William Evans (17 January 1788 – 8 April 1856) was a 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. T ...

in three periods between 1818 and 1852. Evans was the son of William Evans of Darley and Elizabeth Strutt who was the daughter of

Jedediah Strutt Jedediah Strutt (1726 – 7 May 1797) or Jedidiah Strutt – as he spelled it – was a hosier and cotton spinner from Belper, England. Strutt and his brother-in-law William Woollat developed an attachment to the stocking frame that allowed the ...

of Belper. The Evans family had made a fortune from lead mines at Bonsall, and an iron slitting and rolling mill in

Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby g ...

and a cotton mill at

Darley Abbey Darley Abbey is a former historic mill village, now a suburb of the city of Derby, England. It is located approximately north of the city centre, on the west bank of the River Derwent, and forms part of the Darley ward along with Little Che ...

. They also owned the Evans Bank in Derby. Allestree Hall

Evans was

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 o ...

(MP) for

East Retford East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fac ...

from 1818 to 1820, and in 1826 unsuccessfully contested Leicester at a cost of between £20,000 and £30,000. In 1830 a compromise was reached and Evans was returned for Leicester without a poll, the same happening in 1831 when Evans was a reformist. Evans was re-elected in the 1832 Reformed parliament, but lost his seat in 1835. He was then elected for North Derbyshire in 1837 and held the seat until 1853,Gentlemen's Magazine 1856
/ref> when he resigned by taking the

Chiltern Hundreds The Chiltern Hundreds is an ancient administrative area in Buckinghamshire, England, composed of three " hundreds" and lying partially within the Chiltern Hills. "Taking the Chiltern Hundreds" refers to one of the legal fictions used to effect ...

. Evans became

High Sheriff of Derbyshire High may refer to: Science and technology * Height * High (atmospheric), a high-pressure area * High (computability), a quality of a Turing degree, in computability theory * High (tectonics), in geology an area where relative tectonic uplift to ...

in 1829 and was also a Deputy Lieutenant of

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

and J. P. He lived at

Allestree Hall Allestree Hall is a 19th-century former country house situated in Allestree Park, Allestree, Derby. It is a Grade II* listed building but has been unoccupied for many years, and has been placed on the Heritage at Risk Register. The Mundy fami ...

and was philanthropic in his support of schools and churches. Evans married Mary Gisborne, daughter of Rev. Thomas Gisborne of Yoxall Lodge in July 1820. In 1850 he bought Pickford's House in Derby from William Pickford. He left this house to his son Sir Thomas William Evans, 1st Baronet who also became a Member of Parliament.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Evans, William 1856 deaths People from Darley Dale Whig (British political party) MPs for English constituencies Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for constituencies in Derbyshire UK MPs 1818–1820 UK MPs 1830–1831 UK MPs 1831–1832 UK MPs 1832–1835 UK MPs 1837–1841 UK MPs 1841–1847 UK MPs 1847–1852 1788 births Deputy Lieutenants of Derbyshire High Sheriffs of Derbyshire People from Derby