Lives of the First World War

When visiting Ypres and The Menin Gate with my mother and father in the early noughties, my father casually mentioned that his uncle was commemorated on the Gate. This was the first time I had heard of Walter Hugh Evans and was surprised that no-one in the family had spoken of him, My father knew very little about him: as a small boy, he came across a book with Walter’s name written in it and asked who he was, hence knowing about the memorial. We have no photos, no medals - nothing material to connect us to him. It seemed astonishing that he had given his life and had then been forgotten by his family. I suspect the family quietly got on with life and kept their pain private. On the 1911 Census, Walter’s mother, Florence Lucy is shown to have had 12 live births throughout her marriage to Richard Longmore, yet only 4 survived – and then Walter lost his life in the war after volunteering in September 1914. His brother, Frank, only 1 year younger, narrowly survived The Battle of Jutland. Saturday 25 April 2015 was the centenary of Walter’s death. I contacted The Last Post Association and we were fortunate enough to be included in the ceremony that day and able to lay a wreath at The Menin Gate to honour Walter. His nephew, my dad, Dennis, himself then nearly 84 years old, laid the wreath. It bothered me that I didn’t know if or where he had been commemorated in his home community in Enfield. Both the Enfield and Edmonton war memorials are of a cenotaph design and carry no names. I read through the Enfield newspapers from the beginning to the end of the war but there was no mention of him even though casualties were reported. I can only assume that, as he was missing, that family were hoping he had survived. I did discover, however, that the Ponders End church, St Matthew’s, had started a fund very early in the war to create a memorial in the church for everyone who served in the war. I went to the church and there was Walter’s name, two rows below Frank, his brother. On Sunday 11 November 2018 I took my father, Dennis (87), and his brother, Frank (93), and cousin Paul to the Remembrance Service at St Matthew’s, and laid flowers at the memorial. Frank remembered that he had been baptised in this church. I felt we had righted the wrongs of the neglect of Walter’s memory and, hopefully this website will continue to keep his memory alive. These are the words on the wreath laid at The Menin Gate: Remembering Walter H Evans 25 April 1915 Dennis and Frankie Evans and family At the going down of the sun And in the morning We shall remember them These are the words on the flowers laid at St Matthew’s Church: Walter Hugh Evans d 25 April 1915 aged 19 You gave up all of your tomorrows to give us the freedom of our todays. Today and always we honour your ultimate sacrifice which denied us the joy of knowing you. Dennis Evans, Frank Evans, Paul Evans, Anita Evans

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