Evan Nepean

Infobox Person
name = Sir Evan Nepean


image_size =
caption =
birth_date = 9 July 1751
birth_place = St. Stephens, Cornwall, UK
death_date = 2 October 1822
death_place = Dorset, UK
education =
occupation = politician
spouse = Margaret Skinner
parents = Nicholas Nepean
children = one daughter, two sons

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.

Early career

Nepean entered the Royal Navy on December 28, 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 March 3, 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.

Family

Evan Nepean 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 June 6, 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. Rev. Canon was also the great-great-grandfather of Fynvola MacLean, the mother of British film star Hugh Grant.cite web|last=Lundy |first=Darryl |title=Person Page 23883:Rev. Canon Evan Nepean |publisher=thePeerage.com |url=http://www.thepeerage.com/p23883.htm#i238829 |accessdate=2007-09-28]

Legacy

The city of Nepean, Ontario, Canada, the Nepean River thus Nepean High School, Emu Plains in New South Wales, Australia, the Nepean Highway from Melbourne to Portsea (and nearby Point Nepean) in the south east of Victoria, Australia and two roads in Mumbai, India, Nepean Road and Nepean Sea Road, were all named after him.

References

External links

* [http://www.nepeanmuseum.on.ca/sir_evan_nepean.htm The Nepean Museum]
* [http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/docs/hohist.html History of the Home Office 1782-1982]
*Rayment