Hobson, Evan

If you can add any information about this soldier, please use the comment form at the bottom of this page.

If you would like to be informed of any additions or amendments to The Great War Project, please join our Facebook group.

The Great War Project navigation

Overview   A   B   C   D   E   F   G   H   J   K   L   M   N   O   P   R   S   T   W

Evan Hobson

21627, Private, 14th Gloucestershire Regiment
Killed in action, 21 August 1917, aged 29
Buried at Templeux-Le-Guerard British Cemetery

CWGC registered (Son of Mr J Hobson, of Ivy Mount, Tyncoed, Gt Orme’s Head, Llandudno)

Evan Hobson, the son of John Hobson and Jane Hobson (née Roberts) was born in Llandudno on 3 February 1888. The Census for Wales of 1891 records the family of four, John (25, a baker), Jane (27), Evan (3) and John (1), living at 5 Llwynyrychain Terrace. In June 1892, Evan was admitted to St. George’s National School, Llandudno. The younger John died in 1896 and another son, born in 1897 was also called John. In 1901 the family was living at “Ivy Mount”, Tyn-y-Coed Road, Llandudno and included five sons: Evan (13), Anthony (6), David (5 – qv), John (4 – qv) and William (2); and two daughters: Hannah (14) and Elizabeth (9). Three of the sons were to be killed in the Great War as well as Elizabeth’s husband, John Basford (qv). Evan Hobson left school in October 1901. In 1911, Evan (23) was described as a coach painter in the Census of England, a border at 72 Matlock Road, Kingfields, Coventry.

Evan’s service record no longer exists but from the scraps of evidence available, it would appear that he enlisted at Coventry in June 1915 into the Gloucestershire Regiment, his service number being 21627. It is probable that he joined and trained with the 14th (Service) Battalion (West of England) which had formed at Bristol as a Bantam Battalion on 22 April 1915 which indicates that he may have been short in stature. (A soldier with a close service number – 21625 – was 5’1” tall.) The 14th Glosters disembarked at Le Havre on 31 January 1916.

On 19 August 1917, the 105th Brigade attacked an objective known as “the Knowl” near Lempire, between St. Quentin and Cambrai. The following day, the 14th Glosters moved up as relief troops. On 21 August 1917, the battalion repulsed a German counter-attack which resulted in one officer and three other ranks being killed including Evan Hobson aged 29. He was initially buried at Sainte-Émilie Military Cemetery but later reinterred at Templeux-Le-Guerard British Cemetery.

Known memorials:

• Llandudno Roll of Honour
• Llandudno War Memorial
• Memorial Chapel, Holy Trinity Church, Llandudno
• Siloh a Hyfrydle, Llandudno
• His brother David’s headstone, St. Tudno’s Churchyard