[1] Educated at The King's School, Ely, in 1907 he graduated with a degree in classics from Wadham College, Oxford.

In 1909, he took a job at the British Museum as an assistant to Aurel Stein, working with central Asian artefacts.

[2]: 331 Later in 1909, Evelyn-White took a post as a specialist in Greco-Roman antiquities on the annual expedition of the New York Metropolitan Museum to Egypt.

Initially, he signed up as an enlisted soldier in the 16th (Service) Battalion, Middlesex Regiment (Public Schools), but was invalidated out due to ill-health.

Evelyn-White made many translations of ancient Greek works, his most notable being those of Hesiod and the Homeric Hymns.