The life of Forrest Dinnett Evans is a challenge to uncover, although his service records shed tantalising glimpses into his history.
Forrest enlisted in the Canadian Royal Flying Corps on 8th August 1917. He joined up in Toronto, Canada, but gave his address as 26 Leicester Drive, Boston, Massachusetts.The same document gives his middle names as Dennett, and that his father was called George William Evans. It also suggests that both men were British subjects. While it’s not clear when the Evans family moved to North America, there are no UK census or birth records for either man.
Forrest was 19 years 9 months old when he enlisted and stood 5ft 10ins (1.77m) tall. He gave his trade as an student aviation cadet. He was mobilised straight away, and sent to Britain. His time in the Canadian Royal Flying Corps came to an end on 18th December 1917, when he received a commission in the Royal Flying Corps.
Second Lieutenant Evans, as he was now known, was based at Boscombe Down, Wiltshire. It was here, on 27th March 1918, that he was in charge of an Armstrong Whitworth FK8 two-seater biplane. Shortly after take off, the aircraft span into the ground: Forrest was killed instantly. He was 20 years of age.
With his family overseas, Forrest Dinnett Evans was laid to rest in Amesbury Cemetery, just a few miles from Boscombe Down.
Keith Charles Beddy was born in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. His parents were Walter and Isabella Beddy, and he was the sixth of eight children.
Little additional information is available about Keith’s early life. When war broke out, he enlisted in the army, eventually becoming assigned to the 5th Battalion of the Hampshire Regiment. Rising through the ranks to the rank of Lieutenant, he eventually transferred to the Royal Flying Corps.
Lieutenant Beddy was based on Boscombe Down, near Amesbury, Wiltshire. On 6th February 1918, he was flying his RAF BE 2e aircraft when he attempted a turn at a low altitude. The plane nose-dived and crashed into the ground, and Keith was killed instantly. He was just 21 years of age.
With his family on the other side of the world, Keith Charles Beddy was laid to rest in Amesbury Cemetery, not far from the airfield where he had been based.
Claude John Howard Rawlings was born on 5th November 1896 in the Monmouthshire village of Aberbeeg. One of three children, his parents were Sidney and Alice Rawlings. Sidney was a brewer from Bath, Somerset, while Alice was born in the Welsh village and this is where the couple raised their family.
By the time of the 1911 census, Claude had been sent to Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, and was a boarding student at the Brynmalyn Private School to the north of the town centre. His heritage would not have been out of place, though, as nine of the 25 live-in students were from Wales. Claude’s parents seemed to have taken the opportunity to visit Sidney’s mother in Bath, a possible prequel to them moving back to Somerset permanently.
Claude completed his schooling at Brynmalyn the following year, and took up a place as an agricultural student in Broadstone, Dorset. When war broke out, however, he was called upon to play his part.
Details of Claude’s military service are sketchy, but he initially enlisted in the Gloucestershire Regiment and was assigned to the 4th (City of Bristol) Battalion. The regiment service in France and Italy from 1915 onwards, but there is no evidence of Private Rawlings serving anywhere other than on home soil.
Claude wanted greater things, and was drawn to a life in the sky. In the spring of 1918, he transferred to the Royal Air Force, and was attached to 125 Squadron. Sent to Fowlmere Airfield near Royston, Hertfordshire, Flight Cadet Rawlings began his training. Over the next couple of months, he learnt to fly a Royal Aircraft Factory R.E.8 biplane.
Flight Cadet Rawlings was dong a routine practice flight on 12th August 1918, when, during a left hand turn, the aircraft’s side slipped and nose dived. The plane crashed to the ground, and Claude was killed instantly. He was just 21 years of age.
The body of Claude John Howard Rawlings was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in Bath Abbey Cemetery.
Flight Cadet Claude Rawlings (from britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk)
Claude’s grave was a family plot, and he was reunited with his parents when Alice and Sidney died in 1933 and 1945 respectively.
