He attended St. Helen's Boys School from the age of six until he was thirteen, then enlisted in the Royal Navy in 1891, and in 1899 began service on HMS Majestic, where Scott was serving as a torpedo lieutenant.

Scott chose Evans as a member of his polar party, with Lieutenant Henry Robertson Bowers, Lawrence Oates, and Edward Adrian Wilson.

Scott described Evans as "a giant worker—he is responsible for every sledge, every sledge-fitting, tents, sleeping-bags, harness, and when one cannot recall a single expression of dissatisfaction with any one of these items, it shows what an invaluable assistant he has been".

As they descended the Beardmore Glacier, he is thought to have suffered a head injury in a fall into a crevasse on 4 February, sustaining a serious concussion which caused his condition to rapidly worsen.

It reads "To the Glory of God and in memory of Edgar Evans 1st Class Petty Officer, R.N., and a native of this Parish, who perished on 17 February 1912, when returning from the South Pole with the Southern Party of the British Antarctic Expedition under the command of Captain Robert Falcon Scott, C.V.O., R.N.

There is also a commemorative plaque on the Scott lighthouse memorial in Roath Park Lake in Cardiff, South Wales, which lists all of the crew members including Evans.

In the Central TV production The Last Place on Earth, Evans was played by Pat Roach, and in BBC Radio 4's The Worst Journey in the World by Huw Davies.