Geoffrey Evans (botanist)

Sir Geoffrey Evans CIE (1883–1963) was a botanist who was Economic Botanist and acting Director at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

Early life

Evans was born in Walmersley, near Bury, Lancashire, England, on 26 June 1883.[1] He was educated in Bury, and at Downing College, Cambridge, where he received a Diploma in Agriculture in 1905.[2]

Career

After working at the Agricultural Department of the University of Cambridge,[3] he was in the Indian Agricultural Service from 1906 to 1923.[1][2] From 1927 to 1938 he was Principal of the Imperial College of Tropical Agriculture in Trinidad,[3] and worked from there in Australia, Fiji and New Guinea.[2]

Evans was a Member of the British Guiana Refugee Commission,[2] a Member of the Commission on Higher Education in West Africa from 1942 to 1943[4][5] and Chairman of the Commission for Settlement in British Guiana and British Honduras.[2]

In 1938 Evans joined the staff of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew,[6] where he was Economic Botanist (1938–1954) and, from 1941 to 1943, acting Director.[1][2][7] He can be seen in the short colour film World Garden by cinematographer Geoffrey Unsworth in 1942.[8]

Death and legacy

He died at Mayfield, Sussex, on 16 August 1963.[1] His papers, covering the period 1906 to 1955, are held at the Bodleian Library in Oxford.[2] A portrait of Evans by Walter Stoneman, made in 1948, is held at the National Portrait Gallery, London.[9]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Ray Desmond (1994). Dictionary of British and Irish Botantists and Horticulturalists. Taylor & Francis. p. 235. ISBN 0-85066-843-3.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g "Papers of Sir Geoffrey Evans". Bodleian Archives & Manuscripts. Retrieved 11 November 2020.
  3. ^ a b "Sir Geoffrey Evans, C.I.E". Nature. 563–563 (142): 563. 24 September 1938. Bibcode:1938Natur.142S.563.. doi:10.1038/142563c0.
  4. ^ "Sir Geoffrey Evans". Kew Guild. 6 (50): 219. 1943. Archived from the original on 3 February 2014. Retrieved 25 January 2014.
  5. ^ Bhekithemba Richard Mngomezulu (2012). Politics and Higher Education in East Africa from the 1920s to 1970. Bloemfontein: SUN MeDIA Bloemfontein. p. 59. ISBN 978-1-920382-11-7.
  6. ^ "Kew Staff List". Kew Guild. 6 (50): 219. 31 December 1943. Archived from the original on 3 February 2014. Retrieved 25 January 2014.
  7. ^ Ray Desmond (1995). Kew: The History of the Royal Botanic Gardens. The Harvill Press. p. 323. ISBN 1-86046-529-3. Retrieved 25 January 2014.
  8. ^ "World Garden". British Council Film Collection. The British Council. Retrieved 24 January 2014.
  9. ^ "Sir Geoffrey Evans". Collections. National Portrait Gallery, London. Retrieved 25 January 2014.