EVANS, GEORGE SAMUEL (1800-68) was born at Streatley, Berkshire, the son of the rector, and the eldest of a very large family. (His parentage is not fully established, inasmuch as he was entered at Lincoln's Inn in 1832 as the son of George Evans, of Stepney, gentleman.) Educated at the Merchant Taylors' School in London, he is said to have proceeded to Cambridge and to have taken high honours there in Sanskrit with a view to practising in India. He had a good knowledge of Latin and Greek. The next record is his appointment as headmaster of Mill Hill School, London (where he is recorded as an M.A. of Glasgow University and as having been ordained a minister in 1827-28). On leaving Mill Hill he entered at Lincoln's Inn (1832). He was called to the bar in 1837 and had a fair practice on the western circuit and at Bristol.

Evans was already interested in the New Zealand Association, and shared with E. G. Wakefield the expense of trying to get an empowering bill passed. He also gave hospitality to Te Aki (Jackey), the Maori youth whom Wakefield had befriended, and learned something of Maori from him. When Wakefield went to Canada with Durham, Evans took up the running. He was one of the deputation of three that waited on Dandeson Coates, and was told quite bluntly that, however respectable the New Zealand Association might be, the C.M.S. would resist the colonisation of New Zealand on any plan whatever. Evans was designated as judge for the New Zealand Company's first settlement and he sailed for New Zealand with his family in the Adelaide. The voyage was marked by bitter quarrels amongst the cabin passengers, culminating in an unnecessary call at Capetown to enable a series of duels to be fought. The disputants were bound over to keep the peace and the voyage was continued. Evans's part in the trouble was not a promising prelude to his duties as a judge in a new community. When the Adelaide arrived at Port Nicholson (7 Mar 1840) the town of Britannia was being laid out by the surveyors near Petone and Colonel Wakefield was absent in the north. It was already clear that the site chosen was not the best, and Evans took the lead in attempting to get the decision altered. Heated meetings of land purchasers were held and it was eventually decided to abandon Britannia and establish the town at Lambton.

Though he was not destined to be a judge, Evans occupied a semi-official commission as advocate for the Company and for the interests of the settlers. Under the provisional constitution, which the settlers agreed to before they left England, Wakefield was president of the council or committee through which they agreed to govern themselves, and Evans was the 'umpire,' whose function was that of dispensing law. Governor Hobson declared this constitution illegal, but the directors in England had already abandoned it. Nevertheless there was much that Evans was called upon to do for the settlers for which he was specially qualified. At a public meeting in Wellington on 1 Jul 1840, after British sovereignty was established throughout the North Island, he moved the address of loyalty to the Crown and advocated the claims of Wellington to be the capital. In Aug he was appointed (with Hanson and Moreing) to proceed to Sydney to lay before the Government of the Mother Country the claims of the New Zealand Company and its settlers, which were threatened by the land claims bill then before the Legislative Council. In the following year he led a deputation for a charter of incorporation. At the first court of quarter sessions in Wellington he voluntarily defended a Maori charged with theft. First he pleaded that the treaty of Waitangi, in which he did not believe, reserved to the chiefs the function of judging the offences of their own people. Then he claimed that half of the jury should be natives. In both demands he failed, but he got the native off with a week's imprisonment, whereas a European charged at the same sitting with a similar offence got three months. Evans represented the Company before the court of land claims, but withdrew owing to the hostility of the crown prosecutor. Later in 1842 he agreed to defend Rangihaeata on a charge of illegally burning buildings at Porirua. The Chief Justice discreetly declined to issue the warrant for his arrest.

When the news arrived of the affray at Wairau (Jun 1843) Evans, who was now on the commission of the peace, proceeded with his fellow magistrates to Cloudy Bay to take the depositions; and after attending public meetings in Port Nicholson proceeded to Auckland to lay before the acting-governor the whole of the circumstances. Evans returned to England shortly after this and spent some years there, writing for the press, doing a little legal work, renewing his acquaintance with Brougham and Dr Black, and demanding the recall of Governor FitzRoy.

In 1852 he again came to New Zealand in the Stag, but left a few months later for Victoria, where he was admitted to the bar in 1853 and was just in time to take part in the campaign for representative government. From 1855 to 1858 he edited the Herald and in 1856 he was member for Richmond in the first Legislative Council. He was Postmaster-General in the O'Shanassy Government (1856-59) and held the portfolio of Lands when Sir Gavan Duffy retired (Mar 1859). Defeated on seeking re-election with this portfolio, he was elected for Avoca. He was defeated at the election (1861) for Richmond, but was elected for Marlborough and in the third O'Shanassy Government (1861-63) he was again Postmaster-General. At the election in 1864 he failed to gain a seat and applied unsuccessfully for the pension granted to ex-ministers. While in Melbourne Evans contributed much to the press. He came back to New Zealand in ill-health in 1865 and died on 23 Sep 1868. Evans's first wife having died, he married Harriet Strother, widow of D. Riddiford. She died on 31 Mar 1866.

G.B.O.P., 1838/680, 1845/378; N.Z.P.D., 23 Sep 1868; N.Z.C.; Ward; Wakefield; Wakelin; Mennell; Wellington Independent, 24 Sep 1868; Melbourne Herald, 12 Oct 1908; Evening Post, 16 Jul 1927, 9 Sep 1929 (p).

EVANS, KATE MILLIGAN (1857-1935) was the daughter of the Rev Samuel Edger (q.v.) and came to New Zealand with her parents to the Albertland settlement (1862). Taking advantage of facilities offered by the headmaster of the Auckland Boys' College and Grammar School, she graduated B.A. in 1877 (the first woman in the British Empire to take that degree).

Being appointed to the staff of the Girls' High School in Christchurch, she proceeded to her M.A. at Canterbury College (1881), and two years later was appointed first principal of the Nelson Girls' College, which post she resigned shortly after her marriage to the Rev W. A. Evans (1890). She continued to coach students and for a while had a private school in Wellington. She was prominent in the Forward Movement, the Women's Christian Temperance Union (of which she was Dominion recording secretary 1913-28) and the League of Nations Union (some years Dominion secretary). Mrs Evans was also for a while editor of the White Ribbon. She died on 11 May 1935. With her sister (Lilian Edger) she edited two volumes of her father's works.

Who's Who N.Z., 1932; Brett, Albertlanders; Hight and Candy (p); N.Z. Herald, 28 Aug 1884; The Dominion, May 1935 (p), 19 Jul 1938.

Reference: Volume 1, page 134

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