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Ivor Hugh Norman Evans (1886–1957) was a British anthropologist, ethnographer and archaeologist who spent most of his working life in peninsular British Malaya (now Malaysia) and in North Borneo (now Sabah, Malaysia).
Ivor Hugh Norman Evans (1886–1957) was a British anthropologist, ethnographer and archaeologist who spent most of his working life in peninsular British Malaya (now Malaysia) and in North Borneo (now Sabah, Malaysia).
Evans was educated at Charterhouse School and at Clare College, University of Cambridge, during which time he studied under Alfred Haddon. In 1910–11 he briefly served as a colonial administrator, as cadet district officer for the North Borneo Chartered Company, which administrated the independent state and British protectorate of North Borneo. He was based in the Tempasuk and Tuaran Districts.
Evans spent much of his career on peninsular Malaya from 1912 until 1932 at the Perak State Museum in Taiping, the first museum in Malaysia. He was appointed Curator there in 1917 and also worked as an ethnographer and archaeologist.
Evans took early retirement in 1932 and returned to England, settling at Oulton Broad in Suffolk. He remained there until 1938. However, he missed the East and decided to return to Borneo, where he was to spend the rest of his life. He carried out ethnographic research on the religious beliefs, practices and folklore of the Dusuns of the Kota Belud area.
During the Japanese occupation of Borneo in World War II, Evans was held as a civilian internee at Batu Lintang camp at Kuching in Sarawak. He died in Labuan on 3 May 1957.
A collection of Evans' material, including diaries and photographs taken on peninsular Malaya and in Borneo are held at the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge (reference GB-1638-MS. Collections, BA5/9/1-7)
Evans left a bequest to Cambridge University which led to the creation of the Evans Research Fellowship and the Evans Fund, to promote anthropological and archaeological research in South East Asia.[1]
