Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A most unusual O.B.E., M.C., K.P.M. group of ten awarded to Brigadier G. E. T. H. Evans who, following gallant service in the Royal Fusiliers in France in the Great War, rose to senior rank in the Indian Police, served as a Principal Officer of the Control Commission for Germany 1947-52 and finally as a Brigadier and Public Safety Adviser to the G.O.C., Egypt 1952-55: recalled at the time of the Suez Crisis, he was landed at Port Said as a Civil Affairs Officer on General Sir Hugh Stockwell’s Staff - and went on to add a “mention” to his earlier accolades

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, O.B.E. (Civil) Officer’s 2nd type breast badge; Military Cross, G.V.R., the reverse privately engraved, ‘Lieut. G. E. T. H. Evans’; King’s Police Medal, G.VI.R., 1st issue (G. E. T. H. Evans, M.C., A.I.G. of Police, Bengal); British War and Victory Medals (Lieut.); General Service 1918-62, 1 clasp, Near East, M.I.D. oak leaf (Brig., O.B.E., M.C., Staff); Jubilee 1935; Coronation 1937; Coronation 1953; Efficiency Medal, G.V.R., India (Tpr., N. Bengal M. Rif., A.F.I.), the Great War campaign issues a little polished, otherwise generally good very fine (10) £1200-1500

O.B.E. London Gazette 1 January 1946. The original recommendation states:

‘Mr. Evans joined the Indian Police in 1921 after four years service in the British Army during which he was awarded the M.C. In the course of his service in Bengal he held with distinction the posts of Superintendent of Police in the difficult districts of Midnapore and Chittagong. His consistently good work both in the districts and as Assistant Inspector-General of Police earned him the K.P.M. in 1942. After the outbreak of war with Japan he was appointed a Special Officer in the Inspector-General’s Office for dealing with the very large number of new problems arising from war conditions. In this post the responsibility fell to him to work out in full detail schemes for which there was no guide in regulation or precedent. His great vitality, power of application, and strong grasp of administrative principles have been invaluable to the police administration of the Province.’

M.C. London Gazette 8 March 1919.

K.P.M. London Gazette 1 January 1942. The original recommendation states:

‘Mr. Evans joined the Indian Police in 1921 after a distinguished period of service in the last war during which he earned the M.C. After the usual periods of service as an Assistant Superintendent of Police, he commenced to act as a Superintendent of Police in 1927, and was confirmed in this rank in 1931. He soon earned the reputation of being well suited for “tough” districts and was posted to Midnapore in the troubled times of 1932 to 1934. Five days after he joined, Mr. Douglas, the District Magistrate, was assassinated and Mr. Evans took up the investigation of this case and controlled it through all its stages, the case ending in the death sentence on the arrested assailant.

Towards the end of the next year, Mr. Burge was murdered in the same district on the football field. At this time his Deputy Inspector-General wrote that Mr. Evans had a very good idea of the Jugantar Party operating in Midnapore District but was badly served by his sources. It must be borne in mind that at this time with the third assassination of a District Magistrate sources were very chary of coming forward with any information at all and at that time the Intelligence Branch staff in the district was not as large as it might have been. Before the end of the day on which the murder took place, Mr. Evans had arrested 50 of the most important members of the party and when the Inspector-General and the Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Intelligence Branch, looked into the matter the next day they were very impressed with Mr. Evans’ local knowledge. In the course of the next few weeks, though extremely busy with tightening up protective measures, with the introduction of the identity card system and curfew orders in Midnapore, and with recruiting an additional town police force, he threw himself heart and soul into the investigation of this case.


The Legal Remembrancer and the Special Prosecuting Officer selected for this case pointed out certain weaknesses in the case and the Deputy Inspector-General of Police of the Range subjected the investigation to a very severe criticism knowing that if the case failed valuable ground would be lost in Midnapore. Men of less tenacity might have thought that since the superior officers and the law officers were not entirely sanguine as to the successful prosecution of this case, the case might be abandoned. Mr. Evans, however, was only spurred to further efforts and was untiring in his advocacy of a charge sheet. Finally, sanction to prosecute 13 persons was given. Even here the trouble did not cease because the public witnesses were in terror of their lives and it needed all the personal tact and precaution that Mr. Evans could give to pilot this case successfully through two Special Tribunals.

Shortly afterwards, he was transferred to the Calcutta Police where he served in the Port Police, in the North District and in charge of the Detective Department, where he showed marked ability. After a spell of leave he was posted in 1938 as a Superintendent of Police, Chittagong, another “troubled” district, where his work was of a very high order. Prior to his posting in this district there had been a tendency on the part of his predecessors to regard touring as impracticable because the District Intelligence Branch work at H.Q. and in the office was considered so important and partly because of the disturbed state of the district. Mr. Evans at once remedied this and toured through all parts of the district, visiting in person every police station. He infused confidence in his men and cleared up a number of difficult problems which had arisen as a result of the disturbed conditions prevailing in that district in 1931.

In April 1940, he was selected to fill a vacancy which had suddenly arisen on the staff of the Inspector-General for an Assistant Inspector-General, and despite the heavy work of the branch to which he was posted and the many new problems arising out of the War and the Defence of India Act, he set to so indefatigably and was so thorough and so sound in his work that his Inspector-General experienced no material inconvenience or delay from his change of staff officers in the middle of the war period. Since then he has been of great assistance in the preparation of further schemes in connection with Air Raid Precautions and the War generally. Mr. Evans is a courageous officer, full of sound common sense and extremely loyal to his superior officers and to the Service to which he belongs.’

Mention in despatches London Gazette 13 June 1957: ‘In recognition of services in operations in the Near East, October-December 1956.’

George Emlyn Thomas Hulse Evans, who was born in October 1898 and educated at Christ’s Hospital, enlisted in the 28th Battalion, London Regiment (Artists’ Rifles) in October 1916 and was commissioned into the 6th (Reserve) Battalion, Royal Fusilers in April 1917. Subsequently posted to the 11th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers out in France in April 1918, he served with distinction and was awarded the M.C.

Demobilised in the rank of Captain in March 1920, following service in the Army on the Rhine, he embarked on his career in the Indian Police 1921-45, the above quoted recommendations providing a detailed summary, although it is worth mentioning that his final appointment as a Deputy Inspector-General in East Bengal entailed command of some 6000 men. Certainly, too, that he had a reputation for being a ‘strong and courageous officer’, assets he was undoubtedly compelled to call upon at an alarming rate, given the succession of “tough” districts allotted him.

During the course of his next appointment as a Principal Officer of the Control Commission for Germany 1947-52, which post held the equivalent military rank of Colonel, he served in the “American Zone” in Bavaria, reporting on the political and economic situation to the Foreign Office and to the German Administration, and latterly was based in Munich as a British Land Observer. Then in 1952 he was appointed Public Safety Adviser to the G.O.C., British Troops in Egypt, with the rank of Brigadier, a post that required him to establish a British Police Force in the Canal Zone, which task accomplished by 1955, he became a Liaison Officer for the Colonial Office, in connection with the secondment of British police officers to the Cyprus Police.

Finally, in 1956, he was employed by the War Department as Senior Civil Affairs Officer during the Suez Crisis - he was landed at Port Said that November with the advance H.Q. and remained until the withdrawal, work that resulted in him being mentioned in despatches by General Sir Hugh Stockwell. Evans retired to Suffolk, where he died, aged 61 years, in May 1961.