10th Battalion, Royal Welsh Fusiliers
Vivian Augustus Evans was born in January 1894, the son of Thomas and Emily Evans of Forge Cottage, Lower Redbrook, Gloucestershire. His father was a woodman on an estate and by the time of the 1911 census the couple had had six children.
He was an employee of Redbrook Tinplate Works when he enlisted, for the duration of the war, into the 10th Battalion, Royal Welsh Fusiliers (RWF) on 16 March 1915. After a period of training he landed, with the battalion, in France on 27 September 1915. Initially the 10th RWF was part of 25 Division but following the Battle of Loos in the autumn of 1915 there was a re-organisation and a number of brigades and their constituent battalions were swapped around to ensure that they contained a mixture of experienced units and those formed shortly after the declaration of war. The 10th RWF found themselves part of 76 Brigade, 3 Division.
In mid February 1916 the 10th RWF was in the line in that part of the Ypres Salient known as ‘The Bluff’, near to the Ypres-Comines Canal. On the 19th Private Evans was hit on the forehead, over the right eye, by a fragment of shell. He was evacuated down the medical chain and ended up in hospital at Boulogne on 21 February. He initially received treatment at No 7 Stationary Hospital at Boulogne before being returned to England on 16 March 1916. At the King George V Hospital, south east London, it was discovered that shell and bone fragments had lodged in his brain and these were deemed irremovable. He remained in hospital until 22 May 1916 when he was declared unfit for further war service and was discharged with a Silver War Badge, for services rendered, and a pension of 25 shillings per week. He was supplied with a protective skull cap. His incapacity was reviewed periodically and by 1918 he was receiving 22 shillings per week.
He did not recover his health and on 18 August 1918 he died at Gloucester Royal Infirmary, aged 24 years, as a result of the wound he received on active service. At the time of his death his residence was Oak Cottage, Newland, near Coleford. He left no dependant.
He was laid to rest in a private family grave in All Saints Churchyard, Newland on 23 August 1918, his sacrifice for his King and Country unrecognised by the Nation until 2012, 94 years after his death. The headstone deteriorated badly over the years. The War Memorial in the village of Redbrook had also become dilapidated and a committee was formed tasked with its restoration. In particular the memorial inscriptions were practically unreadable to the untrained eye and the committee called for the assistance of Steve Cooper, past chairman of the Forest of Dean Branch of the Gloucestershire Family History Society. Steve was able to decipher and transcribe the names and associated service details. Amongst those commemorated there was a ‘Pte. Vivian A. Evans – 10th R. W. Fusiliers’. However on checking the list of names against the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Debt of Honour Register he was unable to find any record for a Private Vivian A Evans. Further investigations followed.
Having had previous experience of such situations Eric Nicholls was familiar with the documentary evidence required, and procedures to be followed, to rectify this omission. A copy of his death certificate was obtained which confirmed the principle cause of his death as a ‘gunshot wound to the forehead’, and a copy of the church burial register page for his interment. Using Terry Denham of the In from the Cold Project as an intermediary the case was made to the CWGC for him to be recognised as a war casualty, and his last resting place as an official war grave. The evidence suggested this would be a formality and in due course his case was accepted.
Initially he was remembered in the CWGC United Kingdom Book of Remembrance, but when the necessary formality of inspecting his grave etc had been completed his place of commemoration was transferred to his burial place – All Saints Churchyard, Newland, near Coleford.
Eric Nicholls, Steve Cooper and some additional information obtained by Graham Adams 19 September 2012 (revised 2024)