Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Albert was a 21-year-old labourer, born at Thoulga in Victoria, when he enlisted on the 29 October, 1915, at Cootamundra in New South Wales. His medical examination shows a young man, 5 foot 6 inches (168 cm) tall and weighing 163 lbs (74 kg). He had fair hair, hazel eyes and a fair complexion. He gave his religious denomination as Church of England. Albert was put on strength with the 1st Light Horse Regiment and given the service number 2183.

Albert’s service records are a mere 8 pages long. The fifth page is a warrant for the arrest of Trooper Evans who deserted from the 1st Light Horse Regiment on the 1 February, 1916, at the Infantry Depot at Liverpool near Sydney. The image below shows new recruits arriving at the Depot in late 1915, the time that Albert would have been arriving there. The next page provides a list of kit that had been provided to Albert upon enlisting.

There is no other information provided in the record. A note, hastily written in pencil at the top of the warrant, states that it (the warrant) had been cancelled according to the Defence Act No. 12193 and had been dated 30 January, 1919.

Nothing else is known of Albert’s story. However, a twist to the story was unearthed during research. When we look at the attestation records of men from the Upper Murray, we find that there are two Albert Evans. There is the story of Albert Evans above, and there is another Albert Evans (10979) who enlisted in the Field Company Engineers.

Both Alberts were 21 years of age. Both were recorded as being 5 feet 6 inches in height, of fair complexion, hazel eyes and fair hair. One had his place of birth listed as Thougla, whilst the other had Corryong. Albert (2183) joined the 1st Light Horse on the 29 October, 1915 at Cootamundra, in New South Wales, but was recorded as having deserted in early February of 1916. Albert (10979) enlists in the 10th Field Company Engineers on the 14 March, 1916 at Tallangatta, Victoria.

A further link becomes apparent when the signatures of the two men are investigated.

When looking at the formation of the ‘A’ and ‘E’ and the spacing between the ‘a’ and ‘n’ in the surname, the two signatures look similar. That, along with the similarities between the two physical descriptions, can lead us to speculate that the two men are the same man. Albert (10979) married his wife Doris in 1916 and they had their first child, Raymond, also in 1916. It has not been possible to locate Raymond’s actual date of birth, but perhaps Albert’s (2183) leaving of the Light Horse in Sydney had something to do with his forthcoming marriage to Doris Adelaide Alice Sheather?

When Albert Edward Evans was born on 4 November, 1894, in Corryong, Victoria, his father, Evan Robert (1871 to 1942), was 23 and his mother, Ann Maria, nee Smith (1874 to 1926), was 20. Albert would be the eldest of his six siblings; Mary Grace (1896 to 1970), Gladys Mabel (1898 to 1963), Henry Joseph (1900 to 1969), Evan Robert jnr (1903 to 1991), Percival Clarence (1904 to 1964) and Bertie Thomas (1907 to 1978).

If this is the case, then we need to take into account Albert’s (10979) service record. Albert embarked on HMAT A54 Runic, departing from Melbourne on the 20 June, 1916, arriving in Plymouth, England on the 10 August, 1916. Albert spent a week in hospital in France with conjunctivitis before rejoining the 10th Field Company Engineers in the field. In the picture on page 60, Albert is seated second from the right.

As a driver, Albert would have been busy doing numerous tasks in and around the front. The 10th Field Company Engineers War Diary for April 1917, lists a number of jobs that would have been undertaken by Albert. These include; transporting materials, conveying sappers to various parts of the line, transporting heavy logs to be used in the building of a tramway and salvaging materials from derelict gun pits.

In October of 1917, Albert was sent back to England and spent the next few months in a number of hospitals suffering from iridis of the right eye. Although he was eventually returned to his unit in France, this ailment would continue to plague him.

Finally, on the 4 July, 1919, Albert embarked on HMAT A18 Wiltshire and returned to Australia. He was discharged three months later and returned home to the Upper Murray.

Albert and Doris would end up having six children during their marriage; Albert Raymond (1916 to 1970), Ethel Eunice (1920 to 1998), Norman Kingsley (1921 to 1982), Maurice (1928 to 1969), Shirley (1930 to ?), Peter (1932 to ?) and Maxwell (1933 to ?). When war broke out again twenty years later, he joined the CMF in 1939, enlisting at Corryong when he was 45 years old. He passed away on 24 May, 1952, in Cudgewa, Victoria, at the age of 57.

Extract from "Light Horsemen of the Upper Murray", Year 5 and 6 Project, Corryong College.