| The Right Honourable Sir Evan Nepean Bt FRS |
|
|---|---|
| Personal details | |
| Born | 9 July 1751 St. Stephens, Cornwall, UK |
| Died | 2 October 1822 Dorset, UK |
| Spouse(s) | Margaret Skinner |
| Children | one daughter, four sons |
| Occupation | politician |
Sir Evan Nepean, 1st Baronet PC (9 July 1751 or 1753, St Stephens near Saltash, Cornwall – 2 October 1822) was a British politician and colonial administrator.
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Nepean entered the Royal Navy on 28 December 1773, serving on HMS Boyne as a clerk to Capt. Hartwell. He was promoted to purser in 1775. During the American Revolutionary War he served as secretary to Admiral Molyneux Shuldham, in Boston in 1776 and again at Plymouth (1777-78). From 1780-1782 he was Purser on HMS Foudroyant for Captain John Jervis (later Lord St. Vincent).
On 3 March 1782 (aged only 29) he was appointed Permanent Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department. He served effectively there until December 1791, when he became Under-Secretary of State for War in 1794, secretary to the Board of Admiralty 1795-1804, Chief Secretary for Ireland 1804-1805, Commissioner of the Admiralty, and then governor of Bombay 1812-1819.
He was Member of Parliament for Queenborough from 1796 till 1802, then moving to Bridport where he remained until 1812. He was made a baronet in 1802 and was admitted to the Privy Council of the United Kingdom in 1804.
The first of the Nepean Baronets, he was the second of three sons of "Nicholas Nepean, Gent" and his wife, Margaret Jones. His father was Cornish and his mother was from South Wales. The name "Nepean" is thought to come from the village of Nanpean (“the head of the valley”), in Cornwall.
Nepean married Margaret Skinner, the only daughter of Capt. William Skinner, on 6 June 1782 at the Garrison Church at Greenwich. They had one daughter and four sons, 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, and was on the winning side in the 1874 FA Cup Final.[1]
Canon Evan Nepean's son, Evan Colville Nepean (1836–1908) had several children,[2] including a daughter, Emily Margaret (1867–1950). She married Felton George Randolph;[3] their daughter, Margaret Isabel (1901–2001) married James Cassilis MacLean[4] and in turn had a daughter, Fynvola Susan (b. 1933). Fynvola married James Murray Grant in 1957; their children included Hugh Grant (b. 1960), the actor.[5]
A descendant, the sixth and last baronet, Evan Yorke Nepean, was a well known amateur radio operator and Army officer who served on a mission to Tibet in 1936.[6] He also served in the Radio Security Service (RSS), known as MI8, during World War II and was once reported to the police by his suspicious landlady when she found his National HRO receiver, used by RSS operators to monitor radio transmissions for suspected enemy agent transmissions, and thought he might be a German spy.
Places named after Evan Nepean include:
| Parliament of Great Britain | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Richard Hopkins John Sargent |
Member of Parliament for Queenborough 1796–1801 With: John Sargent |
Succeeded by Parliament of the United Kingdom |
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
| Preceded by Parliament of Great Britain |
Member of Parliament for Queenborough 1801–1802 With: John Sargent |
Succeeded by John Prinsep George Peter Moore |
| Preceded by Charles Sturt George Barclay |
Member of Parliament for Bridport 1802–1812 With: George Barclay 1802–1807 Sir Samuel Hood 1807–1812 |
Succeeded by William Best Sir Horace St Paul |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by None |
Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department 1782 |
Succeeded by Thomas Orde |
| Preceded by John Bell |
Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department 1782–1794 |
Succeeded by John King |
| Preceded by None |
Under-Secretary of State for War 1794–1795 |
Succeeded by William Huskisson |
| Preceded by Philip Stephens |
First Secretary to the Admiralty 1795–1804 |
Succeeded by William Marsden |
| Preceded by William Wickham |
Chief Secretary for Ireland 1804–1805 |
Succeeded by Nicholas Vansittart |
| Preceded by Jonathan Duncan |
Governor of Bombay 1812–1819 |
Succeeded by Mountstuart Elphinstone |
| Baronetage of the United Kingdom | ||
| New creation | Baronet (of Bothenhampton) 1802–1822 |
Succeeded by Molyneux Hyde Nepean |