Arthur Evans

Arthur Evans was born in Nash Mills, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England, the first child of John Evans (1823–1908) and Harriet Ann Dickinson (born 1824), the daughter of John's employer, John Dickinson (1782–1869), the inventor and founder of Messrs John Dickinson, a paper mill.

John Evans came from a family of men who were both educated and intellectually active but undistinguished by either wealth or aristocratic connection.

His father, Arthur Benoni Evans, Arthur's grandfather, had been headmaster of Dixie Grammar School at Market Bosworth, Leicestershire.

John knew Latin and could quote the classical authors.

In 1840, instead of going to college, John started work in the mill owned by his maternal uncle, John Dickinson.

He married his first cousin, Harriet, in 1850, which entitled him, in 1851, to a junior partnership in the family business.

Profits from the mill would help fund Arthur's excavations, restorations at Knossos, and resulting publications.

For the time being they were an unpretentious and affectionate family.

They moved into a brick terraced house built for the purpose near the mill, which came to be called the "red house" because it lacked the sooty patina of the other houses.

Harriet called her husband "Jack."

Grandmother Evans called Arthur "darling Trot," asserting in a note that, compared to his father, he was "a bit of a dunce."

Sir Arthur John Evans (8 July 1851 – 11 July 1941) was a British archaeologist and pioneer in the study of Aegean civilization in the Bronze Age.

He is most famous for unearthing the Minoan palace of Knossos on the Greek island of Crete.

Based on the structures and artifacts found there and throughout the eastern Mediterranean, Evans found that he needed to distinguish the Minoan civilisation from Mycenaean Greece.

Evans was also the first to define the Cretan scripts Linear A and Linear B, as well as an earlier pictographic writing.

He had two brothers, Lewis (1853) and Philip Norman (1854), and two sisters, Harriet (1857) and Alice (1858).

He would remain on excellent terms with all of them all of his life.

He was raised by a stepmother, Fanny (Frances), née Phelps, with whom he also got along very well.

She had no children of her own and also predeceased her husband.

John's third wife was a classical scholar, Maria Millington Lathbury.

When he was 70 they had a daughter, Joan, who would become an art historian.

In 1856, with Harriet's declining health and Jack's growing reputation and prosperity, they moved into Harriet's childhood home, a mansion with a garden, where the children ran free.

John Evans maintained his status as an officer in the company, which eventually became John Dickinson Stationery, but also became distinguished for his pursuits in numismatics, geology and archaeology.

His interest in geology came from an assignment by the company to study the diminishing water resources in the area with a view toward protecting the company from lawsuits.

The mill consumed large amounts of water, which was also needed for the canals.

He became an expert and a legal consultant.

John became a distinguished antiquary, publishing numerous books and articles.

Arthur's mother, Harriet, died after childbirth in 1858 when Arthur was seven.

In 1859 he conducted a geological survey of the Somme Valley with Joseph Prestwich.

His connections and invaluable advice were indispensable to Arthur's career throughout the remainder of his long life.

After a preparatory school, he entered Harrow School in 1865 at age 14.

He was co-editor of The Harrovian in his final year, 1869/70.

At Harrow he was friends with Francis Maitland Balfour.

They competed for the Natural History Prize; the outcome was a draw.

They were both highly athletic, including riding and swimming, and also mountain-climbing, at which Balfour was killed later in life.

Evans was near-sighted, but refused to wear glasses.

His close-up vision was better than normal, enabling him to see detail missed by others.

Farther away his field of vision was blurry and he compensated by carrying a cane, which he called Prodger, to explore the environment.

John died in 1908 at 85, when Arthur was 57.

His close support and assistance had been indispensable in excavating and conceptualising Minoan civilisation.