Evens, George William

Driver

No. T/82775, 6 Corps Ammunition Park, Royal Army Service Corps

Died as a result of an accident on Thursday 21 November 1940 (aged 23)

Buried:

Plympton St. Mary Anglican Churchyard

Commemorated:

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Brookwood Memorial, Surrey, England (Panel 16 Column 2)

BIOGRAPHY

George William Evens was born on 6 March 1917 and he was a son of Ernest Doman Evens and Gladys Irene Evens (nee Crossing) who were married on 2 April 1913 in Plympton St. Mary Anglican Church in Devon.  Ernest Doman Evens (aged 31) from Haye Farm was a son of William John Evens, deceased.  Gladys Crossing (aged 26) lived at Haye Farm in Devon with her father, Henry James Crossing, and her sisters; Ernest Evens ran the farm.  George William Evens was baptised in Plympton St. Mary Church on 21 May 1917 and in some records his surname is spelt Evans.

During the Second World War George William Evens served with the Royal Army Service Corps.

The death of Driver George William Evens (No. T/82775) was reported in the 30 November 1940 edition of the County Down Spectator under the headline Tragic Death of Three Soldiers.  Three young soldiers were killed in Clandeboye Camp, Ballyleidy when, during a violent storm, a large tree fell across the hut in which they were sleeping.  They were Driver George William Evens (aged 23) from 39 Regent Street, Plymouth; Private Derek Rodney Swift from Blackpool and Driver Sydney John Wren from Stansted in Essex.  The roof of the hut in which Private Swift was sleeping caved in and pinned him to the bed.  To release him his comrades used a heavy jack to raise the fallen roof and hacksaws to cut down the bed.  He suffered severe internal injuries and was dead when his comrades got him out.  Both Driver Wren and Driver Evens were crushed by fallen debris; Driver Wren died from ‘asphyxia due to crushing’ and Driver Evens died from ‘laceration of the brain’.  Their deaths were registered in Newtownards and Driver Evens was buried in Plympton St. Mary Anglican Churchyard on 26 November 1940.  His father was buried there on 5 November 1947 and his mother died in 1980.

Driver George William Evens (No. T/82775) is commemorated on the Brookwood Memorial in Surrey, England.