Royal Army Service Corps
Orlan Alfred Evans was born in Nailsworth in the latter half of 1889. He was the son of Edward Evans and his wife Jemima Ellen (née Waite) and he had two sisters and one brother. His brother Robert died in 1916, as did his mother. The family lived at Inchbrook Farm.
According to the 1911 Census Orlan was employed as a chauffeur at Wynstone Place, Brookthorpe. In 1912 the Gloucestershire Journal reported on a trial relating to a case of arson at Court Farm, Brookthorpe, where Orlan was a witness. He was described as being chauffeur to Colonel Penrose Thackwell, Winstone Place, Brookthorpe.
No details of Orlan’s Army Service have survived but he would have been aged about 25 years when war broke out. He either volunteered for service in the early weeks or perhaps in late 1915 attested under the terms of ‘Lord Derby’s Scheme’. The Army must have identified his driving skills as he was posted to the Army Service Corps (ASC) and the ‘M2’ prefix to his service number indicates assignment to their motor vehicle section. It would appear that he stayed on in the ASC (which acquired the prefix ‘Royal’ in 1918) following the Armistice in that year.
He died, probably due to illness, at Devonport Military Hospital (also known as Stoke Damerel) on 19 February 1920, aged 30. He was brought back to the Nailsworth area for burial and interred at Forest Green Congregational Chapel Cemetery. A standard CWGC headstone marks his grave, alongside a private headstone on which his name and that of his parents and brother Robert also appear.
He is commemorated on the Nailsworth War Memorial.
Researched by Graham Adams 27 October 2016