Thomas Evans
- Family History
- Military History
- Extra Information
- Photographs
Thomas was the son of Samson and Mary Emma Evans (née Broadhead). His father Samson was born in Dronfield, Derbyshire, in 1870, the son of John and Susannah Evans. His mother Mary Emma was born in America in about 1871, the daughter of Thomas and Mary Broadhead. Three of Thomas and Mary's six children were born in America but they had returned to England by 1881 when they were living in Unstone, Derbyshire. Samson (21) and Mary (20) were married in Dronfield parish church on 19 January 1891. They had eight children, two of whom died in infancy. Seven children have been identified who were born between 1892 and 1903 and five, including Thomas, were baptised at Dronfield parish church. All but the youngest were born in Dronfield: Florrie/Florry, Thomas b. 1893 bap. Dronfield parish church 12 May 1897, Ada Ethel, John Henry, Mary Agnes, Elizabeth b. 1901 bap. July 1901 d. 1901 (J/A/S) and Lucy b. Newton. In 1891, the year of their marriage, Samson, a coal miner, and Mary were living on Princes Street, Dronfield. They had moved to Fanshawe Road by 1901 where they were living with their six children Florrie (9), Thomas (7), Ada (5), John (3), Mary (1) and Elizabeth (3m), named Ethel on the census, who died later that year. Lucy was born in about 1903. Thomas' mother died in 1907 (reg. Chesterfield). By 1911 the family was living at 18 Portland Street, Pleasley Hill, Mansfield. Five of the six children were living with their widowed father: Florrie, Thomas a coal miner, John, Mary and Lucy (8). Also in the household was Betsy Bullock (28, single) of no occupation and her two children. Ada Ethel was a domestic servant in the household of Albert Ratcliffe, a coal miner hewer, his wife and five sons on Hillmoor Street, Pleasley. In 1939 when the England and Wales Register was compiled, Samson, now retired, was living with his widowed daughter, Mary Agnes Harris (m. 1925 Ernest Harris, d. 1938), and her three children in Mansfield. Samson died in 1959.
17th Bn Sherwood Foresters (Notts & Derby Regiment) Thomas enlisted in 1915 and was serving in France by 1916 as there is a medical record of him receiving treatment for scabies at the 4th Stationary Hospital in April that year. By then he had been in the army for 10 months and with the field force for one month. Thomas died in No. 10 General Hospital, Rouen, on 27 April 1917 and was buried in St Sever Cemetery Extension, Rouen, France (grave ref. P.I.C.7A). He qualified for the British War Medal and Victory Medal. CWGC - History of St Sever Cemetery Extension (extract): 'During the First World War, Commonwealth camps and hospitals were stationed on the southern outskirts of Rouen. A base supply depot and the 3rd Echelon of General Headquarters were also established in the city. Almost all of the hospitals at Rouen remained there for practically the whole of the war. They included eight general, five stationary, one British Red Cross and one labour hospital, and No. 2 Convalescent Depot. A number of the dead from these hospitals were buried in other cemeteries, but the great majority were taken to the city cemetery of St. Sever. In September 1916, it was found necessary to begin an extension, where the last burial took place in April 1920.' (www.cwgc.org)
Registers of Soldiers' Effects: His father was his legatee although Samson and his married daughter Florrie Burton (m. John H Burton, 1912) were part-legatees of a payment made in 1919.
