Private Frederick Evans 2/24th

Extract from a letter written to his uncle, c. 27th July 1879

"...We lost a lot of Pontypool boys out here, at the Battle of Isandhlwana. There were Alfred Farr, Dick Treverton, George Morris, Harry Smith, Charley Long and Bill Reece (from Pontnewynydd): they all got killed. I and Charley can think ourselves lucky, for we were staying in the same camp, only we were out with the General; we left Alf Farr in the tent asleep when we went out; the reason Alf stayed in was because he was butcher for the Regiment...

...From your ever affectionate nephew,
Fred Evans 2-24th Regiment."

The full letter was published in the Pontypool Free Press and Herald of the Hills, 13th Sept. 1879

Do we know the full name of the " Charley" who was with Evans.

No mention of his surname....Charley is mentioned several times in the letter so we could speculate that he is a relation..a brother perhaps....there was a 25B 957 Private Charles Evans 2/24th.
Fred does also refer to his 'brother' - " Caul " who was serving with the 1st 24th in Zululand at the same time who he and Charley had met at Fort Newdigate.

Hi all,

An old topic I know, but I hope I can add a little detail to the above.

The way the letter is written it is easy to believe that Fred and Charley are brothers, although it is not stated. Fred and Caul are related, Caul is referred to as brother by Fred.

There is only one Fred or Frederick Evans in the 2nd Battalion and that is 25B/953, there is only one Charles or Charley Evans in the same battalion and that is 25B/957. Both of these individuals attested at the end/beginning of November/December 1876 at Monmouth I believe.

So to establish a family connection we have to look at the record for 'Caul'. This individual is I believe 25B/1678 Private Cornelius Evans 1/24th, I base this on one piece of evidence recorded in his service documents. His recorded next of kin is - Brother, Charles, 2/24th Regt.

Another circumstantial piece of evidence that potentially helps to tie the individuals together are attestation records for the Royal Monmouth Engineer Militia, there is a record for both a Cornelius and Fred Evans, both have an occupation as shoemaker, Fred living in Sow Hill at the time of his enlistment in 1874.

I believe it is likely that Charles, Cornelius and Frederick are brothers based on the information available to me, and if not brothers they are certainly related in some way.

As a side question, the letter records the fact that Alf Farr was the butcher for the regiment? and we know Twiggs and Chudley were tailors, did the regiment/battalion have a dedicated cobbler? these individuals could certainly have fitted the bill.

Regards
Dash