Ivor Hugh Norman Evans was a British anthropologist, ethnographer and archaeologist who spent most of his working life in peninsular British Malaya

British Malaya

British Malaya loosely described a set of states on the Malay Peninsula and the Island of Singapore that were brought under British control between the 18th and the 20th centuries...

 (now Malaysia) and in North Borneo

North Borneo

North Borneo was a British protectorate under the sovereign North Borneo Chartered Company from 1882 to 1946. After the war it became a crown colony of Great Britain from 1946 to 1963, known in this time as British North Borneo. It is located on the northeastern end of the island of Borneo. It is...

 (now Sabah

Sabah

Sabah is one of 13 member states of Malaysia. It is located on the northern portion of the island of Borneo. It is the second largest state in the country after Sarawak, which it borders on its southwest. It also shares a border with the province of East Kalimantan of Indonesia in the south...

, Malaysia).

Life

Evans was educated at Charterhouse School

Charterhouse School

Charterhouse School, originally The Hospital of King James and Thomas Sutton in Charterhouse, or more simply Charterhouse or House, is an English collegiate independent boarding school situated at Godalming in Surrey.Founded by Thomas Sutton in London in 1611 on the site of the old Carthusian...

 and at Clare College, University of Cambridge

University of Cambridge

The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...

, during which time he studied under Alfred Haddon

Alfred Cort Haddon

Alfred Cort Haddon, Sc.D., FRS, FRGS was an influential British anthropologist and ethnologist.Initially a biologist, who achieved his most notable fieldwork, with W.H.R. Rivers, C.G. Seligman, Sidney Ray, Anthony Wilkin on the Torres Strait Islands...

. In 1910-11 he briefly served as a colonial administrator, as cadet district officer for the North Borneo Chartered Company

British North Borneo Company

The North Borneo Chartered Company or British North Borneo Company was a chartered company assigned to administer North Borneo in August 1881. North Borneo became a protectorate of the British Empire with internal affairs administered by the company until 1946 when it became the colony of British...

, which administrated the independent state and British protectorate

Protectorate

In history, the term protectorate has two different meanings. In its earliest inception, which has been adopted by modern international law, it is an autonomous territory that is protected diplomatically or militarily against third parties by a stronger state or entity...

 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

Taiping, Perak

Taiping is a town located in northern Perak, Malaysia. With a population of 191,104 , it is the second largest town in Perak after Ipoh, the state capital. Taiping took over Kuala Kangsar's role as the state capital from 1876 to 1937, but was then replaced by Ipoh...

, 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

Oulton Broad

Oulton Broad refers to both the lake and the suburb of Lowestoft in Suffolk, England located 2 miles west of the centre of the town.-Oulton Broad:...

 in Suffolk

Suffolk

Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...

. 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

Kota Belud

Kota Belud is a town located in West Coast Division, in the center of Sabah, east Malaysia on the island of Borneo. Its population was estimated to be around 72,337 in 2000, almost evenly divided between ethnic Dusun and Bajau with a sizeable proportion of Chinese ethnicity...

 area.

During the Japanese occupation of Borneo in World War II, Evans was held as a civilian internee at Batu Lintang camp

Batu Lintang camp

Batu Lintang camp at Kuching, Sarawak on the island of Borneo was a Japanese internment camp during the Second World War. It was unusual in that it housed both Allied prisoners of war and civilian internees...

 at Kuching in Sarawak. He died in Labuan

Labuan

Labuan is a federal territory in East Malaysia. It is an island off the coast of the state of Sabah. Labuan's capital is Victoria and is best known as an offshore financial centre offering international financial and business services via Labuan IBFC since 1990 as well as being an offshore support...

 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

Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge

The MAA : Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology at the University of Cambridge houses the University's collections of local antiquities, together with archaeological and ethnographic artefacts from around the world...

(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.

Books

• 1922 Among Primitive Peoples in Borneo: A Description of the Lives, Habits, and Customs of the Primitive Headhunters of North Borneo, with an Account of Interesting Objects of Prehistoric Antiquity Discovered in the Island London: Seeley, Service & Co. Limited
• 1923 Studies in Religion, Folk-Lore, and Custom in British North Borneo and the Malay Peninsula Cambridge: University Press
• 1927 Papers on the Ethnology and Archaeology of the Malay Peninsula Cambridge: University Press
• 1937 The Negritos of Malaya Cambridge: University Press
• 1953 The Religion of the Tempasuk Dusuns of North Borneo Cambridge: University Press

