Sophia INWOOD (née EVANS) (1881-1969)

Sophia Inwood, née Evans (1881-1969), was the wife of Lieutenant and Quartermaster Charles Herbert Inwood who was a colleague of Cyril Sladden in the 9th Battalion Worcestershire Regiment.

Sophia Evans was born in Streatham, London, on 12th August 1881, the daughter of Christopher Evans, a bandmaster in the army, and his wife, Sophia. According to the 1911 census, Christopher and Sophia had 11 children, one of whom died young. The family moved all over the world with the army, from Jersey in the Channel Islands, to Portsmouth, to Pembroke in Wales, to Ireland, to Aldershot and to Bermuda. Sophia was either the first or second born of the children.

In 1901, Sophia and seven of her siblings were living with their parents in army barracks at Farnborough. Sophia was employed by the army as a pupil teacher in a school. Sophia’s father was with the Worcestershire Regiment and it was probably through him that she met her future husband, Charles Herbert Inwood, who was also in the Worcestershire Regiment.

Sophia Evans married Charles Inwood on 9th February 1903 at the Parish Church, Edgbaston. They had three children, but their first child died as a baby, leaving a son and a daughter, Ralph Preston Inwood and Joan Lilian Inwood, born in 1910 and 1912 respectively.

At the time of the 1911 census, whilst Charles was based at Norton Barracks, Sophia was living at 56 Victoria Road, Aldershot, with her 11-month-old son and a servant; where her other child was is not known. She was employed by the army as a schoolmistress.

It is likely that Sophia saw her husband during the First World War for nearly four years. Like Cyril Sladden, Inwood was first at Gallipoli and then in Mesopotamia and Persia, so any leave that he had would have been taken in India as it was too far to go home to England.

On Charles’ retirement from the army, Sophia and Charles moved to 25 Albert Road, Caversham, Reading. Charles died in 1944 at Caversham and Sophia died in 1969.