Edgar Jones Evans - Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, Hood Battalion, Royal Navy Division

Able Seaman Edgar Jones Evans - Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, Hood Battalion, Royal Navy Division

Birth and Family Background

Edgar Jones Evans was born in 1897 in Swansea, the son of Thomas Evans and Mary Ann Jones.

1901 Census

At the time of the 1901 Census, the Evans family were residing at 12 Gerald Street, Swansea. Thomas Evans (48), born in Merthyr Tydfil, was employed as a steel worker, while his Aberystwyth-born wife Mary Ann (47) managed the household. Their children were William Stanley (18), a copper worker; Edgar Jones (9); Dilys (7); Glyn Dewy (5), who attended school; and Ivor Wynne (1).

1911 Census

By the 1911 Census, the family were still living at the same address. Thomas Evans (57) was then working as a draper traveller, and Mary Ann was 49. Their children present were William Stanley (27), still employed at the copper works; Edgar Jones (19), an apprentice joiner; Dilys (15); Glyn Dewy (14); and Ivor Wynne (11), all of whom attended school.

Military Service

Edgar Jones Evans enlisted in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve and served as an Able Seaman with the Hood Battalion, Royal Navy Division. Like many men of the RNVR, he served as infantry on the Western Front, taking part in sustained front-line operations under extremely demanding conditions.

Hood Battalion, Royal Navy Division – November 1917

On 11^th November 1917, Hood Battalion was engaged in the closing stages of the Third Battle of Ypres (Passchendaele). By this stage of the campaign, the Royal Navy Division had endured weeks of continuous fighting in the Ypres Salient, where relentless rain and heavy shelling had reduced the battlefield to deep mud.

Hood Battalion was involved primarily in holding and consolidating ground captured during the final advances toward Passchendaele Ridge. Although large-scale assaults had begun to wind down, the battalion remained under constant threat from German artillery bombardment, sniper fire, and intermittent counter-attacks. Trench systems were frequently flooded or collapsed, and evacuation of the wounded was slow and hazardous.

Casualties during this period remained high, caused not only by enemy fire but also by exhaustion and exposure. Many of those killed in November 1917 were buried in rear-area cemeteries established to receive casualties evacuated from the front.

Death and Burial

British Army and Navy Birth, Marriage and Death Records

Edgar Jones Evans
Étapes Military Cemetery, Pas-de-Calais, France
credit - findagrave

The British Army and Navy Birth, Marriage and Death Records confirm that Able Seaman Edgar Jones Evans was killed on 11^th November 1917. He is buried at Étapes Military Cemetery, Pas-de-Calais, France, one of the principal burial grounds for Commonwealth casualties evacuated from the Ypres sector.

His death reflects the continued human cost of the Passchendaele campaign, even after its main objectives had been achieved, and stands as a testament to the service and sacrifice of the men of the Royal Navy Division.