The inscription on the family headstone gives Claude’s date of death as October 1918. All other records confirm the crash took place on 12th August, and that he died at the scene.
John Francis Fox was born early in 1898 in the village of Alkerton, Oxfordshire. One of eight children, he was the only son to miller-turned-butcher George Fox, and his wife, Ann. The family remained in Oxfordshire until at least the outbreak of war, when George and Ann appeared to have moved to Somerset.
When John left school, he took up an apprenticeship at Stothert & Pitt’s engineering works in Bath and in May 1918, with the First World War entering its last few bloody months, he was finally old enough to enlist. He joined the Royal Air Force as a Flight Cadet and was based at the 13th Training Depot Station near Market Drayton, Shropshire.
On 21st December 1918, Flight Cadet Fox was undertaking his first solo flight, on board an Avro 504K. His aircraft collided with another, which was piloted by a Captain Edgar Beamer. Both were killed in the accident: John was just 20 years of age.
An inquest into the crash, which also involved a third man, Captain Harrison, who was a passenger in Beamer’s plane, returned verdicts of accidental death.
John Francis Fox’s body was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the graveyard of St Mary the Virgin’s Church, Bath.
Francis John Henry Willis – who was known as Frank – was born in the summer of 1893 in Totnes, Devon. The youngest of three children, his parents were William Willis – a solicitor’s clerk turned accountant – and Susannah, who was the headmistress of a boarding school.
Education played a strong role in Frank’s upbringing, and, by the time of the 1911 census, he was recorded as being an student of architecture and surveying. (Interestingly, in the same census his older brother, William, was noted as having an infirmity, that of his being “delicate from birth.”)
When he completed his studies, Frank found employment in Newton Abbot, where he worked as an architect for Rowell, Son and Locke. War was coming to Europe, however, and in November 1915, he enlisted in the Royal Engineers.
Frank rose through the ranks, and was given a commission in the Royal Air Force when it was formed in April 1918. Based on Salisbury Plain, the now Second Lieutenant Willis became known as an expert shot, making numerous flights without incident.
On the 20th September 1918, however, that was to change. Taking off on a routine flight, the Avro 504K that he was flying stalled and spun into ground, catching fire. Second Lieutenant Willis was killed instantly. He was just 25 years of age.
Brought back to Devon for burial, Frank John Henry Willis was laid to rest in the cemetery of his home town, Totnes.
Richard Eldon Bush was born on 16th June 1891 in Keynsham, Somerset. The second of four children (all of whom were boys), his parents were Philip and Maria Bush. Philip was a solicitor, and with that status came opportunity for his children.
The 1911 census recorded the Bush family living in Keynsham with two servants – cook Clara Jones and parlour maid Laura Day. The two older boys – Richard and his older brother, Whittington, were both listed as Cambridge undergraduates, while his two young brothers were boarding at a private school in Repton, Yorkshire.
Richard had aspirations for a good life. In March 1914, he set sail for a life in Canada, looking to take up architecture in the colony. His time overseas wasn’t to be long, though, and, when war broke out in Europe, he returned home.
Full details of Richard’s military service are not available, but he joined the Royal Naval Air Service and, on 20th August 1915, he gained his wings. Richard rose to the rank of Flight Lieutenant, but tragedy was ahead.
On 24th April 1917, he was piloting a scout seaplane around the harbour in Fishguard, Pembrokeshire.
[He] failed to clear some overhead wires, and the seaplane swerved against the cliff with considerable violence, smashing the machine, which the petrol set alight, and crashed to the earth. When liberated from the blazing machine Lieutenant Bush rolled and extinguished his burning clothes.
Somerset Guardian and Radstock Observer: Friday 27th April 1917
Sadly, Flight Lieutenant Bush’s injuries proved too severe. He passed away a couple of days later, on 24th April 1917, at the age of 25 years old.
