EVANS, Hugh McAlpine
(Service number 23/417)
| First Rank | Rifleman | Last Rank | Sergeant |
|---|
Birth
| Date | 4 January 1898 | Place of Birth | Maerewhenua, Otago |
|---|
Enlistment Information
| Date | 29 May 1915 | Age | 17 years 4 months |
|---|---|---|---|
| Address at Enlistment | Wellington St, Timaru | ||
| Occupation | Tailor | ||
| Previous Military Experience | |||
| Marital Status | Single | ||
| Next of Kin | Thomas EVANS (father), Wellington Street, Timaru; 9 Hereford Street, Timaru | ||
Military Service
| Served with | NZ Armed Forces | Served in | Army |
|---|
Embarkation Information
| Body on Embarkation | 1st New Zealand Rifle Brigade | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Unit, Squadron, or Ship | 1st Battalion, B Company | ||
| Date | 9 October 1915 | ||
| Transport | Maunganui or Tahiti or Aparima or Navua or Warrimoo | ||
| Embarked From | Wellington | Destination | Suez, Egypt |
| Other Units Served With | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Last Unit Served With | New Zealand Rifle Brigade | ||
Military Awards
| Campaigns | Egypt, France | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Service Medals | 1914-1915 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal | ||
Award Circumstances and Date
No information
Prisoner of War Information
| Date of Capture | |
|---|---|
| Where Captured and by Whom | |
| Actions Prior to Capture | |
| PoW Serial Number | |
| PoW Camps | |
| Days Interned | |
| Liberation Date |
Death
| Date | 18 October 1973 | Age | 75 years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Place of Death | Christchurch | ||
| Cause | |||
| Memorial or Cemetery | Christchurch Crematorium - Woodlawn Memorial Gardens | ||
| New Zealand Memorials | |||
Biographical Notes
Hugh McAlpine Evans, born on 4 January 1897 at Maerewhenua, North Otago, was the youngest son of Welsh-born Thomas Henry Evans and his wife Mary née Attiwell, and a brother of Eyre Llewellyn Evans who was killed in action in 1918 in France, and of Owen and Harold Thomas Evans who also served in World War One.
The family moved to Timaru in 1910 where Mary Evans ran a tea rooms in Timaru called the Kia Ora Tea Rooms, near the Theatre Royal. Thomas and Mary were married on 11 October 1883 in Oamaru. Hugh entered Waimataitai School in Timaru, after previously having a brief stint at Papakaio School, North Otago and prior to that a time at Oamaru Middle School.
Hugh was only 17 years old when he enlisted early in the war, though he did give his age as two years older. He was a tailor living at home in Timaru, and nominated his father as next-of-kin. Hugh arrived Suez in November 1915, then sailed to France in April 1916. Later he was invalided to NZ in December 1918 and was subsequently discharged in February 1919.
Hugh married Ethel May Fielding in 1922, and the couple had three children. According to family lore she left in 1928 to either Australia or USA, leaving her children, but no further information on her has been found. They divorced in 1935 and Hugh then married Edna Olive Page 27 April 1938 in Christchurch and two more children were born.
Sources
Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [26 December 2016]; NZ BDM Indexes (Department of Internal Affairs) [23 December 2016]; NZ Electoral Rolls (ancestry.com.au) [28 December 2016]; School Admission records (South Canterbury & Oamaru branches NZSG) [28 December 2016]; Archives New Zealand, Evans family records; SCRoll web submission by R Evans, 4 August 2018
External Links
Related Documents
No documents available.
Researched and Written by
Liz Shea, SC branch NZSG; Teresa Scott, SC branch NZSG; Carol Bell, SC branch NZSG
Currently Assigned to
LS
Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License unless otherwise stated.
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