Arnold Leslie Rhys-Evans was born in Brighton, East Sussex, England, on the 28th July 1891, the son, and youngest of five children, of The Reverend Thomas and Jane Brimble Rhys-Evans (née Tester). His father was the Minister of The Union Chapel, Brighton. After the death of his father, in February 1892, Arnold Rhys-Evans lived for a long time in Ealing, Middlesex, with his widowed mother and he and his family were strongly connected with The Ealing Congregational Church, Arnold Rhys-Evans still maintaining his links there, long after he had moved away.
He became a ‘boy clerk’ in the civil service, but from an early age, he was determined to acquire knowledge and achieve success and through his efforts, in 1912, became secretary to Mr. D.A. Thomas, a well known Welsh coal mine owner of the time, and he moved to Cardiff, Glamorgan, South Wales, as a result of this, and accompanying him wherever he went, on business trips around the world.
In early April 1915, he accompanied Mr. Thomas and his daughter Lady Margaret Mackworth to America on the Cunarder Tuscania and later wrote to his maternal grandfather, Colonel Henry Tester, in Preston Park, Brighton, from New York, about the outward voyage. He stated: -
We had a splendid though rather slow passage crossing the 'herring pond' in the 'Tuscania' and arrived here on 22nd April. We were convoyed through the danger zone by destroyers and had our lifeboats ready for instant lowering in case of an accident. It was rather an exciting experience. ..... The prevailing sentiment in America in regard to the war is undoubtedly in favour of the Allies in spite of the large number of people here who are of German extraction.
The party stayed in the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City until Mr. Thomas' business was completed and then they booked as saloon passengers on the Lusitania leaving New York on 1st May, for the return passage to Liverpool.
Arnold Rhys-Evans room was B90, next to that of his employer and Lady Mackworth. Those rooms were under the personal supervision of First Class Bedroom Steward Arthur Clegg, who came from Aintree, a suburb of Liverpool.
When the Cunarder was torpedoed, Arnold Rhys-Evans remained with his employer until the last possible moment and then they jumped into a lifeboat. In an article printed in The Cheshire Daily Echo the week after the sinking, Mr. Rhys-Evans described what happened to him: -
At about 2 p.m. a torpedo struck the Lusitania amidships on the starboard side without the slightest warning. I was on the deck and saw the ship sink. She sank fifteen minutes after being torpedoed. Mr. D.A. Thomas and myself both jumped into the same boat when the decks were awash with the water. There were numerous other people in the boat also with us, about 60 in number.
In the meantime, Lady Mackworth had gone down with the Lusitania, but being equipped with a life preserver she floated in the water and was eventually picked up in an unconscious state.
I was saved with Mr. Thomas some two hours after by a fishing vessel which was in the vicinity at the time. We were subsequently transferred to the steamer Flying Fish and brought to Queenstown some hours after the disaster.
The fishing vessel which took the pair from the lifeboat was the Manx boat Wanderer, which by coincidence was fishing in the area where the Cunarder went down.
Before returning to Cardiff, Arnold Rhys-Evans stayed with David Thomas and Lady Mackworth at the Shelbourne Hotel, Dublin, until they were all able to make the journey home. Arnold Rhys-Evans was aged 23 years at the time of the sinking.
Bedroom Steward Clegg, who had looked after Arnold Rhys-Evans in room B90 perished in the sinking, however, and never saw his Aintree home again.
In the summer of 1916, Arnold Rhys-Evans married Kathleen Hall Barnes in Penarth, Glamorganshire, Wales. The couple resided at Rosebery Place, Penarth.
Arnold Rhys-Evans enlisted in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve on the 21st March 1917, and was commissioned as a sub-lieutenant. He had two elder brothers who also served in the Great War.
919 Serjeant Cecil Henry Rhys-Evans enlisted in the 9th County of London (Queen Victoria’s Rifles) in March 1909, and was honourably discharged in March 1914, after serving for five years. On the outbreak of the War, he re-enlisted with his regiment, and in August 1915, he was promoted to the rank of second lieutenant, and served on the Western Front. Like his brother, Arnold, he survived the War.
However, his second brother, F/1104 Petty Officer Motor Mechanic John Eric Rhys-Evans, Royal Naval Air Service, Royal Naval Armoured Car Division (Dardanelles) was killed in action in Gallipoli on the 2nd May 1915, and as he has no known grave, he is commemorated on the Hellas Memorial on the Gallipoli peninsula.
After the War, Arnold continued to work as a civil servant, although he no longer worked for Mr. Thomas, and then, in May 1927, his wife divorced him, alleging misconduct on his part, which was undefended. Shortly after his divorce, he married Gertrude Millicent Herbert in Kensington, London, and the couple had three children – June, Diana, and Leslie.
The family later moved to “Dunverton”, Penybryn Road, Cyncoed, Cardiff, Glamorganshire, and it was here that Arnold Rhys-Evans died, on the 3rd February 1948, aged 56 years.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, 1901 Census of England & Wales, 1911 Census of England & Wales, 1939 Register, New York Passenger Lists 1820 – 1957, Cunard Records, UK Royal Navy Register of Seamen’s Services 1848 – 1939, UK Naval Medal and Award Rolls 1793 – 1972, Brighton Gazette, Cheshire Daily Echo, Holmfirth Express, Middlesex County Times, Western Mail, ADM 337-126-41, PRO 22/71, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.