Brought back to Somerset for burial, Richard Eldon Bush was laid to rest in the cemetery of his home town, Keynsham.
Flight Lieutenant Richard Bush (from astreetnearyou.org)
The same newspaper report noted that Richard’s brother Graham was an officer in the Royal Flying Corps. He had also been badly injured in a flying accident, but was, according to the report, “flying again now.“
Noel Felix Perris was born early in 1894 in Chiswick, London and was the oldest of three children to George and Mary Perris. George was from Liverpool, and he and Yorkshire-born Mary made the move to south in the late 1880s.
Noel went on to study science at school, but when war broke out, he clearly felt a duty to play his part. George used his writing skills to become a war correspondent with the French army, while his son joined the 2nd London Regiment.
Quickly promoted to the rank of Lieutenant, Noel served in France and Egypt. In 1916, he was badly injured at Hébuterne, to the south of Arras, and returned to England to recuperate. When he had recovered, he transferred to the Royal Flying Corps, subsequently gaining his wings in the newly-formed Royal Air Force.
Lieutenant Perris was based in Kent as part of 143 Squadron. On the morning of 20th July 1918, he took off from Detling Airfield as part of a normal patrol flight. His aircraft – a single-seater RAF SE5a – collided with another plane, piloted by Lieutenant Thomas Wright, and both crashed to the ground in flames. Both piloted were killed on impact.
An inquest found that the cause of the pilots demise was accidental death. Lieutenant Perris was just 24 years old.
Thomas Wright’s body was taken home to Fleetwood, Lancashire, for burial. Noel Felix Perris was laid to rest in the quiet graveyard of St Martin’s Church in Detling, not far from the base.
Lieutenant Noel Perris (from findagrave.com)
The epitaph on Noel’s headstone comes from Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Knight’s Tale.
He was a verray parfit gentil knight
A modern day translation might be “He was a true, perfect knight of noble character.”
Lewis Morgan was born on 22nd May 1892 in Plymouth, Devon. He was one of six children to former army officer and rector Lewis Harold Gilbert Morgan and his wife, Mary.
Growing up in Plymouth, it seems inevitable that the sea life would take hold in Lewis Jr. He first took up a post in the Merchant Navy, rising to Second Mate in December 1911.
By this point, however, he had set his sights on something more formal and soon enlisted in the Royal Navy. He served on a number of vessels over the years, and was re-engaged when war broke out. By the summer of 1915, he transferred to the Royal Naval Air Service, earning his wings on 5th August that year.
The now Flight Lieutenant Morgan’s service grew as the war continued. The life of air crew at this point in the era of flight was notoriously dangerous, and Lewis was to meet his own fate. On 11th May 1917, he was flying with Probationer Flight Officer Randolph Seed around Edmonton, Middlesex, when an accident occurred. The local newspaper reported on the incident and the subsequent inquest:
Flight-Lieutenant Mitchell gave a graphic account of the accident. He said that about eight o’clock in the evening he was flying at a height of 1,000 feet, and the machine containing the deceased officers was just ahead, but 500 feet higher. The flying conditions were good, and at the time both machines were going steadily. Glancing upwards he notices that the other machine suddenly appeared to collapse, the front extension of the main plane crumpling up. The machine nose-dived, and a black object fell out of it. The machine continued its descent and fell into the Edmonton Sewage Farm… The machine was so entirely broken up that it was impossible to theorise upon the cause of the accident. Morgan was said to have fallen on a concrete path. The deaths were instantaneous.
Taunton Courier and Western Advertiser: Wednesday 23rd May 1917
Lewis Morgan was just 24 years old, and days away from his 25th birthday. His body was brought back to Somerset, and laid to rest in the graveyard of Holy Cross Church in Sampford Arundel. By this point, his parents were living in the nearby Woolcombe House, so their son was, in a way, brought home.
The newspaper article went on to report that Flight Lieutenant Morgan was the third and last son to Lewis and Mary.
