FREDERICK JAMES EVANS 

27830 Sapper Frederick James Evans, 31st (Fortress) Company, Royal Engineers, died of enteric fever at Modder River, on April 15, 1900. He was aged 25. He is buried at Kimberley West End Cemetery, South Africa. 

Remembered in the Municipal Building, Crewe
Frederick is commemorated on a plaque on the ground floor of the Municipal Building, Earle Street, Crewe, along with six local men from the Royal Engineers who did not return to Crewe from the Boer War, Sappers Ankers, Coops, Darlington, Foy, Madeley, Roberts, Robinson and Talbot, and Lieutenant Charles Trotter from Polesworth in Warwickshire.



What do we know about Frederick's life?

Frederick was born in the early summer of 1874, the eldest son of William Evans and Ann nee Bennett,  and brother to Alice, Thomas, John, Minnie and Lizzie.  His parents had married in 1873. The 1891 census shows the family living in Sydney, at 46 West Street, Monks Coppenhall. His father William worked for the Railway as a fitter’s labourer, and 16 year old Frederick was an engineer’s apprentice. His employee number was 1742, and he was with the company for ten years as a fitter.

On 29th November 1893, Frederick enlisted into the Royal Engineers. His attestation records show that he was 5' 7" tall, with brown hair and blue eyes. His age is recorded as 19 years 5 months, giving a birth date of June 1874. On 18th September, 1899 he was re-engaged, and recalled to the Royal Engineers Railway Reserves on 9th October 1900. 

On 4th December 1897, Frederick had married 23-year-old Elizabeth Cooke (4 Jan 1874 – 11 December 1956) in Sandbach, and they had two children – Thomas William (24 May 1898 - 28 Sep 1990) and Minnie (26 Nov 1899 - 19 Jul 1976). His daughter was born after he had departed for South Africa. The family home was at 46 Herbert Street, Crewe.

Sadly, Elizabeth received news by telegram of his death whilst reading a letter from Frederick that he had sent her a few weeks previously, assuring her of his well-being. Frederick had died of enteric fever (typhoid) at Modder River, on April 15, 1900. He was aged 25. He is buried at Kimberley West End Cemetery, South Africa.

On 31 March 1901, his widow Elizabeth was living at 18 Herbert Street, Monks Coppenhall, Crewe, with her two young children and her 21-year-old sister Martha. On 30 March 1902, Elizabeth married Albert Edward George Elsby, and went on to have several more children in Coventry.

Sapper Evans's exact date of death is uncertain - 15th April 1900 (official date on his army records), or 14th April (see newspaper report below) or  April 23rd (London and North Western Railway Company records) ?

Newspaper article:

ANOTHER CREWE ENGINEER'S DEATH.  A PATHETIC INCIDENT.

....In last Friday's issue it was our painful duty to record the death of a Crewe Engineer Reservist, Sapper A. H. Foy, a young man, aged about 20 years, who was attached to the 8th company of the Royal Engineers, and who died at Orange River on the 15th April., as the result of an attack of enteric fever. To-day we regret to announce that this terrible disease has been responsible for the death of another Engineer Reservist, Sapper F. J. Evans, who was with the 31st company of the Royal Engineers.

The late Sapper Evans was a married man, and had been connected with the Crewe Engineers for a number of years. His kind and genial manner won for him the esteem and respect of his comrades in the corps, to whom the sad news of his death will be a source of sincere regret. He leaves a widow and two children to mourn his loss. They reside at Sydney, and the utmost sympathy will be felt in their bereavement. A pathetic incident in connection with Sapper Evans's death is the fact that on Thursday morning Mrs. Evans received a letter which was written by the man himself some weeks previously, when he was in the neighbourhood of Spion Kop. At the time he wrote home he was apparently in perfect health, and the letter itself was couched in such a manner as to clearly suggest that he was then as happy and as contented as could possibly be expected. Later in the day Mrs. Evans was reading the cheerful epistle which she had received to her mother, and while so engaged a post office messenger arrived at the house and handed her a telegram. This was, unfortunately, a message from the War Office conveying to her the distressing intelligence that her husband died from fever at Modder River on the 14th April.