Eversden, Julius

Julius  was the second of five sons of Julius James Eversden and Emma (nee Harradine) Eversden of Ashwell.  He was a pupil at the Merchant Taylors School, Ashwell.

Julius enlisted at Hitchin on 12 December 1915. He served as a private in the Infantry Division of the Machine Gun Corps, Service Number 181152.  He fought on the Western European Theatre of War, France and Flanders.  He caught influenza in 1918 and was returned to England where he died of influenza on 23 December, 1918 in Rugeley Camp Military Hospital, Cannock Chase.

Julius’s brother William was a Private in the East Surrey Regiment and was killed in action in Ypres on 8 May 1915.  His brothers Percy, Harry and Harvey all served and survived the War.

He was born Finsbury Park London but lived in Church Lane, Ashwell with his family.  Before enlisting Julius was a barrel washer at a brewery.

Other references:

The Infantry Branch was by far the largest and was formed initially by the transfer of battalion machine gun sections to the MGC, these being grouped into Brigade Machine Gun Companies, three per division. New companies were raised at Grantham. In 1917 a fourth company was added to each division. In February and March 1918, the four companies in each division were formed into a Machine Gun Battalion

The MGC saw action in all the main theatres of war, including France, Belgium, Palestine, Mesopotamia, Egypt, Salonika, East Africa and Italy. In its short history the MGC gained an enviable record for heroism as a front line fighting force. Indeed, in the latter part of the war, as tactics changed to defence in depth, it commonly served well in advance of the front line. It had a less enviable record for its casualty rate. Some 170,500 officers and men served in the MGC with 62,049 becoming casualties, including 12,498 killed, earning it the nickname ’the Suicide Club’