Summary

Sir John Evans (Britwell Court, November 17, 1823 - Berkhamsted, May 31, 1908) was a British archaeologist, numismatist and geologist.

Evans was the son of Rev. Dr A. B. Evans, head of Grammar School in Market Bosworth, and was born at Britwell Court in Buckinghamshire. He was for many years head of John Dickinson's large paper mill at Nash Mills in Hemel Hempstead, but was best known as an antiquarian and numismatist, in this case a collector of antique objects and coins.

He was the author of three texts that became a standard in their respective fields, The Coins of the Ancient Britons (and The Ancient Bronze Implements, Weapons and Ornaments of Great Britain and Ireland (1881). He also wrote a considerable number of articles on important archaeologic and geologic topics: relevant are the works Flint Implements in the Drift communicated in 1860 and 1862 in Archaeologia, the organ of the Society of Antiquaries. He was also president of this society from 1885 to 1892, and was also president of the Numismatic Society from 1874 until his death; under his presidency, in 1904, the society was granted by royal decree the title of Royal Numismatic Society. His work as a numismatist was rewarded in 1887 with the award of the Royal Numismatic Society medal.

He was also president of the Geological Society of London, 1874-1876; the Anthropological Institute, 1877-1879; the Society of Chemical Industry, 1891-1893; and the British Association, 1897-1898. He became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1864 and was its treasurer for twenty (1878-1898).

Family

As president of the Society of Antiquaries he was ex officio trustee (board member) of the British Museum, and later a permanent member. He had several academic awards including honorary degrees from universities; he was also a corresponding member of the Institut de France. He obtained the KCB in 1892.

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

Harriet died in 1858, and Evans 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 responsible for excavations of Minoan Crete. His youngest son, Lewis Evans continued the family business and collected scientific instruments that formed the core of the collection of the Museum of the History of Science, Oxford. Joan Evans became a historian of medieval French and English art.

Sources

1. John Evans (archaeologist)
2. John Evans (archeologo)
3. ^ "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved 17 May 2021.
4. Member History: Sir John Evans. American Philosophical Society, abgerufen am 2. August 2018.
5. Prestwich 1860 : p. 282 et 292 ; Académie des sciences 1860 ; Société linnéenne du Nord de la France 1888 : « Ce fut M. Pinsard qui avertit par dépêche MM. Prestwich et Evans... » ; Gamble, Moutsiou 2011 : "The second proof lay in the use of photography, probably arranged locally by the Amiens-based architect Charles Pinsard, who was one of the scientific witnesses on the day. Although it was only 20 years after the invention of photography, the two images they took are the earliest examples of both Quaternary stratigraphy and an archaeological discovery as it happened.26 The photographs had the desired effect in adding credibility to their claim through the glamour of technology." ; Schlanger 2012 : Ch. Pinsard : "Il fut convenu que si les ouvriers en trouvaient une(hache) dans la masse du diluvium, ils arrêteraient leurs travaux et que j’enverrai une dépêche à M. Prestwich, soit à Abbeville, chez M. Boucher de Perthes, où il devait retourner, soit même à Londres." ; Raj et Otto Sibum 2015 : Nathan Schlanger, 12, Boucher de Perthes au travail, Industrie et préhistoire au XIXe siècle
6. 1 2 3 4 Sir John Evans // Encyclopædia Britannica (англ.)
7. 1 2 3 4 John Evans // Annuaire prosopographique : la France savante
8. APS Member History  (неопр.). search.amphilsoc.org. Дата обращения: 17 мая 2021. Архивировано 17 мая 2021 года.