Reg Evans DCM: A Hero’s War in His Own Words

The Great War: The People's Story

Reg Evans DCM

A Hero's War in His Own Words

Pamela Armitage Campbell

First published by ITV Ventures as an eBook edition in 2014.

This book is published to accompany the television series entitled The Great War: The People’s Story, produced by Shiver for ITV Studios and first broadcast on ITV in 2014.

Director of Shiver: Alexander Gardiner

Executive Producer: Ollie Tait

Producer: Isobel Charman

Director: Paul Copeland

Publication © ITV Ventures 2014

Text & Images © Pamela Armitage Campbell

Henry Tonks, Corporal Reginald Evans, 1916. Pastel on paper. Courtesy of the Hunterian Museum at the Royal College of Surgeons (RCSSC/P 569.2)

Pamela Armitage Campbell has asserted her moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

All rights reserved. Apart from any use permitted under UK copyright law, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form, or by any means with prior written permission from the publishers.

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Head of Publishing for ITV Studios Global Entertainment: Shirley Patton

Edited by Helena Caldon

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ISBN 978-1-910332-10-8

The other books in the series are:

Kate Parry Frye – The Long Life of an Edwardian Actress and Suffragette by Elizabeth Crawford

Alan Lloyd – The Lost Generation by Isobel Charman

The Great War – The People’s Story by Isobel Charman

To the children of all heroes.

Contents

Foreword

Introduction

Involvement of the Hertfordshire Regiment in WW1

PART ONE: The beginning and The War

Chapter 1: The beginning

Chapter 2: When the war came – France, November 1914

Chapter 3: When a bullet stopped Reg’s war

PART TWO: The Russian Campaign

Chapter 4: The Voyage

Chapter 5: Armistice

PART THREE: The Post-war Years

Chapter 6: Marriages, births and death

Afterword

Major events in the life or Reginald J. T. Evans

Acronyms/Abbreviations used in these letters

Acknowledgements

A note from the author

A portrait of Reg by the celebrated surgeon and artist Henry Tonks, which hangs in the Royal College of Surgeons.

Foreword

There are many people of my generation who lost their fathers during the Second World War, and I sympathise with them fully; for they have great gaping holes in their lives with no way of filling the gaps. Although my father did not die in action in that war, having survived the First World War, his death during those years was still premature and a shock to us all.

My father Reg died in 1943 and for many years I was bereft. Sadly, I found little comfort from my grieving mother, who had not only lost her soulmate but had also just seen all of her children, bar me, leave home at around the same time: my brother Bill to join the Royal Air Force and be immediately posted to India; and my sister Mary left home for university in Cambridge (The London School of Economics was evacuated there from London). Suddenly we had gone from being a loving and complete family of five to a sad unit of two.

I was a disappointment to my mother through the successive years. I wasn’t academic, had few ambitions beyond wanting to sing and perform on stage, and so leaving home was all I wished to do. I am sure that my mother was quite relieved when the bright lights called me. It was not to last, and a few years later I returned home with a daughter and no husband. My mother had been quite ill – it could well have been a broken heart at the loss of my father – and so I was able to look after her and my daughter. That is, until a few months later when I met Peter again, who I hadn’t seen since he left the village to become a Royal Air Force Boy Entrant. Now in his early twenties, Peter proposed to me, wishing to make a loving home for Sharon and myself and offering to take us away to who knew where.

My mother’s words when I told her of Peter’s proposal were, ‘Poor boy, does he know what he is taking on?’ Maybe he didn’t know then, but after 58 years of marriage and two more daughters, Beverley and Vanessa, he by now fully understands, especially after putting this book together with me, about my dearly loved, brave, caring and sadly missed father, Reg.

Peter has been my rock: service life suited my personality and the genes or DNA passed on to me through my father have made me the person that I have become and someone of whom now my family could be proud. Through this book I have endeavoured to fulfil my father’s dream that the world would see a different perspective on the war to end all wars, and I hope that my mother would think I had at last done something worthwhile with my life that I had for so long apparently frittered away and wasted.

When, as his youngest child, his letters, writings, medals and memorabilia etc. came into my hands some years ago, on the death of my sister, Mary, I knew that I had to ‘do’ something with it all. I think that this is the best that I can do, in telling the story of this brave, unassuming young man, and I hope that his life story can prove to be an encouragement and inspiration to my children and grandchildren and to anyone else who reads it.

