Samuel Evans

Samuel was the son of John and Elizabeth Evans (née Slaney). His father John Evans was born in Derby in about 1859 and his mother Elizabeth Slaney in Mansfield Woodhouse in about 1857. They were probably married in 1880 (Mansfield registration district). According to the 1911 Census, they had had 12 children of whom only six were still living. The family has been traced on the three census 1891-1911 and there are discrepancies on each of the ages of the probable six surviving children who were born between 1882 and 1899: Ernest, Albert, Samuel b. 1887 (J/A/S), Arthur, Charley (also Charles) and Maud. Five of the six children who died young were: John George b. 1886, Alfred b. 1891 (1891 Census), Annie Elizabeth b. 1895, William b. 1896 and Harry b. 1898 who all died in their birth year (birth registrations, mother's maiden name Slaney). All the children were born in Mansfield. In 1891 John (32), a shoe finisher, and Elizabeth (33) were living in Barton Court, Ratcliffe Gate, Mansfield, with their five sons Ernest (8), Albert (6), Samuel (3), Arthur (1) and Alfred (10 days) who died a few months later. The family was recorded at 12 Barton Court in 1901; John, Elizabeth and their six children Ernest, Albert, a stone quarryman, Samuel a shoe hand, Arthur a coal pit boy, Charley and Maud (1). John and Elizabeth were at 5 Barton Court in 1911 with five of their children, Albert and Samuel who were colliery labourers above ground, Arthur, Charles also a colliery labourer above ground, and Maud who was at school. The eldest son Ernest had married Alice Wood in 1906 and they were living in Mansfield with their three children. Samuel married Edith Annie Armstrong in 1917 (A/M/J Mansfield) and their daughter Maud was born in July the same year. His widow married Walter Spademan in 1919 and they had a son, Walter, in 1924 who died in infancy. Edith probably died in 1938. Walter's brother Henry had served in the 1/8th Bn Sherwood Foresters (2550 Private) and was killed in May 1915. (See record on this Roll of Honour)