Sir John Trevelyan, 4th Baronet (6 February 1735 – 18 April 1828) was a British politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, 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 ...

from 1777 to 1796.

Origins

A member of an ancient family of

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

, he was the only son and heir of Sir George Trevelyan, 3rd Baronet (1707–1768) of Nettlecombe.

Career

He served as

High Sheriff of Somerset The office of High Sheriff of Somerset is an ancient shrievalty which has been in existence since the 11th century. Originally known as the "Sheriff of Somerset", the role was retitled on 1 April 1974, under the provisions of the Local Government ...

for 1777-8 and sat as a Member of Parliament for

Newcastle-upon-Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne, or simply Newcastle ( , Received Pronunciation, RP: ), is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is England's northernmost metropolitan borough, located o ...

from 1777 to 1780 and for

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

from 1780 to 1796. In 1784 he was a member of the

St. Alban's Tavern group The St. Alban's Tavern group was an informal association of 78 United Kingdom, British Member of Parliament, Members of Parliament who aimed to bring about a reconciliation of William Pitt the Younger and Charles James Fox in a unified Ministry. The ...

who tried to bring Fox and Pitt together.

Involvement in slavery

He owned enslaved people on

Grenada Grenada is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean Sea. The southernmost of the Windward Islands, Grenada is directly south of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and about north of Trinidad and Tobago, Trinidad and the So ...

. In 1835 his family received compensation of £26,898, a huge sum at the time, from the British government for the abolition of slavery a year earlier. A descendant is the former

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

journalist

Laura Trevelyan Laura Kate Trevelyan (born 21 August 1968) is a British-American journalist who worked for the BBC for 30 years. She served as an '' On the Record'' reporter, United Nations correspondent (2006–2009), and New York correspondent (2009–2012), ...

who quit the BBC to campaign for reparative justice for the Caribbean.

Marriage and issue

He married Louisa Marianne Simond, a daughter and co-heiress of Peter Simond of London, a Huguenot merchant. He inherited various Northumbrian estates from his wife's uncle in 1777. By his wife he had 6 sons and 2 daughters including: * Sir John Trevelyan, 5th Baronet (1761–1846), eldest son and heir, father of Sir Walter Calverley Trevelyan, 6th Baronet (1797–1879); *Walter Trevelyan (1763–1830), 2nd son; *Venerable George Trevelyan (1765–1827), 3rd son, Rector of Nettlecombe, Canon of Wells and Archdeacon of Taunton, father of: **Henry Willoughby Trevelyan (1803–1876), a Major-General in the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

, father of Sir Ernest John Trevelyan (1850–1929), a Judge of the High Court of Calcutta, a writer on legal matters and a member of the Oxford Town Council. **

Sir Charles Trevelyan, 1st Baronet Sir Charles Edward Trevelyan, 1st Baronet, (2 April 1807 – 19 June 1886) was an English people, English civil servant and British Empire, colonial administrator. As a young man, he worked with the colonial government in Kolkata, Calcutta, In ...

(1807–1886) of

Wallington Hall Wallington is a country house and gardens located about west of Morpeth, Northumberland, England, near the village of Cambo. It has been owned by the National Trust since 1942, after it was donated complete with the estate and farms by Sir ...

, near Cambo in

Northumberland Northumberland ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England, on the Anglo-Scottish border, border with Scotland. It is bordered by the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, Cumb ...

, title created in 1874; the 1st Baronet's grandson was the historian

George Macaulay Trevelyan George Macaulay Trevelyan (16 February 1876 – 21 July 1962) was an English historian and academic. He was a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, from 1898 to 1903. He then spent more than twenty years as a full-time author. He returned to th ...

(1876–1962) **Reverend William Pitt Trevelyan (1812–1905), 6th son, father of Reverend George Philip Trevelyan (1858–1937), father of Humphrey Trevelyan, Baron Trevelyan, a diplomat and author.

Death

He died in April 1828, aged 93.

References

*Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). ''Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage'' (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990, * {{DEFAULTSORT:Trevelyan, John, 4th Baronet 1735 births 1828 deaths Baronets in the Baronetage of England Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies British MPs 1774–1780 British MPs 1780–1784 British MPs 1784–1790 British MPs 1790–1796 High sheriffs of Somerset Trevelyan family