Admiral Edward Ratcliffe Garth Russell Evans, 1st Baron Mountevans, KCB, DSO, SGM (28 October 1880 – 20 August 1957) was a Royal Navy officer and Antarctic explorer.

After four years at the Nore, Evans handed over command in early 1939, and was appointed Civil Defence Commissioner for London during the preparations for the Second World War; after the German invasion of Norway he travelled there to liaise with King Haakon VII, a personal acquaintance.

He remained in a civil defence role throughout the War, though he had officially retired from the Navy in 1941, and was raised to the peerage in 1945, sitting in the House of Lords as a Labour member.

[2] Frank Evans, a young barrister at Lincoln's Inn, hailed from a large Lancashire family of Welsh descent; his father had been a provision merchant in Oldham.

He later attended a school in Maida Vale where he obtained high marks but slipped back into his old misbehaviour; the headmaster responded by making him a prefect, which shocked Evans into self-discipline.

[5] Evans sought a career at sea, and while at school had tried, but failed, to obtain a cadetship with the Royal Navy training ship HMS Britannia.

[8] The Morning sailed from London in July 1902, and after a severe storm and a refit in Christchurch, New Zealand, headed for the Antarctic on 6 December to search for the expedition in their winter quarters, somewhere in the Ross Sea.

Several crew were exchanged, including Shackleton, who was considered not healthy enough to remain for the winter, though personal conflicts with Scott may have played a part in the decision.

Once back in New Zealand, Evans applied for a temporary posting to HMS Phoebe stationed in the country, while the Morning was refitted for another relief voyage, this time organised by the Admiralty rather than the Royal Geographical Society.

Evans was given charge of a party of men laying explosives to blast a channel through eight miles of ice, which they achieved in eleven days, bringing the Discovery out just before a heavy gale struck.

They arrived back in England in October, where Evans was awarded the Bronze Polar Medal and rejoined the navy, specialising as a navigation officer.

In 1907 he briefly considered applying to join Shackleton's Antarctic expedition, but decided instead that it was important to spend more time in his naval career, to avoid limiting his future prospects.

[15] In 1909, Evans finally succumbed to the lure of the Antarctic, and announced – with Markham's blessing – that he would organise an expedition to explore King Edward VII Land.

[17] Scott later described Evans in his diary as carried by "boyish enthusiasms" and "well-meaning, but terribly slow to learn",[18] deeming that he was much more capable as a sailor than an explorer on land, and probably would never be suited to command his own expedition.

[21] Evans joined the main shore party, leaving the Terra Nova in the hands of Lieutenant Harry Pennell, and worked to establish a series of depots along the Great Ice Barrier for the use of the Polar expedition later in the year.

[23] In the event, the motor sledges failed to work as planned; the engines proved unreliable, frequently refusing to start until heated, or stopping after a short distance.

[25] On 20 December, the first supporting party turned back, leaving eight men to press onwards; Evans' team was reorganised comprising himself, Lieutenant Bowers, Lashly, and Petty Officer Crean.

Evans privately attributed this to his physical exhaustion – he and Lashly had pulled a loaded sledge for six hundred miles by this stage – and recorded his reactions stoically, though Bowers described him as "frightfully cut up".

[26] The groups parted emotionally on 4 January, and Evans, Lashly and Crean turned to head back, only 160 miles (260 km) from the Pole – Bowers had remained with the main party.

These signs rapidly multiplied, leaving him weakened and constantly in severe pain, and within a couple of weeks he had deteriorated to the point that he was being pulled on the sledge by Lashly and Crean.

[32] They were finally forced to halt by a blizzard on 17 February, thirty-five miles from the base camp at Hut Point, when it became clear that the two men would no longer be able to pull the sledge.

Lashly remained to look after Evans while Crean headed north; after walking for eighteen hours, he arrived at the hut where he met Atkinson with an assistant and a dog team.

[33] After meeting Amundsen, recently returned from the Pole, and being reunited with his wife, Evans headed back to England, where he spent the northern summer of 1912 recuperating and raising funds for the Expedition.

[34] Evans' wife, Hilda, became ill with peritonitis on board the Oranto on 14 April 1913 whilst on her way to England with her husband after his return from Scott's second and fateful expedition.

A memorial to Hilda Evans is to be found in Linwood Cemetery, Bromley, Christchurch, New Zealand at Block 46 Plot 205 – the Russell family grave.

He served as Commander-in-Chief, The Nore, an operational command position of the Royal Navy based at Chatham in Kent, from 1935 to 1939 and was promoted to admiral in July 1936.

On 4 March 1947 Mountevans was on board a Norwegian vessel, MV Bolivar, when it broke in two and was wrecked on the Kish Bank 13 kilometers from Dalkey Island.

He was made a Freeman of several municipalities: Calgary, Alberta, Canada (1914); Dover (1938); Chatham (1939); Kingston upon Thames (1945); the City of London (1945); and Chelsea (1945).