I truly regret that my mother, brother and sister are not alive to witness and be part of the wonderful opportunities that modern technology have afforded me in the writing and projection of this biography of a very special soldier. Instead, I offer it as a tribute to all those very, very brave people who gave their lives as a sacrifice so that the rest of us could live out our lives with the opportunity to fulfil our dreams. I hope that the humanity and humour of Reg will be a part of your enjoyment in reading this book as much as it has been mine in its composition. It is a testament to fortitude, fair play, good humour and love expressed mainly in his own words with just a little adornment by me.

This book is dedicated to my husband Peter (Retired Warrant Officer, RAF) and to Reg’s four granddaughters: Sharon Evans Campbell, Beverley McHale, Vanessa Parr and Antonia Chirgwin, and great-gdaughters Rebecca and Sarah Bulmer and Chiara McHale. Also to other members of the Evans family, unfortunately too many to list but held in love and respect.

I thank God for the love and kindness that has surrounded me throughout my life and wish for His Peace and Blessings to be with you all.

Thank you for allowing Reg into your homes, and I hope into your hearts via the media; and for the portrayal on screen, by Daniel Mays of this very special person.

Pamela Armitage Campbell

Peterborough, April 2014

Introduction

The story of Sergeant Reginald Josiah Thomas Evans DCM (born 10 January 1888), almost tells itself through the following series of letters, postcards and diary entries written by him, mostly to his mother, during his time in the army. The letters give a snapshot view of what life was like in France, in army hospitals and later in Russia throughout the ‘Great War’. All these missives have been linked together by his youngest daughter, Pamela Armitage Campbell (née Evans).

Sergeant Evans was badly wounded in February 1916 when he was shot during a night reconnaissance between the trenches in France. Following the subsequent trailblazing surgery that repaired his face, he was released back into service and volunteered for duty with the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), little knowing that this was to result in a posting to Russia in 1918. Because of this late posting to such a remote country, Sergeant Evans’s war didn’t end until 1920.

Pamela has painstakingly transcribed the sometimes barely legible letters and other documents, as far as possible, into a readable form. A number of the original documents are held in the Liddle Collection in Leeds University Library. Other memorabilia were donated to the Dacorum Heritage Trust in Hemel Hempstead, including his war medals. We were privileged to be given access to an illustration of Pamela’s dad drawn in pastels by the celebrated war artist Henry Tonks, which hangs at the Royal College of Surgeons.

In September 2011 the BBC filmed a special Remembrance Day Antiques Roadshow, which featured heroes from historical battles. Pamela, telling the story of her father, was the opening feature when the show aired on 13 November 2011. Reg’s story is now featured in an ITV production in commemoration of the start of World War 1 in 1914.

I personally have lived with this story for nearly 58 years since I married Pamela in July 1956. Over the years the letters, cards and other memorabilia have accumulated and been carried around Europe. The putting together of this book, our involvement with ITV and several other outings have, over the past year, proved, at our age (80), to be very exciting. Apart from Pamela, there is, as far as we are aware, only one other living person who actually met Reg Evans; Pamela’s cousin Beryl, now 98 years old, has vivid memories of her dear uncle Reg, as he lived with her family after his mother died in 1921.

As a retired military man myself, serving for 34 years in the Royal Air Force and retiring as a Warrant Officer, I can appreciate and admire the leadership qualities that Sergeant Evans demonstrated during his service career, even to the point when his Commanding Officer (CO) at the time, after Reg was wounded, broke regimental rules and wrote personally to Sergeant Evans’s mother. He was a truly inspirational man.

Peter N. Campbell

January 2014

Involvement of the Hertfordshire Regiment in WW1

Reg’s regiment, The Hertfordshire Regiment, was manned entirely by men enlisted from the Territorial Army.

The 1/1st Battalion served entirely on the Western Front throughout the war and was engaged in the following battles:

In 1914 they were lightly involved in The Battles of Ypres 1914 (also called The First Battle of Ypres).

In 1915 the battalion was engaged during the winter actions at Cuinchy in February, the Battle of Festubert in May and at the Battle of Loos in September.

In 1916 the battalion was engaged in the Battles of the Somme 1916, including being lightly involved in the Battle of the Ancre Heights in October, as well as in the Battle of the Ancre in November.

In 1917 the battalion was heavily engaged during the opening day of the Battles of Ypres 1917 (also called the Third Battle of Ypres and Passchendaele), when the battalion lost over 450 men during their assault on St Julien, part of the Battle of Pilckem Ridge. They were also involved less heavily in the Battle of Langemarck in August, the Battle of the Menin Road and the Battle of Polygon Wood in September, as well as the Second Battle of Passchendaele in October.

