John Evans (archaeologist)

For other people named John Evans, see John Evans (disambiguation).

John Evans (archaeologist)
John Evans (archaeologist)
Born	17 November 1823 Burnham, Buckinghamshire
Died	31 May 1908 Berkhamsted
Nationality	English
Fields	archaeology geology

Sir John Evans, KCB, FRS (17 November 1823 – 31 May 1908) was an English archaeologist and geologist.

Biography

John Evans was the son of the Rev. Dr A. B. Evans, headmaster of Market Bosworth Grammar School, and was born at Britwell Court, Buckinghamshire. He was for many years manager of the extensive paper manufactory of John Dickinson (1782–1869) at Nash Mills, Hemel Hempstead, but was distinguished especially as an antiquary and numismatist, that is, a collector of ancient objects and coins.

Evans was president from 1885 to 1892 of the Society of Antiquaries; and he was President of the Numismatic Society from 1874 to the time of his death. He was also president of the Geological Society of London, 1874–1876; the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, 1877–1879; the Society of Chemical Industry, 1891–1893; and the British Association for the Advancement of Science, 1897–1898. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1864 and for twenty years (1878–1898) he was treasurer of the Royal Society. He was appointed High Sheriff of Hertfordshire for 1881.

As President of the Society of Antiquaries he was an ex officio trustee of the British Museum, and subsequently he became a permanent trustee. His academic honors included honorary degrees from several universities, and he was a corresponding member of the Institut de France. He was created a KCB (Knight of the Order of the Bath) in 1892.

He died at Berkhamsted in 1908.

Works

He was the author of three books, standards in their fieldd:

• The Coins of the Ancient Britons (1864);
• The Ancient Stone Implements, Weapons and Ornaments of Great Britain (1872); and
• The Ancient Bronze Implements, Weapons and Ornaments of Great Britain and Ireland (1881).

He also wrote papers on archaeological and geological subjects, notably the papers on Flint Implements in the Drift communicated in 1860 and 1862 to Archæologia.

Family

Evans was married three times, widowed twice, and had six children. He married Harriet Ann Dickinson, daughter of John Dickinson, and they had five children.

• Arthur John Evans (1851–1941)
• Lewis Evans (1853–1930)
• Philip Norman Evans (1854–1893)
• Alice Evans (1856–1882)
• Harriet Ann Evans (1857–1938)

Harriet died in 1858, and he married Frances Phelps, who died in 1890. He then married Maria Millington Lathbury and they had a daughter Joan Evans.

His eldest son was Sir Arthur Evans, curator of the Ashmolean Museum and excavator of Minoan Crete. His younger son, Lewis Evans continued with the family business and collected scientific instruments that formed the core of the collection for the Museum of the History of Science, Oxford. Joan Evans became a historian of French and English medieval art.

Publications

• The ancient stone implements, weapons and ornaments, of Great Britain (1872)

References

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.