Ethel (b.1888), Ernest Claud (b.1892), Harold Alfred (b.1894), Elsie May (b.1897), Baden Victor (b.1900) and Percival (b.1904). The Evans family lived at: 23 Rutland Street, Nottingham [C.1881]; 17 Alderney Street, Lenton [C.1891]; 65 Willoughby Street, Lenton [C.1901]; 25 Alderney Street, Lenton [C.1911]. It does not say a lot for the Army’s selection criteria that Ernest Claud Evans was described on the 1911 census as ‘feeble-minded.’ Alfred Evans, who was a sawyer employed at Clifton Colliery, died at Nottingham, aged 63, in 1913. Charlotte Evans was Ernest Claud’s next of kin. One undated army document gives her address as 2 Dixon Street, Nottingham but later documents mention 130 Forster Street, Radford [army records/1919 & CWGC]. Charlotte Evans died at Nottingham, aged 84, in 1947.
Pte. Evans enlisted at Nottingham; on 29 November 1916. Assigned to the Army Reserve until 27 February 1917, he initially served with Durham Light Infantry [Service No.79523] He served in France from 23 March 1917 and transferred to the 4th Labour Company of the Lincolnshire Regiment [Service No.37728] on 14 May 1917, subsequently transferring to the 43rd Company of the Labour Corps [Service No.25363]. Ernest died of an infected abdominal chest wound on 14 October 1914 but had also had a leg amputated. He was buried in Dozinghem Military Cemetery, West Vlaanderen, Belgium. He qualified for the British War Medal and Victory Medal. CWGC - History of Dozinghem Military Cemetery (extract): 'Westvleteren was outside the front held by Commonwealth forces in Belgium during the First World War, but in July 1917, in readiness for the forthcoming offensive, groups of casualty clearing stations were placed at three positions called by the troops Mendinghem, Dozinghem and Bandaghem. The 4th, 47th and 61st Casualty Clearing Stations were posted at Dozinghem and the military cemetery was used by them until early in 1918.' (www.cwgc.org)
CWGC headstone personal inscription: 'Too dearly loved to be forgotten Mother and family' Registers of Soldiers' Effects: his mother Charlotte was his sole legatee.
