Evan TURNER cont'd, Army Reservist, & father George. (General)

by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Friday, February 17, 2017, 02:54 (2846 days ago) @ Jefff

Tried finding Baptism Records for William's children, but no luck so far in this site's database, they don't seem to have been regular Churchgoers.

However I think this is George's (Evan's father's) marriage, it fits nicely, and gives a likely link into the Matthews family who are with William & Maria in the 1871 Census, see next post.

Record_ID 37517
Entry_Number 499
Year 1867
Month Oct
Day 13
Grooms_Surname TURNER
Grooms_Forenames George
Grooms_Age 22
Groom_Condition Bachelor
Grooms_Occupation Collier
Grooms_Residence East Dean
Grooms_Fathers_Surname Turner
Grooms_Fathers_Forenames William
Grooms_Fathers_Occupation Collier
Brides_Surname MARFELL
Brides_Forenames Elizabeth
Brides_Age 19
Brides_Condition Spinster
Brides_Occupation
Brides_Residence East Dean
Brides_Fathers_Surname [not stated]
Brides_Fathers_Forenames [not stated]
Brides_Fathers_Occupation [not stated]
Licence_or_Banns Banns
Date_of_Banns
Signature_or_Mark Both mark
Witness_1 Mark of James Matthews
Witness_2 Lydia Marfell
Other_Witnesses
Officiating_Minister T. G. Smythies
Event Marriage
Memoranda
Notes
Register_Reference P85/1 IN 1/4
Page_Number 250
Parish_Chapel Cinderford St John
Soundex_Groom T656
Soundex_Bride M614

Witness James Matthews is probably the same man(with wife Esther & family) who's living next-door to George & family in the 1871 Census posted earlier.

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The FamilySearch site also gives a glimpse into Evan Turner's WW1 Service in the British Army. Given the spread of his children's births, I'd already guessed he was probably away during the War.

Name Evan Turner
Event Type Military Service
Event Year 1908
Age 17
Military Company/Regiment Herefordshire Regiment
Military Regimental Number 480
Birth Year (Estimated) 1891
Birthplace East Dean, Gloucestershire, England

Again, using this weekend's free access to Ancestry can search for his Army Records, can find the source of the above info. This is an Attestation form for Evan, dated 24 July 1908. He has signed-up for 4 Years Service with the Territorial Force, in the Herefordshire Battalion. In other words, as Europe is expecting War and the British Regular Army is very small, many young men are spending their spare time learning to be soldiers, just in case. The form shows Evan is a collier, employed at Trafalgar Colliery, single and residing Ruardean Woodside. His age is 17 yrs 0 months, height 5'4", chest 33" girth with 2" expansion, "good" vision and "capacious" physical development.
The next form shows he did preliminary training, then attended annual training every year until 1913 (these were summer camps). He was then embodied into the 1st Battalion Herefords on 5.8.1914, but was discharged 25.9.1914, having been found "medically unfit". My gut feel is he probably re-volunteers or is conscripted at a later date, when the War's dragging and every man is needed, I'll look for more records on Ancestry or National Archives site.

Again, if you want them but cannot access the site yourself (free at UK public libraries, for example), I've downloaded the images for you, pls email me.

UPDATE: I've revisited the WW1 Army Records on Ancestry and found some records that MAY be your Evan's. However apart from a name, they give little background information to tie him to our Evan. Sadly a large part of the WW1 records were lost during WW2, and some of the remaining records only bear initials of first names, so easy to confuse. The Record I've found and downloaded is a Medal Roll entry for the Royal Engineers, as follows;

Name: Evan Turner
Military Year: 1914-1920
Rank: Sapper
Medal Awarded: British War Medal and Victory Medal
Regiment or Corps: Royal Engineers
Regimental Number: 310740
Previous Units: Middx Rgt, 25332, Pte., Labour Corps, 403974, Royal Engineers, 310740

Labour Corps often includes men who wern't considered young or fit enough for front-line fighting. As the War became bogged-down into Trenches the Army realised they needed specialist tunnellers, they were part of the Royal Engineers and were often drawn from miners, many Dean Forest miners joined Tunnelling Battalions. Hence it seems possible this MAY be your Evan. The fact he MAY have joined the Middlesex Regiment isn't significant. The other Records on his page, and the other pages in the book, all show men from mixed Regimental backgrounds who have finally become Sappers. I've searched FreeBMD for all Birth records for all Evan Turners throughout the country, and it's true there are quite a few who could have been WW1 soldiers, including one born in London "hence" Middlesex Reg't, perhaps; but we just don't know for sure, yet ??.

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