On 17 November 1823 John Evans was born at Britwell Court in Buckinghamshire. His parents Revd Arthur Benoni Evans and Anne Dickinson had married at Plumstead in Southeast London in 1819. They had six children including John; a daughter, Anne, born in 1820, followed by their first son, Arthur, in 1822, then John, their second son, in 1823, George in 1825, Emma in 1828 and Sebastian in 1830.

Their first two children Anne and Arthur were both born at Sandhurst military academy, where their father Arthur B. Evans taught classics and history. After 17 years at Sandhurst, in 1822 the Evans's rented the large house, Britwell Court, to enable them to establish a training facility to prepare young men entering the army. They regretfully left Britwell Court in 1829 when Arthur B. Evans took on the headmaster's position at Market Bosworth Grammar School in Leicestershire.

John Evans was married three times. His first marriage, from 1850 until 1858, was to his cousin Harriet Dickinson, daughter of John Dickinson, his uncle and owner of the Dickinson paper company at Nash Mills, Hemel Hempstead, where John Evans had been employed since 1840. It is interesting to note that Harriet had attended the same finishing school as John's sister, Emma, at Ashby de la Zouch in Leicestershire.

John and Harriet where married in September 1850 at St Lawrence's church at Abbot's Langley by Arthur Benoni Evans, John's father. They started married life in a farmhouse on the Dickinsons' estate called Chambersbury. They then moved to the Red House, which Harriet's father had built for them in the village.

Harriet was very happy when they moved into Nash Mills House in 1856 after Charles Longman, one of the other partners, had moved out. This was where she had been born and spent her childhood.

They had five children - Arthur (later Sir Arthur), Lewis, Philip, Alice and Harriet. Evans's wife, Harriet, died on 1st January 1858, shortly after giving birth to their fifth child, also called Harriet, after being infected by the midwife attending the birth.

Unfortunately there are no photographs of Harriet in the John Evans archive at the Ashmolean, but there is a photograph taken in c.1857 in Time and Chance written by Joan Evans.

John Evans's second marriage was to another cousin, Frances Phelps, from 1859 to 1890. She was a loving stepmother to his children, supporting the academic work of both John and Arthur. There were no children from this marriage.

Arthur Evans was the eldest son of John and Harriet. Arthur married Margaret Freeman in 1878, they had no children. Arthur became Keeper of the Ashmolean Museum in 1884 and is best known for his excavations at Knossos.

Lewis Evans was born in 1853, John and Harriet's second son, and named after his great grandfather. His first wife was Beryl Ward, daughter of the vicar of Apsley; she died in 1886. He then married Eva Bradford in 1889; they had five children. Lewis Evans succeeded his father at the paper mill; he also co-founded the History of Science Museum in Oxford. Apsley Paper Trail have recently acquired from John Dickinson's Stationery Ltd an oil painting of Lewis which appears in Fig. 30 of The Endless Web.

Philip Norman Evans (always called Norman) was the third son, born in 1854. Norman attended the same prep school, Callipers in Chipperfield as his brother Arthur had done. Norman's interests were scientific. He was against anything to do with antiquity, was energetic and the most irresponsible member of the family. Fanny's diaries write about 'Norman's youthful escapades'. One of these was to mesmerize the kitchen maid, sending her into a trance but not knowing how to wake her up again! 'Norman came home for the Easter holidays (in 1869) full of his electro-biological powers'. 'The kitchen maid was very odd and stayed in bed'. Norman went on to Harrow and following this, not knowing what he wanted to do, his father put him into the office of the mills. In 1883 he and his father quarrelled and Norman departed for America. Whilst there he attended a lecture on chemistry which inspired him. After a hunting trip in the Rockies he went to Bonn University to study chemistry further. Norman married secretly in Bonn and he and his wife Ada came home to England in 1889. He went into partnership with another German chemist and John Evans arranged for them to be the consulting chemists for Dickinsons. Norman Evans died in December 1893. There are no photographs of Norman in the Evans archive.

Alice Evans was John and Harriet's first daughter, born in 1856, and she was a very delicate child. She was educated at home with her sister Harriet by a French governess, she then attended Cedar Lodge school at Blackheath. Alice spent a lot of time helping her father in the library, mounting objects for him to label and learning all he could teach. Alice married William Minet, a close friend of Charles Longman, but died suddenly, leaving a three year old daughter, Susan. Her tombstone reads 'Alice Evans, elder daughter of John Evans of Nash Mills, wife of 'Willian Minet born July 9 1856 died March 13 1887'.

When Alice married William in 1882 they cut their wedding cake with a prehistoric flint knife. The Hemel Hempstead Gazette records 'It is well known that the bride took great interest in her father's pursuits, and that she had assisted him much in arranging his collections. It was therefore suggested she cut the cake with a flint knife, a feat she performed amidst general applause'.

Harriet married Charles James Longman, of the publishing firm of the same name; they had four children. There are no photographs of Alice or Harriet in the Evans archive.

In 1892 John Evans married Maria Millington Lathbury, who bore him another daughter Joan in 1893. Maria shared Evans's enthusiasm for antiquity.

Dame Joan Evans became a renowned medievalist, the first woman president of the Society of Antiquaries and also a biographer of her family, brother and the paper firm.

There are no photographs of Maria or Joan in the Evans archive, but there are photographs of Maria and Joan in Prelude and Fugue.

Evans died on 31st May 1908. To mark his centenary, members of the Evans family, Apsley Paper Trail, Ashmolean Museum staff and friends attended a short graveside ceremony where they laid flowers. Friends of Dacorum Muse reps from vicar, apsley p trail, ash mus, soci of anti. Flowers were laid on behalf of the family.

The memorial to John Evans which is situated high up on the south wall of the church. It is engraved on brown marble and contains a very long description of his life and because of the brown marble and its situation, it is very hard to read. This monument was designed by Sir William Richmond and the shields depict elephants and a lion (from the Dickinson family). The monument includes Evans's motto 'I desire to deserve'.

This photograph will be replaced if better access to the memorial can be gained.

Further References / Links:

Joan Evans, Time and Chance: The Story of Arthur Evans and His Forebears (1943)

Joan Evans, Prelude and Fugue (1964)

Joan Evans, The Endless Web; John Dickinson and Co. Ltd., 1804-1954 (1955)

John Evans's archive holds both family letters and diaries

The Apsley Paper Trail has details of Evans's paper manufacturing interests