5023

Captain Edward Ratcliffe Evans 1920

Half-length slightly to the left, looking full face to the viewer, wearing naval uniform with decorations and holding a pair of binoculars in his right hand, against a darkened sky

Oil on canvas, 78.5 x 63.5cm (31 x 25 in.)

Inscribed lower right: de László / London 1920. may. [incised into paint]

Laib L9585 (140) / C8 (18)

NPG 1917-21 Album, p. 113

Sitters’ Book II, f. 14: Edward R.G.R. Evans. May 6th/20

Naval Club, Valparaíso, Chile

This portrait was commissioned by the Chilean Navy in 1920 to mark the return of the ship 'Uribi' to the Chilean Navy after the First World War.  This Flotilla leader had been commandeered by the British Admiralty whilst being built in 1914. It was renamed HMS Broke and saw service at the Battle of Jutland and with the Dover Patrol.  In April 1917, under the sitter's command, she rammed and sank the German destroyer G42. The portrait was presented to the Naval Club in Valparaiso, by Sr. Agustín Edwards, the Chilean Ambassador to the Court of St. James [5142]; he and his wife [5137] & [5139] were also painted by de László.

De László portrayed Captain Evans as a man of action against a stormy background, binoculars in hand, looking back to the long tradition of naval portraiture. Three years later, the artist would represent Vice Admiral Sir Roger Keyes in a very similar pose [5990].

Edward Ratcliffe Garth Russell Evans was born on 28 October 1880 in Marylebone, London, the son of Frank Evans, Barrister-at-Law. He was educated at the Merchant Taylor’s School and HMS Worcester, the Mercantile Marine Training Ship at Greenhithe. In 1897 he entered the Royal Navy as Naval Cadet.  From 1902 to 1904 he served as Second Officer and navigator in the National Antarctic Expedition’s Relief Ship, the ex-Norwegian whaler, s.v.^[1] Morning, serving Captain Scott’s first Antarctic expedition in the Royal Research Ship (RRS) Discovery. From 1910 to 1913 he was second-in-command of the British Antarctic Expedition, Scott’s second expedition, in the Terra Nova. He returned, in command of the expedition, after Scott’s death in 1913.

During the First World War he served with the Dover Patrol in command of destroyers, for which he had an exceptional talent. In HMS Viking in March 1915, he ‘earned Their Lordships’ full approval’ for his part in the destruction of the German submarine U8, and in HMS Broke he gained immediate promotion to Captain and the award of the Distinguished Service Order.^[2] In 1919 he was Senior Naval Officer at Ostend, with responsibility for mine clearance and port reconstruction at Ostend and Zeebrugge.

Between 1920 and 1922 he commanded HMS Carlisle and from 1926 to 1927 the battle cruiser HMS Repulse.  He was appointed Naval A.D.C. to King George V in 1928 in which year he was also promoted to Rear-Admiral. From 1929 to 1931 he was Rear-Admiral Commanding the Australian Squadron. In 1932 he became Vice-Admiral. He was Commander in Chief at the Africa Station from 1933-35 during which time he was also Acting High Commissioner for South Africa. He was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in 1935. The following year he was made Admiral. From 1936 to 1942 he was Rector of Aberdeen University where he was made Doctor of Law.

He was created 1st Baron Mountevans of Chelsea on 12 November 1945 for services as naval commander and Antarctic explorer. A member or honorary member of many Geographical Societies, he was awarded several medals, including the Lloyds Gold Medal and the Board of Trade Silver Medal for Gallantry at Sea. Many orders and decorations were bestowed on him, including the Legion of Honour and Cross of War, the Order of Leopold of Belgium and the Order of Tower and Sword, Portugal, 2nd class.

On 13 April 1904 he married Hilda Beatrice Russell, daughter of Thomas Gregory Russell, of New Zealand. She died in 1913 and he married secondly, on 22 January 1916, Elsa Andvord, only daughter of Richard Andvord of Christiana (now Oslo), Norway; they had two sons, Richard (born 1918) and Edward (born 1924).

Admiral Lord Mountevans wrote several books about Antarctica: South with Scott, 1920; British Polar Explorers, 1944; Adventurous Life, 1946 and The Desolate Antarctic, 1950. He died on 20 August 1957 aged seventy-five, while on holiday in Norway, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Richard Andvord Evans as 2nd Baron Mountevans.

PROVENANCE:

Presented to the Chilean Navy, by HE Sr. Agustín Edwards, the Chilean Minister Plenipotentiary to the Court of St James’s 

LITERATURE:

•Evans, Edward R. G. R., South with Scott, W. Collins & Co., London, 1921, ill.

With our thanks to Iain MacKenzie, Curatorial Officer, Admiralty Library, Naval Historical Branch (Naval Staff), Portsmouth for his assistance with the biography, and to Vice Admiral Sir Nicholas Hill-Norton KCB for this introduction.

SMdeL 2011