Richard Evans (died 1762) of Queenborough, Kent was a British army officer and Whig politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

from 1729 to 1754. Evans’ parentage is unknown, but a two-storey red brick house at 72 and 74 High Street, Queenborough, dating from the early 18th century, has a plaster plaque above the doors, bearing the date and initials '1706 ERE', possibly referring to Richard Evans and his wife.Historic England -Pastscape
/ref> He joined the army and was a captain in Colonel Richard Sutton's Foot in 1709. He was on half-pay in 1713 and captain of Invalids for Portsmouth in 1715. From 1725 he was lieutenant governor of Sheerness, remaining in post for the rest of his life. He was mayor of Queenborough several times. Evans was returned as

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for

Queenborough Queenborough is a town on the Isle of Sheppey in the Swale borough of Kent in South East England. Queenborough is south of Sheerness. It grew as a port near the Thames Estuary at the westward entrance to the Swale where it joins the River M ...

on his own interest with government support at a by-election on 27 January 1729. He was returned again unopposed in 1734 and

1741 Events January–March * January 13 – Lanesborough, Massachusetts is created as a township. * February 13 – Sir Robert Walpole, the Prime Minister of Great Britain, popularizes the term "the balance of power" in a spe ...

and in a contest in 1747. He was also able to secure the return of other government nominees and Pelham commended his ability to settle the interest in Whig hands. However, in 1750 there was a dispute with some of the townsmen on non-resident freemen and Pelham, referring to Evans as a strange fellow, saw him as likely to lose the seat for the Whigs. After Pelham's death, Newcastle persuaded Evans to withdraw at the

1754 British general election The 1754 British general election returned members to serve in the House of Commons of the 11th Parliament of Great Britain to be summoned, after the merger of the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland in 1707. Owing to the exten ...

although occasionally taking his advice on local patronage. Evans was married and died on 22 November 1762, leaving a son and two daughters. He apparently gave all his personal estate to a Scotch girl, described as his ‘tucker-in’, whom he made executrix, and excluded his own children as much as possible from his will. The girl ‘pulled the house to pieces’ and sold all the family goods, and disappeared, without paying the testator's debts.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Evans, Richard 1762 deaths Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies British MPs 1727–1734 British MPs 1734–1741 British MPs 1741–1747 British MPs 1747–1754