Pte 94199 Arthur Zachariah Evans

• Age: 19
• From: Trefeglwys, Montgomery
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 17th Btn
• D.O.W Tuesday 23rd April 1918
• Commemorated at: Boulogne East Cem
  Panel Ref: IX.A.18

Arthur Zachariah Evans was born in the March quarter of 1899, in Trefeglwys, Montgomeryshire and was the youngest son of Thomas Evans and his wife Elizabeth (nee Jones). His parents married in about 1880 and had ten children, one of whom died young.  Arthur had older sisters Sarah Elizabeth, Mary Phoebe, Hannah Matilda, Priscilla Ann, and Eunice Margaret, and older brothers Thomas Edward,  Evan William, and David Jones. His parents were farmers and lived in Geseilfa, Llawryglyn, Trefelglwys.  The family spoke both English and Welsh.

The spelling of his middle name varies:  Zacharius on his birth registration, Zacharias on the medal roll, and Zachariah on CWGC.

Arthur enlisted in Welshpool, Montgomery and originally served as Private 59842, with the Cheshire Regiment. The amount of the War Gratuity suggests that Arthur served for just over a year, enlisting in about March 1917, when he would have just turned 18.

Following a transfer he was serving in the 17^th Battalion, The King’s Liverpool Regiment as Private No 94199 when he died of wounds on the 23rd April 1918, aged 19, during the German Spring Offensive. 

He now rests at Boulogne East Cemetery, France where his headstone bears the epitaph:

MEWN ANGHOF NI CHAIFF FOD” (We will not forget them)

Boulogne, was one of the three base ports most extensively used by the Commonwealth armies on the Western Front throughout the First World War. It was closed and cleared on the 27 August 1914 when the Allies were forced to fall back ahead of the German advance, but was opened again in October and from that month to the end of the war, Boulogne and Wimereux formed one of the chief hospital areas.

Until June 1918, the dead from the hospitals at Boulogne itself were buried in the Cimetiere de L'Est, one of the town cemeteries, the Commonwealth graves forming a long, narrow strip along the right hand edge of the cemetery. In the spring of 1918, it was found that space was running short in the Eastern Cemetery in spite of repeated extensions to the south, and the site of the new cemetery at Terlincthun was chosen.

During the Second World War, hospitals were again posted to Boulogne for a short time in May 1940. The town was taken by the Germans at the end of that month and remained in their hands until recaptured by the Canadians on 22 September 1944.

Boulogne Eastern Cemetery contains 5,577 Commonwealth burials of the First World War and 224 from the Second World War.

The Commonwealth plots were designed by Charles Holden.

His Army effects and a War Gratuity of £3-10s went to his father.  A pension card has not been found.

Arthur is also remembered on the following Memorials:

Llanidloes War Memorial

Trefeglwys Memorial.

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