The 1901 census tells that Evelyn was 13 years old. He was living with his family in Northop. His father Thomas was 64 and a farm labourer. His mother was Sarah Ann. Evelyn was the fourth child and he was 13 yrs. His siblings were Henry 23, Leonard 19, Beatrice 15 and Walter 10.
On the 4th November 1905 he married Edith Bassett in Northop church. The 1911 census places them in 5 Charles Street Mold. He was then 23 and earned his living as a coal miner working below ground. They had two children Earnest b 1905 and Frederick b 1909
His army records tell a sad story
He enlisted at Flint Castle on 22nd September 1914. His Attestation Papers were signed in October 1914. His address then was 11 Garden Place Mold. (His list of relatives shows that a third child had been born by then, daughter Gwynneth was born in 1913).
He seems to have spent much of the war in Egypt . His records include a few colourful disciplinary incidents which were mostly concerned with unauthorised absences but there was one occasion when he hesitated to obey an order. He lost pay as punishment.
His illness first presented itself in Alexandria in Egypt. A medical report on the 4th June 1917 listed symptoms which included breathlessness, feeling of weakness on the slightest exertion, he had a cough which was severe at times, he experienced a lot of sweating and had lost a good deal of weight. There was no family history, it says, of tuberculosis.
In fact he was diagnosed with tuberculosis and he was discharged from the army because he was no longer physically fit enough to carry out the duties of an active soldier. He was returned to England on Hps Formosa 16th August 1917. He was awarded a pension of 27/6d per week and his disability was described as ‘Tubercle of lung’.
There was a short testimonial from the army “A steady soldier, honest, industrous man. Prior to enlistment he was employed at
Bromfield colliery Nr Mold, N Wales”.
His wife Edith by 1922 had remarried and was named Mrs Jones. She lived in Keepers’ Cottage Treuddyn, nr Mold.