English naturalist and civil servant in Borneo. Alfred Everett worked for the government in Sarawak from 1871 until 1890. A collection of 1,200 botanical specimens he gathered in Borneo is now in the herbarium of the Natural History Museum in London (BM). He also collected birds, insects and animals, chiefly on behalf of Walter Rothschild.
Alfred Hart Everett was born on Norfolk Island in the Pacific, where his father managed a penal colony, but the family sailed to England in 1851 and Everett received his education there. He went to Sarawak in 1869 for the purpose of making natural history collections, but entered government service two years later to support himself, occupying positions as Assistant Resident of Rejang and Resident of the Baram district. He took up exploration again in 1875, though ill health curtailed his activities in 1877. In 1878-1879 he was engaged by the Royal Society and the British Association to explore the caves of Borneo in search of the remains of ancient man (a mostly unsuccessful mission). Everett later served in North Borneo in the administration of the British North Borneo Company until 1883 and from 1885 as Rajah's Consul in the Court of the Sultan of Brunei, at the same time being Resident of Trusan. At the time of his retirement he was Hon'ble of the 4th Division.
In the years prior to his retirement from government service, Everett had resumed his collecting, and continued until about 1896. His mosses were described by V.F. Brotherus and by H.N. Dixon. Everett published papers in the Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, including a "List of the Birds of the Bornean group of Islands" (vol. 20, 1889). He was made a member of the British Ornithologists' Union in 1891. He died in London in 1898.
Sources:
Anon., 1898, "Death of Mr Alfred Hart Everett", The Sarawak Gazette, 29: 136-137
G. Sayre, 1975, "Cryptogamae Exsiccatae: an annotated bibliography of exsiccatae of algae, lichens, hepaticae, and musci. V. Unpublished Exsiccatae: I. Collectors", Memoirs of the New York Botanical Garden, 19(3): 318-319
M.J. van Steenis Kruseman, "Cyclopedia of Collectors", Flora Malesiana, online edn:
http://www.nationaalherbarium.nl/FMCollectors/E/EverettAH.htm, accessed 8 November 2011.
