Lewis Evans (collector)
Lewis Evans was an English businessman and scientific instrument collector.
He was the son of Sir John Evans, an archaeologist, and younger brother of the more famous archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans who excavated Knossos in Crete. He studied chemistry at University College London and became a businessman. During his career, he rose to Chairman of the family paper-making firm John Dickinson & Co. Ltd and lived at Russels, a country house near the company's paper mill, close to Watford.
Over the course of about fifty years, Evans also built up an important collection of scientific instruments. In 1924, he presented this collection of sundials, astrolabes, early mathematical instruments and associated library of early books to Oxford University. The Lewis Evans Collection was made accessible to the public in the same year and he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Science degree by the University in 1925.
Through the efforts of his friend Robert Gunther, Evans donation helped in the founding of the Museum of the History of Science, Oxford in 1930 by providing what became known as the Lewis Evans Collection of Historic Scientific Instruments, the core of the museum's initial collection. His library is also owned by the museum.
