ABSTRACT
Like Margaret Kerwin, Elizabeth Evans managed to get to the front lines in the Crimea, and she makes clear the stratagems and deceptions wives had to practise in order to do so―clearly, some army wives, at least, were neither passive nor obedient to army orders. She also makes clear the vital work these wives performed for the officers and men of their regiments. Evans was married to a private in the 4th (King’s Own) Regiment of Foot, which was ordered to the Crimea in 1854. The King’s Own served in the autumn battles, suffered the privations of the winter and took part in the siege of Sevastopol. The Royal Magazine was a popular British monthly, which was first published in 1898, and featured a mix of reporting, history and fiction.
As a vivid picture of the long and terrible sufferings of our womenfolk during the Crimean War, no story that has been published exceeds in interest this narrative of a gallant lady, who accompanied her husband to the seat of war. Mrs. Elizabeth Evans was married in 1851, and joined her husband’s regiment, with which she proceeded to the Crimea. After serving in the Army for twenty-one years he retired, and died just before his golden wedding was to have been celebrated. Mrs. Evans has a small pension, and enjoys the distinction of wearing her husband’s medals. She is still in excellent health, and full of that wonderful courage which enabled her to survive the notorious hardships of a woefully mismanaged campaign.
