Author: Evans, John
Biography:
EVANS, John (1756-1846: DWB)
He was born on 4 July 1756 at Llwyn-Y-Groes, Llanymynech, Wales, son of John Evans (1723-95), cartographer. His mother’s name is not known. He was educated at Westminster and Oxford. The DWB, following Alumni Oxonienses, states that he matriculated at Jesus College, Oxford, in 1773 but graduated from St Alban’s Hall (BA 1778, MA 1779, BD 1783) and Edinburgh where he graduated MD. His Latin dissertation on the development of the human foetus, printed in Edinburgh in 1778, coincides with his Oxford BA, which is unusual. There could be a mix-up of different John Evanses here. He initially practised in Shrewsbury but after his father’s death moved back to the family estate at Llwyn-Y-Groes and seems to have given up medicine. Around 1799 he began editorial work on his father’s maps and enlisted the help and financial support of the Royal Society. He married Jane Wilson of Cheshire, but no record of the marriage has been located. They went on to have nine children, including Robert Wilson Evans (q.v.). He died at his son’s vicarage in Heversham on 18 Jan. 1846, aged 90. The work listed here, The Bees (1806), contained philosophical and botanical notes and was clearly influenced by Erasmus Darwin (q.v.) and The Botanic Garden (1789). (DWB 4 Nov. 2022; Richard Williams, Montgomeryshire Worthies [1894], 66-8; Hereford Journal 28 Jan. 1846) AA