In the lead-up to the Second World War, he travelled across London to find suitable locations to which the Office's documents could be evacuated.
He served in both posts until 1954, when he was appointed Deputy Keeper – the professional head of the Public Record Office.
[2] He retired the following year, but continued to serve as a member of the Advisory Council on Public Records until 1965 and as a Commissioner of the Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts until 1980.
[1] In the words of The Times, "he was a records man of the old school who saw it as his job to make documents readily available to scholars, at whose disposal he also placed his own expertise".
[2] Evans was a Fellow and Vice-President (1956–60) of the Royal Historical Society, an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (1947) and a Knight Bachelor (1958).