The life and times of Gilbert Evans : Summer in February
Gilbert : 1914 - 1966
Leaving Lamorna for West Africa in 1914
Gilbert left Florence and his friends in Lamorna for the colonial service in Nigeria in April 1914. He spent the rest of his active working life mostly in Nigeria but saw action during the First World War in the Cameroons (where he was wounded at Mora in January 1915) and in East Africa.
Gilbert's military service 1914-1933
1914-1915 Attached to the West African Frontier Force, Cameroons.
1917-1918 Attached to the West African Frontier Force - German East Africa.
1918 Commanded 2nd Battalion, West African Service Brigade during the Egba Rebellion.
He was eventually to retire from the army in the Rank of Major in 1933.
The photo shows Gilbert in The Cameroons in 1915
Gilbert's colonial service in Nigeria 1914-1933
Senior Surveyor 1914-1927
Assistant Surveyor General 1927-1930
Deputy Surveyor General 1930-1933
Acting Surveyor General April-October 1931
Gilbert was invalided out of the Colonial Service in 1933 with a leg thrombosis when he was about to be appointed Surveyor General.
The photo shows Gilbert in 1920 with his record breaking catch of a Niger perch. It weighed 106 pounds!
Gilbert's family life
During his time in Nigeria, Gilbert met Miss Joan Mason (1905-1989), second daughter of Charles Robert Mason of Hampton-on-Thames. Joan was a Sister Tutor, teaching young African midwives. She was twenty-two years younger than Gilbert. They married on 11th March, 1932.
They came to live in Lamorna in the house that is now called Tregurnow Cliff above the village and the cove.
They had two sons - John "Tim" (1934-2005) and David (1938 - 2020).
The photo is of Gilbert and Joan's wedding day in 1932. Gilbert was nearly forty-nine when they married.
Gilbert's work in Lamorna
On his return to Lamorna with Joan and then having started a family, Gilbert practised as a land agent in west Cornwall for a number of minor landed estates. From 1940 to 1958 he was I/C Special Constables for the Penwith district of Cornwall. He was also a Director of Cardiff & Provincial Properties.
Gilbert was a Fellow of two professional societies:
Royal Geographic Society 1930
Land Agents' Society 1947.
The photo shows Gilbert in 1934 holding his first son John "Tim".
Gilbert and A.J.Munnings meet again in 1949
Alfred Munnings did return to Lamorna with his second wife, Violet (nee McBride), in 1949. Munnings was invited to unveil a relief of Stanhope Forbes on the wall of Newlyn Gallery. Gilbert and Joan were invited to join them at the Birches for dinner. This was the last time these great, erstwhile friends, Alfred and Gilbert, met.
Gilbert's death in 1966
Gilbert died in Penzance Hospital on 6th January, 1966 at the age of eighty-two. He was survived by Joan, his two sons, John and David, and three grandchildren, Richard (1957), Treve (1960) and Christine (1962-2014) by John and Jill. David met and married Christine (neeJohnson) after Gilbert's death - they had two children, Gilbert (1968) and Hugh (1970).
Gilbert's descendants now also include five great grandchildren - Leila (1990). Laurence (1991) and Rory (1994) by Treve and Anne-Marie (nee McCue) (1960); also Lewis (1998) and Leonard (2004) by Gilbert and Sebnem (nee Kovanlikaya) (1969). The photo shows Gilbert in 1963 at the age of eighty.
Joan Evans - Gilbert's wife
When widowed in 1966, Joan remained in their home for the next couple of years before moving to Oakhill Cottage, the adjoining house to Oakhill where Laura and Harold Knight used to live many years previously.
She knew about Gilbert's love of Florence, but being twenty-two years younger than her husband, she clearly accepted that as part of his past.
The photo shows Joan and Gilbert in 1957 ready to attend a 1890s themed party.
Joan died in 1989 and is buried with Gilbert, sharing the same headstone at Zennor.