Albert Blackmore Evans – Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, Howe Battalion, Royal Navy Division

Able Seaman Albert Blackmore Evans – Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, Howe Battalion, Royal Navy Division

Albert Blackmore Evans was born in 1897 in Swansea, the son of Thomas Evans and Mary Elizabeth Mayberry, who were married in 1886 in Swansea.

Family Background and Early Life

1901 Census

At the time of the 1901 Census, the Evans family were residing at 116 Eaton Road, Swansea. Thomas Evans (48) was employed as a bargeman, while his wife Mary Elizabeth (37) managed the household. Their children were Maggie (17), Thomas (15), William (13), Annie (10), Robert John (8), and Albert Blackmore (4).

1911 Census

By the 1911 Census, the family had moved to 33 Compass Street, Manselton, Swansea. Thomas Evans (63) was then working as a boatman, with Mary Elizabeth (46) at home. The children recorded at this time were Thomas (23), a railway shunter; William (20), a blacksmith’s striker; Annie Jane (18); Robert John (16), a coal weighter; and Albert Blackmore (13), who was still attending school.

Military Service

Albert enlisted in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve and served as an Able Seaman with Howe Battalion, Royal Navy Division. Like many men of the Royal Navy Division, he fought not at sea but as infantry on the Western Front, where naval personnel were deployed in some of the fiercest land fighting of the war.

Operations in November 1917

On 4^th November 1917, Howe Battalion was engaged in the final stages of the Third Battle of Ypres (Passchendaele). By this point, British forces were attempting to consolidate ground captured during earlier assaults around Passchendaele Ridge, while continuing to withstand determined German resistance.

The battalion was involved in holding exposed front-line positions under constant artillery fire, amid appalling conditions caused by relentless rain and shelling. The battlefield had been reduced to deep mud, with trenches collapsed or flooded and movement often dangerous or impossible. Casualties continued to mount, not only from enemy fire but also from exhaustion and exposure.

Men killed during this phase of the fighting were frequently evacuated to rear-area medical facilities, and many were buried in cemeteries established to serve the Ypres sector, including Dozinghem Military Cemetery.

Death and Burial

British Army and Navy Birth, Marriage and Death Records

Albert Blackmore Evans
Dozinghem Military Cemetery, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium
credit - fidnagrave

The British Army and Navy Birth, Marriage and Death Records confirm that Albert Blackmore Evans was killed in action on 4^th November 1917. He is buried at Dozinghem Military Cemetery, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium, one of the principal burial grounds for soldiers who died during the later phases of the Ypres campaign.

Albert’s death occurred during the closing and most exhausting period of the Passchendaele offensive, a time when casualties continued to be sustained despite the nearing end of major operations. His service reflects the heavy sacrifice made by the men of the Royal Navy Division in the final year of the war.