The School of
Historical Studies

Rupert H. Evans: Obituary

Rupert H. Evans, formerly Senior Lecturer in History, has died in his eighty-fourth year.   He was one of the last surviving teaching members of the University College Leicester, the original precursor of the present University of Leicester, and he has given considerable service to the Department, the University, and the intellectual life of the City.

Rupert Hambling Evans was born in Birmingham on 24 th November 1920 and was a Foundation Scholar at the King Edward VI High School.   In 1939 he entered St Johns College Oxford as an Exhibitioner and studied for the special war examinations, qualifying for the BA degree in 1941 before joining the services.   He served in the Royal Armoured Corps, seeing service in the Middle East and Italy, being demobilised in the rank of staff-captain.   Unlike many others in a similar situation he returned to college in order to complete his full degree, and was awarded a scholarship in a competition open to all members of the College.  

He was appointed by University College Leicester to an Assistant Lectureship in History at a time when students of the college were prepared for the external degrees of the University of London and when members of staff were expected to teach widely.   He was immediately thrown into the whole range of teaching of English History and European History from 1500.

He established himself from the outset as a thoroughly good teacher, clear-headed, patient and deeply conscientious.   An early assessment of his status and career stated that 'though his chief interest is in the field of English political history he turned readily and cheerfully to the study and teaching of European history as well when he came here, and he has in addition for a long time past borne the main responsibility for the teaching of the history of political thought.    He has devoted himself without stint to the Department and its students.'   He was a consistent and loyal servant of the Department, and played a prominent part in the Department and Faculty alike.   He served the Faculty as Senior Tutor and Chairman of the combined Studies Admission Panel, and was Dean of the Faculty of Arts from 1982 to 1985.

He was also prominent in maintaining links between the University and the intellectual life of the City, especially through the Leicestershire Archaeological Society.   He became a member of the Society in 1957, was elected to its committee in 1979, became its Chairman in 1983 and remained in that office till 2003 when he was appointed Vice-Chairman, an office he was still holding at the time of his death.   He was the Co-ordinator of the Historical Buildings Panel for Leicester and Leicestershire from 1982 till 2003, an office of which he was proud and whose duties he discharged conscientiously.

His referees at the time of his appointment expressed the hope that his potentialities as a scholar could be given some time in which they might develop.   Instead, he was given a heavy teaching load on his appointment, and thus had no initial opportunity of displaying his credentials and undoubted abilities as a scholar through any sustained period of academic research.   Nonetheless he came to be acknowledged as an expert on non-conformity in the Midlands and was in continual demand as a potential supervisor in this field.   He published frequently in the Transactions of the Leicestershire Archaeological Society and elsewhere, such as chapters in the Victorian County History for the City of Leicester and in the magnificent volume on Leicester prepared for the Leicester meeting of the British Association in 1972.   He was elected to a Fellowship in the Society of Antiquaries in 1980.  

His marriage to Dr Babette Roberts, also of the History Department, was one of the early high-points of the University College's social scene. There is a record on cine-film of that afternoon with the presence of many of the senior members of the University at this early stage in its history and its viewing is one of the joys of the University's afficianados.

Over the years he created close ties with generations of students who will remember him with a very deep affection and respect.   He was also a kind and considerate colleague, and more junior members of the Department of History will long remember advice and help willingly and selflessly offered by him.   His students and erstwhile colleagues will miss him deeply and condolences are wished to his widow and daughter, Katherine.