During 1918, the battalion was again heavily engaged. During the First Battles of the Somme 1918 (also called the German Spring Offensive, Operation Michael and Kaiserschlacht), they were heavily involved in the Battle of St Quentin, the actions on the Somme crossings and the Battle of Rosières in March. In April they were also engaged in the Battle of the Lys, namely the First and Second Battles of Kemmel as well as the Battle of Scherpenberg, during which time their already exhausted division fought as composite Battalions. After being rebuilt, they were engaged in the Second Battles of the Somme 1918 (also referred to as the opening phase of ‘The Hundred Days’), namely during the Battle of Albert in August and the Second Battle of Bapaume in September. In September they were involved in the Battles of the Hindenburg Line, specifically at the Battle of Havrincourt and the Battle of the Canal du Nord, as well as the Battle of Cambrai and the subsequent pursuit to the Selle in October. In the Final Advance in Picardy, they were engaged in their last series of actions, specifically in the Battle of the Selle in October and the Battle of the Sambre in November.

Their final day in action came four years to the day from their arrival in France on 9 November 1914. The armistice two days later also marked the fourth anniversary of the first time they came under fire. The battalion was gradually wound down and finally disembodied in March 1919, although it was reformed as a Territorial Army unit again in February 1920, under the command of Sir H.P. Croft who had commanded them during 1915.

PART ONE: The beginning and The War

The beginning

The weather in London in 1887 had been dreadful, the year had started badly, cold and unsettled right up until May when Frances Evans, already the mother of four children – Will, Edgar, Anne and Daisy – discovered that she was pregnant again.

Will, the eldest, had been named for his grandfather, William Wood, who in 1840 became headmaster of the Church of England School in Armitage, Staffordshire, at the age of just 24. Married to Anne, they had produced a large and robust family which had soon filled the schoolhouse, eventually forcing them to move into nearby Stone House, which remained the family home until the twentieth century.

Frances Wood was born in 1853 and grew up in Staffordshire, but migrated to London in her late teens. There, in 1874, when she was just 21, she met and married Josiah Thomas Evans, whose family had settled in London in the mid-nineteenth century from Carmarthen. The couple met and married in London, and remained there after their marriage, leading a life that was very different from the village life they had both known as children.

Frances and Josiah Evans soon started a family, and after William came Edgar Oliver and then two daughters – Anne Esther and Daisy. In 1887, Frances became pregnant with her fifth child, which, she hoped, would be the last for a while, because she longed to be able to give each of them the attention that they needed.

Armitage Church of England School, early 1900.

With four small children under her feet, Frances’s was a lively household, and when snow came early in October 1887, the older children were thrilled, but it created additional anxieties for their mother. Suddenly she had to manage a house full of over-excited children while heavily pregnant, without the help of her husband, who was working long days because the weather made travelling more time-consuming and difficult. To make his journey into the city, where he was a wholesale tea merchant and grocer, he needed to leave home much earlier and inevitably returned home later too. Christmas was looming and Frances expected the new baby to arrive early in the New Year, by which point she sincerely hoped that the weather would have eased up – and with it her domestic workload!

It has proved impossible to discover what exactly happened to take Josiah up to the west end of London in late December of that year, but something had attracted his attention and so it was that he was an observer of a situation in the city streets which had devastating consequences for Frances and her young brood. Family history has it that Josiah was trampled to death by a police horse that was trying to quell some civil disturbance, but it is difficult to verify this. However, we do know that Josiah died on 29 December. How that left Frances feeling can only be imagined – not only was she trying to come to terms with her new status of widowhood but also the imminent arrival of a new baby.

That baby, Reginald Josiah Thomas, was born on 10 January 1888. Upon arrival he was small and frail, but he clung to life in a manner that was symbolic of his destiny. I don’t know how much joy or relief Frances felt at his safe delivery, but a kind of desperation must have set in as she tried to imagine how she would cope with her reduced circumstances and an extra mouth to feed. She had to make decisions for the future of her five children, quickly.

It can be imagined what advice she received from all and sundry. I am sure that she was as confused as anyone might be in such circumstances. Of course, it isn’t known what her family back in Armitage thought, as we can only suppose that she had left home and married Josiah Evans against the wishes of her father. Her brothers lived in Essex and had very high-powered positions, which one might have supposed would put them in a situation to help their sister, but they had many children of their own and so it was impossible for them to take on their nieces and nephews too.

So Reg and his sisters were taken into the care of the Infant Asylum at Wanstead – with Reg just 16 months old. Their older brothers were dispatched to their aunts, Frances’s sisters, in Armitage, who ran the village post office, and the boys attended the school that had first been their grandfather’s.

Certificate of Baptism for Reginald Josiah Thomas Evans at the