Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Family Group:

A Great War ‘Western Front’ M.C. group of seven awarded to Brigadier J. M. J. Evans, C.B.E., Royal Welsh Fusiliers
Military Cross, G.V.R., the reverse engraved ‘Lt. J. M. J. Evans’; 1914 Star, with clasp (Lieut: J. M. J. Evans. R.W. Fus:); British War and Victory Medals, with M.I.D. oak leaves (Lieut. J. M. J. Evans.); Defence and War Medals 1939-45; France, Third Republic, Croix de Guerre, the reverse dated 1914-1918, with bronze Palm on riband, mounted as worn; together with the related Great War miniature awards, good very fine

Five: Captain R. V. J. Evans, Welsh Guards, who took part in both the vigil over King George VI, and his funeral procession, in February 1952
1939-45 Star; France and Germany Star; Defence and War Medals 1939-45; Coronation 1953, unnamed as issued, mounted as worn; together with the related miniature awards, good very fine (12) £1,400-£1,800

This lot is to be sold as part of a special collection, The Jim Henshaw Collection of Medals to the 23rd Royal Welsh Fusiliers.

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M.C. London Gazette 14 January 1916: ‘Lieutenant John Meredith Jones Evans, Royal Welsh Fusiliers.’

M.I.D. London Gazette 1 January 1916.

France, Croix de Guerre London Gazette 6 November 1918.

John Meredith Jones Evans was born in 1894 and commissioned Second Lieutenant, Royal Welsh Fusiliers, on 5 Fevruary 1913; Lieutenant, 20 June 1914. At the outbreak of the Great War he was serving with the 1st Battalion and landed with them at Zeebrugge on 7 October 1914. As part of the 7th Division, the 1st Battalion, Royal Welsh Fusiliers were engaged in very heavy fighting in October, in particular in the advance on Menin and the battle of Langemarck; in the advance the Division lost just under 200 men, half of whom came from the 1st Battalion, and at Langemarck they suffered heavily again: ‘The 1/Welch Fusiliers, occupying the right... had suffered heavily losing 10 officers and 250 other ranks (Official History of the Great War, Military Operations in France and Belgium, refers); as a consequence of both actions the 1st Battalion’s strength by the end of October 1914 had been reduced to 6 officers and 206 men; in 1915 Evans’ battalion were in action again at Festubert, where on the 16th May they led the assault of the 22nd Brigade on the German positions with the 2nd Queen’s: ‘As they were going over the parapet at 3.15am, it was just light enough to see, and whilst they were in No Man’s Land the enemy opened heavy machine-gun and rifle fire. As there was no covering fire to check him, he inflicted severe casualties. The Royal Welch Fusiliers, in spite of Lieutenant-Colonel R. E. P. Gabbett being killed and his Second-in-Command severely wounded reached and rushed the German front trench, and pressed on’ (Ibid); by 7 am the 22nd Brigade had carried their objective, but ‘the 2/Queen’s lost 21 officers and 433 other ranks out of 22 and 773, and the 1/Royal Welch Fusiliers 19 officers and 559 other ranks out of 24 and 806’ (Ibid). Evans was appointed as Adjutant from 24 June to 24 September, 1915, and promoted Captain on 17 December 1915; specially employed with the War Office 31 May 1916 for the remainder of the war; Brevet Major, 3 June 1919; Deputy Assistant Director of the Territorial Army, War Office, from 8 June 1921; re-engaged for the Second World War as Acting Lieutenant-Colonel, 1 May 1940, and was appointed as an Assistant Military Secretary to the Secretary of State for War, 24 July 1940; appointed Acting Brigadier, Deputy Military Secretary to the Secretary of State for War, 1 January 1943. For his services during the war he was appointed C.B.E. in 1945. Brigadier Evans died on 20 July 1957.

Robert Victor John Evans was born in Kensington, London, on 27 December 1921. He was a Cadet at the Royal Naval College Dartmouth, prior to joining the Welsh Guards as a Second Lieutenant on 2 August 1941; Lieutenant, 27 June 1944; Temporary Captain, 1 May 1948; appointed Staff Captain, Headquarters Household Brigade, from 1 October 1950; took part in the Funeral Procession of King George VI, 15 February 1952.

Sold with various documents and photographs (mostly laminated) including letter from H.M. The Queen thanking the recipient for taking part in the Vigil over the late King in Westminster Hall, 11-15 February 1952; Invitation to the recipient from The Earl Marshal to take part in the procession at the funeral of H.M. King George VI, 15 February 1952, with accompanying envelope; Recipient´s Certified Copy of Attestation, dated 6 February 1941, and two related letters; Nine photographs, including one of H.M. King George VI´s funeral, and one of the recipient in Brussels on the occasion of the 40th Anniversary of Liberation, 3 September 1984; and Ten Chapters, by Field Marshal Montgomery, containing the thoughts and impressions of the Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, 1942-45, taken from entries in Monty’s own autograph book.