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1895-1940
Novelist and short story writer. After the First World War he came to Shropshire and settled in Cleobury Mortimer, country living having been recommended to him as an aid to recuperation from the effects of wartime poison gas. He became a country postman and walked eighteen miles or so each day; in the process he quickly grew to know and love the people and scenery of this part of the county and they provided him with material for the articles and stories which he was beginning to write during the 1920's. By 1930 some of these had been published and he had taken part in radio programmes. Then followed collections of stories such as Round about the crooked steeple (1931), At Abdon Burf (1932) and More tales from round about the crooked steeple (1935) all set in or around Cleobury Mortimer (whose church of course has a crooked steeple) and the Clee Hills. His one novel Applegarth (1936) is said to be partly autobiographical and, like all his work, uses a mixture of real and fictional places. Simon Evans finally succumbed to the effects of the poison gas and died in Selly Oak Hospital Birmingham on 8th August 1940.
From An Illustrated Literary Guide to Shropshire by Gordon Dickins, published by Shropshire Libraries, 1987. © Gordon Dickins, 1987.
The following works are available in the West Midlands Creative Literature Collection:-
Applegarth (1936)
At Abdon Burf (1932)
More tales from round about the crooked steeple
(1935)
Round about the crooked steeple (1931)
Shropshire days and Shropshire ways
Simon Evans anthology
Page created 9 February 2001 and last
updated 28 October 2002
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