Sir John William Evans, CMG (1 December 1855 – 2 October 1943) was an Australian politician, a member of the

Tasmanian House of Assembly The House of Assembly, or Lower House, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of Tasmania in Australia. The other is the Legislative Council or Upper House. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Hobart. The Assembly has 25 m ...

and

Premier of Tasmania The premier of Tasmania is the head of the executive government in the Australian state of Tasmania. By convention, the leader of the party or political grouping which has majority support in the House of Assembly is invited by the governor of ...

from 11 July 1904 to 19 June 1909.

Early life and nautical career

Evans was born in 1855 in

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, but migrated with his family to

Battery Point, Tasmania Battery Point is a suburb of the city of Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. It is immediately south of the central business district. It is in the local government area of City of Hobart. Battery Point is named after the battery of guns which were est ...

when he was four years old. After education in Hobart, Evans embarked on a year-long voyage through

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...

n ports with his parents. His father, a merchant seaman, arranged an apprenticeship for him on his part-owned

barque A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing vessel with three or more masts having the fore- and mainmasts rigged square and only the mizzen (the aftmost mast) rigged fore and aft. Sometimes, the mizzen is only partly fore-and-aft rigged, b ...

, ''Helen'', trading to China and Japan.W. A. Townsley
Evans, Sir John William (1855 - 1943)
'' Australian Dictionary of Biography'', Volume 8, Melbourne University Press, 1981, p. 447.

Political career

John Evans was first elected to the

in the electorate of Kingborough on 20 January 1897. He did not have a political party, at this time, but is described as

Anti-Socialist Criticism of socialism (also known as anti-socialism) is any critique of socialist models of economic organization and their feasibility as well as the political and social implications of adopting such a system. Some critiques are not directed ...

. Evans became Premier on 12 July 1904, holding office until 19 June 1909. In 1909 his seat of Kingborough was abolished and replaced with the

Division of Franklin The Division of Franklin is an Australian electoral division in Tasmania. The division is located in southern Tasmania around the state capital, Hobart. It is the only non-contiguous federal electoral division in Australia, with the two part ...

. He won the seat back in 1909 and continued to serve in parliament until 1937 as

Commonwealth Liberal The Liberal Party was a parliamentary party in Australian federal politics between 1909 and 1917. The party was founded under Alfred Deakin's leadership as a merger of the Protectionist Party and Anti-Socialist Party, an event known as the Fus ...

and Nationalist. His time in parliament, forty years from 1897 to 1937, makes him the longest-serving member in

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Evans, John 1855 births 1943 deaths Premiers of Tasmania Members of the Tasmanian House of Assembly Australian Knights Bachelor Australian Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George British emigrants to Australia Australian people of Welsh descent Politicians from Liverpool Speakers of the Tasmanian House of Assembly Leaders of the Opposition in Tasmania Treasurers of Tasmania