Lieut Arthur Frederic Evans

Soldiers Effects to Miss Rose Mary Evans, Miss Emily Letitia Evans and Miss Phyllis Katherine Evans, no Pension record found

 

Probate 27th May 1919 to Rose Mary Evans, Emily Letitia Evans and Phyllis Katherine Evans. Effects £9825 16s 9d.

His mother died on 22nd July 1934, aged 78 (probate).

 

The information below was taken from Liverpool's Scroll of Fame        

Lieutenant Arthur Frederic Evans was born at Prescot in the year 1886 his parents being Mr Arthur Frederic Evans and Mrs Evans, of Fazakerley House, Prescot, both parents being members of families which for several generations have been intimately concerned with the public life of the district, his maternal great-grandfather having been the Rev. C.G.T. Driffield, Vicar of Prescot. Lieut. Evans was educated at Shrewsbury School where he showed considerable ability with pencil and brush, and on leaving school he decided to enter upon an architectural career. He proceeded to Liverpool University taking architecture and general Art training, and here he succeeded in obtaining a Travelling Scholarship which gave him a period of continental study for his chosen profession. He was articled to Messrs: Grayson and Ould of Liverpool and upon becoming qualified as an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects, he practiced under his own name in Liverpool for a short period prior to the outbreak of the war.

At the fateful August of 1914 he was away on holiday but immediately returned and with three friends of old standing at once enlisted in the 1st Battalion Liverpool "Pals" 17th Service Battalion King's (Liverpool Regiment) on the 1st September 1914 and marched out from Liverpool with this Battalion past his own residence to take up quarters in the  Prescot Barracks, which were formerly the works of the Lancashire Watch Co, Ltd., and for several months he remained in his own town, until about six months later he received a commission in the 2/5th Royal Welsh Fusiliers, and took up duty with this Battalion. He then devoted himself to specialised duty and became Brigade Bombing Instructor, in which position his painstaking ability seemed to stand in way of  his being sent overseas. Throughout his service career he suffered considerable disappointment from the fact that he was continuously retained in England when he was desiring to proceed overseas with his friends, and in spite of his making application time after time for overseas service.

He was just on the point of proceeding to Gallipoli when that place was evacuated, and after four applications for transfer into some overseas Battalion, it was not until June 1917, that he was successful in transferring to the Royal Flying Corps. He again experienced the same difficulty in obtaining the oppurtunity of obtaining service abroad, for upon the completion of his courses for the Air Force, he was immediately appointed to be the instructor in the place of his own late instructor, and for some time he was engaged upon work where his ability for conscientous duty would fit him for instructional work, until at length, upon his own personal appeal for foreign service, he was permitted to go to France on the 2nd October 1918.

He became attached to the Royal Air Force Independent Force, and after being in France less than a month he was reported killed in action on the 30th October 1918, less than a fortnight before the cessation of active hostilities upon the Armistice on the 11th November 1918.

Lieutenant Evans was a man who was loved by all who knew him for his unassuming honesty of purpose and affectionate disposition which caused him to form strong friendships among those with whom he came into contact with, whether in his school life, his professional sphere or his Army duties. He showed marked ability in artistic work, his musical powers, sketching, and caricature being of great promise commencing from his school days, while he had the infinite capacity for taking pains that is the truest genius, and had he survived his abilities in these directions must have sooner or later come to the front and gained him recognition. Among the members of his immediate family he was a loving and loved son and brother who never asserted his own wishes to the detriment of others, and with the same spirit has he repeatedly pressed during his service of his country to be allowed to run the risks in active service, when by doing so he thought that he was doing his duty, even when he knew he was considered to be doing useful service in the home forces. For more than four years he waited for his chance, and one short month in France called upon him for the sacrifice which he had so willingly faced for his country and those he loved. He was a true gentleman in every sense, and his passing leaves a great sense of loss among all who knew him. His Commanding Officer has reported upon the work in which he was engaged that "His work throughout with the Squadron was magnificent."           
 
He now rests at Charmes Military Cemetery, France.

Charmes Military Cemetery was used by the 8th Canadian and 42nd Stationary Hospitals and enlarged after the Armistice when graves were brought in from BAZOILLES-SUR-MEUSE French Military Cemetery, BOSSERVILLE and CHARMES Communal Cemetery Extensions, GERARDMER Communal and French Military Cemeteries, ROUCEUX French Military Cemetery, SAVIGNY Churchyard and TOUL American Cemetery. The cemetery now contains 202 burials and commemorations of the First World War. Three of the burials are unidentified and there is a special memorial to one casualty buried in NEUFCHATEAU Communal Cemetery whose grave could not be found. The cemetery also contains 13 Second World War burials and three war graves of other nationalities.

Arthur Frederic is also commemorated at Prescot Parish Church where he has a window dedicated to his memory which shows the three regiments he served with and an inscription which reads:

"To the Glory of God and to the memory of Arthur Frederic Evans, Lieut. 100th Sqaudron, Royal Air Force, born March 30th, 1886, Killed at Langre, Oct. 30th 1918, and now lies in Charmes Cemetery, near Nancy"    

Arthur is also remembered on the following Memorials:

Liverpool University

St Mary's Church

Prescot Roll of Honour

Serviceman Statue and The Sir Philip Sidney Statue, Old Salopians, Shrewsbury School, Shrewsbury.

We currently have no further information on Arthur Frederic Evans, If you have or know someone who may be able to add to the history of this soldier, please contact us.