Llewellyn Lewis Meredith Evans

Llewellyn applied for a temporary commission in the Royal Flying Corps on 13th March 1916. His headmaster at Worksop College certified his ‘good moral character’ and confirmed from personal knowledge that Llewellyn had attained a standard of education suitable for a commissioned rank. The same day he passed his medical at Brightlingsea. At the time he was relatively tall, five feet eleven inches, with an expanded chest of 36 inches. He had good vision in both eyesOn 15th May 1916 the War Office wrote to Llewellyn at The Park, Brightlingsea: 'I am directed to inform you that you have been selected for appointment as a 2nd Lieutenant on probation in the Royal Flying Corps, Special Reserve, with effect from the 27th May 1916, and the notification will shortly appear in the London Gazette. I am to request you to report yourself to the Officer Commanding, Royal Flying Corps, Christ’s Church College, Oxford, on that date, for a course of preliminary instruction in aviation. You will be required to provide yourself with the necessary outfit, including Camp Kit, before proceeding to join. A list of the necessary articles is enclosed, and on joining you will be credited with an allowance of £50 for your outfit.In the event of you being unfavourably reported upon during your period of probation, your commission will be cancelled.'He gained his wings in a Maurice Farman biplane at the Military School in Birmingham on 6th July 1916. On 7th August 1916 Llewellyn graduated from the Central Flying School at Upavon in Wiltshire. His graduation certificate was sent to the Officer Commanding, 8th Wing, Royal Flying Corps.He was killed in a flying accident on 9th May 1919 in the English Channel near Dover while flying from France to England. His body was brought to Chelmsford by train and on 14th May 1919 conveyed to the entrance of Trinity Churchyard Springfield where it was met the Reverend Canon Lake who officiated both in the church and at the graveside.By then he had been promoted to Lieutenant and had been awarded the Air Force Cross.

He is also commemorated on the Chelsmford War MemorialThe following is an extract from the college magazine, 'The Cuthbertian', September 1919 issue No 2'It was a great shock to all of us to read in the papers last May that Ll. L. M. Evans was one of the three airmen who were drowned so tragically in the Channel. Evans was Captain of the School during the Last Term of 1915, during which he won a History Exhibition at Magdalene College, Cambridge. The following quotation is taken from the letter of a Priest who knew him since infancy and had been a life-long friend. "In Lllewellyn Evans, S. Cuthbert's has indeed suffered the loss of one of its brightest and best. It is difficult to imagine a more tragic situation than that of those three men, uninjured and not drowned, but drifting in their life­ belts for hours up and down the Channel holding each other up as they died from exhaustion one after another, and were found next morning. To say exactly where his charm lay would be difficult, but it was chiefly, I think in his undisguised eagerness,and in the unaffected delight he took in everybody and everything. " A few days before his death, he had announced his intention of giving up flying on the first opportunity, for he had begun to feel the tremendous strain on his nerves, and of preparing himself for holy orders which had been the ambition of his life. The School has lost one of its best sons, a standing tribute to her influence. The Church on earth has lost an ideal priest. His friends have last one whom it was a joy to have ever met. The very world is the poorer. That is to be set on the other side. His own gain, doubtless, and for us a fragrant and unsullied memory, with a lively hope of meeting him again." A. W. F. D