Thomas Evans was born on 23 May 1891 at Stratford, East London, the son of BT Evans of Ipswich, Suffok and the husband of Mabel Evans (née Caton).  

He joined the Royal Navy in May 1909 at Chatham and served in the battlecruiser HMS INDOMITABLE, the battleship HMS IMPLACABLE and the cruiser HMS AEOLUS, where he served 21 days’ detention for insubordination, before entering the submarine service in May 1914.

Whilst HMS H12 was on surface passage between the Codling Light Vessel and Kingstown, she encountered a group of ships comprising the cruiser HMS HYDERABAD and the trawlers Harry, Leonard, Bracondene and Trojan.  HMS HYDERABAD opened fire despite recognition signals fired from H12. H12 dived but was then depth charged.  On surfacing H12 was engaged by the trawlers during which Coxswain Evans, bringing signal grenades to the bridge, was hit by a shell from Bracondene which exploded in the conning tower.  The Commanding Officer of H12, Lt Fraser, and the lookout, AB Neate suffered superficial wounds in the incident.

The report into the incident by the Commanding Officer of HMS VULCAN tendered to the Commander-in-Chief Queenstown described Evans as “..a most excellent and valuable submarine coxswain.”

He is buried in Deansgrange Cemetery, Dublin and commemorated on the Ipswich War Memorial.