Elsie Janet Evans, Royal Red Cross recipient
Most First World War rolls of honour name only men. Sometimes women are named as well and this is the story of one of them.
The Roll of Honour of St. Jude's Church in Mount Pleasant proudly records "the men of the parish who served in the Army, Navy, Air Force, & Mercantile Marine" during the Great War. But amongst the columns of names, one name stands out as being different to those around them; E.J. Evans R.R.C, otherwise known as Elsie Janet Evans.
St Jude's Church, Swansea Roll of Honour
We know that EJ. Evans is a woman because of the award that she had earned during the war; the Royal Red Cross. This was an award founded in 1883 by Queen Victoria, awarded to fully trained nurses who had shown exceptional devotion and performance in nursing, or an exceptional act of bravery, and its first recipient was Florence Nightingale. Until 1976, the award was given exclusively to women.
Elsie Evans, born in Swansea, was a nurse in Cardiff before she joined the war effort in August 1914 and volunteered to go to France as a part of the British Expeditionary Force; part of her time there was spent on the front line in Loos, her "bravery and devotion" under fire fully deserving of this award. She was awarded her first Royal Red Cross, 2nd Class on January 14th 1916, receiving it from the King himself.
Elsie remained in service until after the war and was awarded the Royal Red Cross for a second time in January 1919, this time a 1st class award, again awarded to her by the King. She was recorded proudly by St. Jude's parish side by side with her peers.
It is uncommon to see women recorded on rolls of honour and war memorials, yet we know that many women like Elsie risked their own lives during the war to work with soldiers both at home and on the front line and to keep them as safe as possible.