A stray bullet from an Allied aeroplane caused a tragic accident at Aldenham Reservoir during the First World War.

Daniel Evans, who lived in one of the Reservoir Cottages in Watford Road, opposite the reservoir, was sawing wood in his back garden when he was fatally struck by a bullet fired from an aeroplane, flown by a Canadian pilot.

The aeroplane, which was believed to have been based at London Colney Aerodrome, where the Porters Park estate now stands, was carrying out target practice in the area of the Elstree reservoir, when the fatal accident happened.

Mr Evans, who was in his late 50s when he died and is buried at Elstree's St Nicholas' Church, was a gardener at Lord Aldenham's estate.

His grand-daughter, 80-year-old Winifred Strickland, who lives in Borehamwood, said: "They were practising on the reservoir they used to do target practice on there.

"It was an accident. The bullet went through an artery and he bled to death.

"There were no ambulances it was in the First World War. They could not get him to hospital and my grandmother, Elizabeth, got a little compensation."

Florence Cowley, who is an author and a member of Elstree and Boreham Wood History Society, knew the family and said she believed the compensation was around £200.

She added: "They were practising with live ammunition over the reservoir. Mr Evans kept saying that one day there would be an accident, and that they ought not to use live ammunition.

"Afterwards, the Canadian, who was only a boy, was terribly upset about it and went to see the Evans family, and said how sorry he was."

The late Ben Evans, Mrs Strickland's father, who was around the age 17 when his father died, was the youngest of Daniel and Elizabeth's six children.

Elizabeth Evans, a religious woman who never married again, endured other tragedies in her life, losing a daughter to tuberculosis and a son who suffered a fatal fall from a ladder.

Her other three children, Ben, Harry and Edward Evans, joined the armed forces during the Second World War.

Harry Evans worked as a gardener and chauffeur for Sir Percy Everett, a managing director of a publishing company who lived in Elstree.

The site of the Reservoir Cottages is now occupied by The Fishery Inn's car park.

The Evans family is one of the oldest families in Borehamwood, with research revealing they have lived in the area since the 1700s.