Evans, J Margaret., 1916-2001

The younger daughter of a Yorkshire pharmacist, Fred and Elizabeth Hadfield, J (as she chose to be called) was born at Cowlersley in Huddersfield on 19 September 1916. She was educated at Royds Hall School, Huddersfield (1927-1935), where she was Head Girl in 1935. She gained an Open Scholarship to Newnham, Cambridge to read Natural Sciences and took her BA in 1938 with a first class in Part II Botany, and also played hockey, netball and cricket for the University. After graduating J moved back to Yorkshire and was appointed Head of the Biology Department at Wheelwright Grammar School, Dewsbury (1938-1942).

In 1940 J married Dr. George Clifford Evans (1913-2006), Lecturer in Botany and Fellow of St. John's College, and in 1942 she returned to Cambridge to work as a Demonstrator at Cambridge University Botany School, remaining there until 1954. During this time she also supervised and examined for Newnham, Girton, and New Hall, and was a Higher School Certificate examiner at the University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate.

JME became a member of the Dining Group in 1952 and held the office of Secretary in 1953, and Steward from 1956 until 1958. She was a Founding Fellow of the College and became the first Junior Bursar, overseeing the renovation and move into first 20 Silver Street, the College's first residence in 1965, and then 16-18 Northampton Street in 1966. In 1970 she suffered a severe stroke and resigned from the Junior Bursarship. However, she continued to take a keen interest in the progess of the College, and retained her Fellowship until 1985 when she was elected an Emeritus Fellow.

From 1957 to 1970 JME served on the Council of Hughes Hall, which was then involved in preparing women graduates for careers in teaching, and was its Treasurer from 1957 until 1959.

She worked as a research assistant to her husband on plant growth and on the natural radiation climate, and she collaborated with her husband on work for The Quantitative Analysis of Plant Growth (1972). Although no longer active in the field and laboratory following her stroke, JME was in demand for opinions on manuscripts and in 1977-1979, she read and discussed with Oliver Rackham various stages of the manuscript of his standard published work Ancient Woodland: its history, vegetation and uses in England (1980).

She died 26 December 2001 in Cambridge.

From the guide to the Papers of J Margaret Evans, 1934-2007, (University of Cambridge, Lucy Cavendish College)