Francis Morgan – five years Lewis’ senior – enlisted in the Royal Field Artillery when war broke out. He rose to the rank of Captain, and was mentioned in Despatches for his actions. He was killed in the Dardanelles – potentially at Gallipoli – on 2nd May 1915, at the age of 28 years old.
Walter Morgan was a year younger than Lewis. He also played his part in the First World War, joining the South Lancashire Regiment, and rising to the rank of Second Lieutenant. Walter was also sent to fight in Gallipoli, and this is where he also lost his life. He was killed just three months after Francis, on 9th August 1915. He was just 22 years of age.
The loss of three sons in two years was to take a further toll on the Morgan family. Mary had suffered from poor health for a while, and the deaths of Francis, Walter and Lewis was to prove too much. She passed away at home on 15th July 1917, aged just 56 years old.
Roden Latham Chatterton was born on 13th July 1895, in Budin, Bengal, India. He was the only child to George and Ella Chatterton. George was a Lieutenant Colonel in the army, and had married Ella in India, where he was based.
The family had returned to England by the time of the 1911 census, but then moved permanently to Ireland. When war broke out, Roden joined up, enlisting in the 1st Battalion of the Leinster Regiment with the rank of Lieutenant. Full details of Roden’s military service are not available, but he arrived in France in January 1915 and, stayed there for the best part of two years.
In December 1917, the now Captain Chatterton transferred to the Royal Flying Corps. Based in Kent, he learnt to fly, and was close to gaining his wings, when an accident befell him in March 1918.
About 5:30pm on March 27th, [Captain Chatterton] was about 1.500 feet up, was trying to land near an aerodrome, and the wind was very rough. He shut off the engine and tried a left hand turn when the machine stalled and came down in a spin nose down and crashed to the ground. Several [people] went to his assistance. He was in great pain and made no remarks. He had been strapped in, but the belt had broken. The wind was from the south south-west. He came own into the wind and was trying to turn head into it when the machine got into a spin. It was not an ideal day for flying. Another machine… was flying with the deceased, and that landed all right. There was no collision in the air. When [he] turned he had not got the nose down far enough to keep up the engine speed and, in the witness’ opinion it was through an error of judgment on his part that the machine crashed. Had there been more space he would have got out of the spin. There was nothing wrong with the machine, but it was a type that was very difficult to handle in rough weather.
Whitstable Times and Herne Bay Herald: Saturday 6th April 1918
Captain Chatterton was taken to the Lees Court Military Hospital south of Faversham for treatment, but died of his injuries on 29th March 1918. He was 22 years of age.
Roden Latham Chatterton was laid to rest in a quiet corner of the Borough Cemetery in Faversham.
Walter James Stevens was born on 29th November 1899, the oldest of three children to James and Elizabeth. James was a labourer in the munitions factory in Faversham, Kent, and this is where Walter and his siblings were born and raised.
Initially attending the council schools, Walter won a scholarship to Wreight’s Grammar School, before gaining work as a clerk at the Shepherd Neame brewery in the town.
From the age of 11, Walter was also an active member of the local United Methodist Church. He was a keen organist, taught at the Sunday School, and played a key role in the Wesley Guild. He was also a sometime member of the St John’s Ambulance, undertaking duties at The Mount Hospital in the town.
When was broke out, Walter was keen to play his part. He enlisted in the Royal Naval Air Service, and was sent for training at their air base in Cranwell, Lincolnshire. While on a flight on 11th March 1918, Flight Officer Stevens’ aircraft crashed, and he was killed instantly. He was just 18 years of age.
Walter James Stevens’ body was brought back to Kent: he was laid to rest in the Faversham Borough Cemetery, not fat from his family home. At the funeral, Walter’s senior officers reported the promise he had shown, and that he was close to passing his probationary exams. Two weeks after his burial, a memorial service to him was given at the church to which he had dedicated so much of his young life.
Death and Service 