Evan Nepean Bt (1752 - 1822)

Born 9 Jul 1752 in Saltash, Cornwall, England

Descendants

Died 2 Oct 1822 at age 70 in Loders, Dorset, England, United Kingdom

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Biography

Evan Nepean Bt is Notable.

Sir Evan Nepean was born 19 July 1752 at St Stephens near Saltash, Cornwall. He was a member of the Privy Council, one time Governor of Bombay and a Fellow of the Royal Society. He died 2 Oct. 1822.

He was created Baronet Nepean of Bothenhampton, Dorset, 10 July 1802.

He was the 2nd son of Nicholas Nepean of Saltash, Cornwall, an innkeeper, and his second wife, Margaret, daughter of Evan Jones of Alltygadno, Glamorganshire.

Family

He married at the Garrison Church, Greenwich, on 6 June 1782, Margaret, da. of William Skinner, capt. in the army, by whom he had six sons and two daughters, including Sir Molyneux Hyde Nepean, 2nd Bt., and Maj.-Gen. William Nepean, whose daughter Anna Maria Nepean married General Sir William Parke.

Their youngest child, Rev. Canon Evan Nepean, became the Canon of Westminster and a Chaplain In Ordinary to Queen Victoria. His son Charles was a Middlesex county cricketer who also played football.

Other descendants of Nepean include actors Hugh Grant (born 1960) and Thomas Brodie-Sangster (born 1990), who by chance both appeared in the same film, Love Actually.^[1]

Career

He entered the Royal Navy as a clerk; he worked as naval purser in the 'Falcon', 'Bristol', 'Ocean', 'Achilles', 'Hero' and 'Foudroyant', 1776-80. During the American Revolutionary War, he served as secretary to Admiral Lord Molyneux Shuldham, first in Boston in 1776 and then at Plymouth in 1777–78, and as purser to Sir John Jervis, who was impressed by his ‘superior talent for business, unremitting diligence, and integrity’. He went on to become one of the most successful civil servants of his day.^[2]

Lord Shelburne appointed him under-secretary of state for Home affairs at the newly formed Home Office, where he managed the police department and remained 12 years, serving five Home secretaries, Apr. 1782 to July 1794.

He served as under-secretary of state for War with Henry Dundas for the new department of war and colonies, July 1794 to Mar. 1795; he was appointed secretary to the Board of Admiralty, Mar. 1795 to Jan. 1804; he entered Parliament as Member for Queenborough in 1796, where he remained to 1802; then he stood for Bridport where he remained until 1812. He served as chief secretary for Ireland, Jan. to Sept. 1804; he was appointed Privy Councillor 20 Jan. 1804; lord of Admiralty Sept. 1804 to Feb. 1806.

In 1812 he gave up Westminster to become governor of Bombay, leaving England before the dissolution and remaining in post in India until 1819.^[3]

He served as a naval officer in Grenada, Dominica and St. Vincent, Mar. 1783 to July 1792; clerk of the peace and chief clerk of the supreme court of Jamaica, 1792 to 1819.^[4]

He was Sheriff of Dorset 1822 to his death at his estate at Loders in 1822.^[5]

Sources

1. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evan_Nepean
2. ↑ History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1790-1820, ed. R. Thorne, 1986
3. ↑ History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1790-1820, ed. R. Thorne, 1986
4. ↑ History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1790-1820, ed. R. Thorne, 1986
5. ↑ Sparrow, Elizabeth. Nepean, Sir Evan. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

• Mosley, Charles, editor, Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes (Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003)

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evan_Nepean

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nepean_baronets

• History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1790-1820, ed. R. Thorne, 1986 [[1]]

• Sparrow, Elizabeth. Nepean, Sir Evan. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

• St. Vincent Letters (Navy Recs. Soc. lv), 368;