Richard Burt Evans

Private Richard Burt Evans – The Buffs (East Kent Regiment), 6^th Battalion

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission commemorates Private Richard Burt Evans, who served with The Buffs (East Kent Regiment), 6^th Battalion.
Records note that he was the son of David White Evans and Eva Henrietta Burt, of Gover’s Lake, Bishopston, Glamorgan.

Richard Burt Evans was born in 1896, in Ashford, Kent, the eldest child of David White Evans and Eva Henrietta Burt.

Family Background

1901 Census

According to the 1901 Census, the Evans family lived at 2 New Rents, Ashford, in West Ashford, Kent.
David Evans, aged fifty-three, was born in Swansea and worked as an Ironmonger. His wife, Eva Henrietta Evans, aged thirty-nine, was born in Kent. They had four young children: Dora Winifred, aged eight; Adelaide, aged seven; Richard Burt, aged five; and Elizabeth Mary, aged two. All four children were born in Ashford, showing that the family had settled in Kent by the end of the nineteenth century.

1881 Census

Tracing the family further back, the 1881 Census shows that David, then aged thirty-three, was living with his parents at 3 Sheffield Place, Oystermouth, near Mumbles. His father, also David Evans, aged fifty-six, was a Master Mariner, born in Mumbles, and his mother, Sarah Evans, aged fifty, was born in Ireland. At that time, the younger David was working as an Ironmonger, while his brothers Frederick P., aged sixteen, was a Bank Clerk, and John C., aged fifteen, was a Railway Clerk. This earlier record highlights the family’s Swansea origins and its links to the maritime and professional trades of the Gower area.

Later Life in Kent

1911 Census

By the time of the 1911 Census, the Evans family remained at 2 New Rents, Ashford. David, now sixty-three, was still an Ironmonger Dealer, and Eva, aged forty-nine, managed the household. Their eldest son, Richard, aged fifteen, was working as an Auctioneer’s Clerk, while his younger siblings Elizabeth, aged twelve, and John, aged seven, were both at school.

This stable and comfortable middle-class household reflected both David’s success as a tradesman and the family’s gradual movement from South Wales to the industrial towns of Kent.

Military Service and Sacrifice

Army Register of Soldiers’ Effects

When war came, Richard Burt Evans was living in Swansea, perhaps maintaining links with his father’s birthplace. He enlisted at Neath into The Buffs (East Kent Regiment), joining the 6^th Battalion.

The Army Register of Soldiers’ Effects records that he was reported missing in action, with his death later officially recorded as having occurred on 9 August 1917. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Arras Memorial in France — among the many who fell during the fierce fighting of that summer.

The Buffs (East Kent Regiment), 6^th Battalion

The 6^th (Service) Battalion, The Buffs (East Kent Regiment) was formed in August 1914 as part of Kitchener’s First New Army, joining the 37th Brigade of the 12^th (Eastern) Division. After service at Loos and the Somme, the battalion took part in the Battle of Arras in 1917.

By August 1917, the division was holding the line around Monchy-le-Preux, east of Arras, enduring heavy German shellfire and frequent trench raids. The battalion’s war diary for early August records numerous casualties from bombardment and sniper fire. On 9^th August 1917, during one of these attacks, Private Richard Evans was among those killed or reported missing.

He is remembered on the Arras Memorial, which honours over 34,000 soldiers of the British and Commonwealth forces who have no known grave and who died in the Arras sector between spring 1916 and August 1918.

Legacy

Richard Burt Evans
Arras Memorial
credit - findagrave

Though he has no known resting place, Private Richard Burt Evans’s name endures — carved in stone on the Arras Memorial in France and remembered at Bishopston, where his family later lived. His story reflects the shared history of two regions — Kent, where he was born, and Glamorgan, where his roots lay.

For his family, the loss of their eldest son marked a deep and lasting sorrow, one echoed in thousands of homes across Britain during the Great War. Yet, through parish records, war memorials, and the work of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, his name and sacrifice continue to be honoured more than a century later.

In remembering Private Evans, we also recall the generation of young men whose lives bridged county, class, and community — united in service, and remembered in gratitude.