Name
Ernest Evans
1896
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
10/06/1921
1st Bn.
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
5944059
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Searched but not found
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
GREAT BERKHAMSTED (ST. PETER) CHURCH CEMETERY
Row 9.
United Kingdom
Headstone Inscription
Private grave inscriptioin "In the midst of life we are in death"
UK & Other Memorials
Not on the Berkhamsted memorials
Pre War
Ernest Evans was born in Berkhamsted in 1896, the youngest son of William and Susan Evans, and one of seven children.
On the 1901 Census the family were living at 6 Park Street, Berkhamsted where his father was working as a gardener (not domestic). He left school at 14 and on the 1911 Census he was working as an errand boy.
Prior to enlistment William was a nursery gardener.
His parents later lived at 12 Cross Oak Road, Berkhamsted.
Wartime Service
He enlisted in 1915 and spent nearly all his time in France, although he was out of action on one occasion as a result of being gassed. After the Armistice he was demobilised but re-joined for four years, serving with the 1st Beds and Herts Battalion, and was posted to Ireland.
He died on 10 June 1921 in Sligo, Ireland, aged 24 when he was accidentally shot by one of his comrades during the changing of the guard on duty in a village near Sligo.
His body was returned to England and was buried in a private grave in Rectory Lane Cemetery, Berkhamsted, receiving a full military funeral.
Additional Information
His father received pay owing of 17s 11d and Messrs F Young & Son, Undertakers received a payment of £1 9s.
Pension records exist in respect of his mother and father but there is no indication an amount of pension paid.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild, www.rectorylanecemetery.org.uk
