Five: Lieutenant & Quartermaster William James Evans, Leinster Regiment, late Lancashire Fusiliers - awarded the D.C.M. for Omdurman, 2 September 1898 - committed suicide in Ireland, 27 May 1916

Queen’s Sudan 1896-98 (2184 C. Sergt. W. Evans, 2/Lan. Fus.); Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 3 clasps, Orange Free State, Relief of Ladysmith, Transvaal (2184 C. Sgt. W. Evans, Lanc. Fus.); King’s South Africa 1901-02, 2 clasps (2184 Clr. Serjt. W. Evans, Lanc. Fus.); Army L.S. & G.C., E.VII.R. (Q.M. Sjt. W. Evans, Garr. St.); Khedive’s Sudan 1896-1908, 1 clasp, Khartoum (2184 Color Sergt. W. Evans, 2nd L.F.); together with an unmounted set of six miniature dress medals, as above but with a Distinguished Conduct Medal, V.R., miniatures very fine and better; full-size with edge bruising, contact marks, good fine and better (11) £1200-1500

William James Evans attested for the Lancashire Fusiliers on 7 June 1887. Promoted to Lance-Corporal in December 1889; Corporal in March 1891; Sergeant in December 1892 and Colour Sergeant in August 1895. With the 2nd Battalion Lancashire Fusiliers, he served in the Sudan campaign of 1896-98 and was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal for his service at the battle of Omdurman, 2 September 1898 (London Gazette 15 November 1898). He then went on to serve with the regiment in the Boer War. He was reported ‘missing in action’ at the battle of Spion Kop, 24 January 1900, but had been taken prisoner by the Boers and was later released. Evans was promoted to Quartermaster Sergeant in April 1905 and was awarded the Army L.S. & G.C. in 1907, serving with the Garrison Staff. In May 1914 he was promoted to a commission as Quartermaster in the Leinster Regiment.

Following the onset of the Great War he was posted to the 5th (Extra Reserve) Battalion Leinster Regiment and Hon. Lieutenant and Quartermaster. It was when he was stationed at the Curragh, that Lieutenant Evans was found dead on 27 May 1916, aged 47 years. It was established that he had shot himself. He had left a letter to his wife stating that ‘he could not take the strain any longer’. Whether the ‘strain’ was due to the conditions prevailing in Ireland at the time - one could only surmise. He was buried in the Curragh Military Cemetery, Co. Kildare. He was the son of John Richard and Margaret Evans and the husband of Blanche Elizabeth Evans, of 14 Benbow Street, Stoke, Devonport.

With original commemorative scroll named to ‘Lieut. & Qr. Mr. William James Evans, D.C.M. Leinster Regt.’; together with extensive copied research on paper and C.D.