Major John Evelyn Leonard Wilton
1881-1940
EVELYN Wilton came to Margaret River in 1913 when Lance and Chris Andrews invited him to join them as the third partner in their farming property Komani.
Wilton had been a colleague of Chris Andrews in the Royal Marines but at the age of 31 he had eloped with Vera Cumming, the 18-year-old daughter of their commanding officer, Colonel Cumming, much to the disapproval of the authorities.
The young couple wanted to come to Australia where they could create new lives for themselves.
But as a reserve officer, Wilton was recalled to the Marines on the outbreak of war.
The war at sea was at a critical stage with German U-boats keeping Britain desperately short of food and munitions. Wilton served on the armoured cruiser HMS Drake which escorted merchant convoys from North America to Britain.
After several successful convoys, in October 1917 Drake was hit by a torpedo from a U-boat but the crew were able to steer the crippled cruiser into Irish territorial waters before it sank.
A number of the crew were killed when the torpedo hit, but the remainder of the crew, including Wilton, survived.
He was then posted to the newly-established Royal Marines engineering base near Brighton on the south coast of England.
He was a popular officer who managed to keep the base free of the serious disturbances, in some cases close to mutiny, which occurred in other places as troops became impatient at the slow rate of demobilisation at the end of the war.
Wilton, his wife and their two daughters arrived back in Margaret River in 1919. But the farm was overgrown and neglected, impossible for one person to manage and ultimately it defeated him.
Perhaps Wilton was one of the many unrecognised casualties of the war.
He had been the top cadet in his class when he graduated from the Royal Naval College at Greenwich and had been presented with a silver sword, an award made only to the top cadet, ornately engraved with the inscription 'Presented by the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty to Second-Lieutenant JEL Wilton, RMLI for meritorious examination, 1901'.
His name was twice recommended to the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty for valuable services rendered during the war.
But the war changed him. The loss of his partners and of his naval colleagues would have affected him deeply, in particular, the death of Lance Andrews so close to the end of the war.
The successful, confident, young Marines officer and hard-working farmer of pre-war days disappeared as he struggled to cope with post-war circumstances.
His marriage broke up.
Mrs Wilton, who had so enjoyed her new life in Margaret River before the war, returned to England with their daughters.
Wilton struggled on for a few years, then left Margaret River during the 1920s and went to Tasmania to join his sister Olive Wilton Cornell. He died in Hobart in 1940.
The full story of Lance Andrews, Chris Andrews and Evelyn Wilton is told in Dream of Margaret River by Penelope Ransby. The title is taken from the longing to return home to Margaret River that the author found in their letters (www.dreamofmargaretriver.com).
These profiles will form part of an exhibition at the Bramley School, Old Margaret River Settlement, for the commemoration of the Anzac centenary.
If you have any pictures, memorabilia or information regarding any of the Anzacs on the local honour roll, please contact Pauline Graves at the Margaret River and Districts Historical Society by email on pushing_60@hotmail.com.