Articles

• 1912 "Notes on the Religious Beliefs, Superstitions, Ceremonies and Tabus of the Dusuns of the Tuaran and Tempassuk Districts, British North Borneo" The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland 42 (July - December 1912), 380-396
• 1913 "Folk Stories of the Tempassuk and Tuaran Districts, British North Borneo" The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland 43 (July - December 1913), 422-479
• 1917 "Malay back-slang" Journal of the Federated Malay States Museums (JFMSM) 7: 115-116
• 1917 "Notes on Some Beliefs and Customs of the 'Orang Dusun' of British North Borneo" The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland 47 (January - June 1917), 151-159
• 1918 "Preliminary Report on Cave Exploration near Lenggong, upper Perak" JFMSM 7, 227-234
• 1918 "The Raja and the Pauper: A Borneo Folk-Tale" Man 18, (January 1918), 8-9
• 1918 "A Brass Drum from Borneo" Man 18 (February 1918), 19-20
• 1918 "Some Sakai Beliefs and Customs" The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland 48 (July - December 1918), 179-197
• 1920 "Customs of the camphor-hunters" JFMSM 9, 53-58
• 1920 "Kempunan" Man 20 (May, 1920), 69-70
• 1921 "A Grave and Megaliths in Negeri Sembilan: an Account of Some Excavations" JFMSM 9
• 1922 "Further Notes on Negrito Beliefs and Customs" JFMSM 9
• 1922 "On an Examination of Negrito Combs from Perak" JFMSM 9
• 1922 "The Potting Industry at Kuala Tembeling" JFMSM 9, 259 – 261
• 1922 "A Rock-Shelter at Gunung Pondok" JFMSM 11
• 1923 "Some Beliefs of the Lenggong Negritos" JFMSM 12
• 1923 "Vaughan Stevens and the Patterns on Negrito Combs" JFMSM 12
• 1925 "An Ethnological Expedition to South Siam" JFMSM 12, 35-7
• 1925 "Further Notes on Pahang Negritos" JFMSM 12
• 1926 "Results of an Expedition to Kedah" JFMSM 12
• 1927 "Tukang Bola" JFMSM 12
• 1927 "Notes on the Remains of an Old Boat from Pontian, Pahang" JFMSM 12, 93-6
• 1927 "Further Notes on Lenggong Negritos" JFMSM 12
• 1927 "Negrito Cave Drawings at Lenggong, Upper Perak" JFMSM 12
• 1928 "On Ancient Remains from Kuala Selinsing, Perak" JFMSM 12(5)
• 1928 "Further Notes on Remains from Kuala Selinsing, Perak" JFMSM 12(5)
• 1928 "Further excavations at Gunung Pondok" JFMSM 12, 136-142
• 1928 "Report on cave excavations in Perak" JFMSM 12 (6), 145-60 (with Pieter V van Stein Callenfels)
• 1928 "Schebesta and the Negritos" Man 28
• 1928 "Stone Celts from Northern Burma" Man 28 (February 1928), 25-26
• 1929 "A Note on a Negrito Funeral" JFMSM 12
• 1929 "On slab-built graves in Perak" JFMSM 12, 111-120
• 1929 "Some Malay Pattern and Design" JFMSM 12, 163-167
• 1929 "A Further Note on the Kuala Selinsing Settlement" JFMSM, 12(7)
• 1929 "An Apology the Shade of Vaughan Stevens" JFMSM, 15
• 1929 "Gleanings from English Gypsies" Journal of Gypsy Lore Society New Series, 8(3), 140-142
• 1929 "Two Anglo-Romani songs" Journal of Gypsy Lore Society Third Series, 8(3), 142-143
• 1930 "Schebesta on the Sacerdo-Therapy of the Semangs" Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland 60, 115-125
• 1930 "Notes on Recent Finds at Kuala Selinsing" JFMSM, 15(1)
• 1930 "An Unusual Type of Stone Implement from British North Borneo" Man 30 (July 1930), 123-124
• 1930 "Notes on two types of stone implements from the Malay Peninsula" Man 30, 157-159
• 1931 "Excavations at Nyong, Tembeling River, Pahang" JFMSM, 15, 51-2
• 1931 "A further slab-built grave at Singkai, Perak" JFMSM 15, 63-4
• 1931 "On Some Pottery Objects from Surat" Journal of the Siam Society 24 (2), 207-209
• 1931 "Stone Objects from Surat, Peninsular Siam" Journal of the Siam Society 24 (2)
• 1932 "Excavations at Tanjong Rawa, Kuala Selinsing, Perak" JFMSM, 15(3), 79-133
• 1934 "Courtship, Marriage, and Divorce in Borneo" in Readings in the Family by Lee M. Brooks, Ernest R. Groves, and Benjamin R. Andrews Chicago: J.B. Lippincott Company
• 1955 "Bajau pottery" Sarawak Museum Journal 6 (5): 297–300