Evan Nepean
{{short description|British colonial administrator (1752–1822)}}
{{For|the English barrister and first-class cricketer|Evan Nepean (cricketer)}}
{{Use British English|date=April 2012}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2021}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix = The Right Honourable
| name = Sir Evan Nepean
| image = SirEvanNepean.JPG
| image_size =
| caption =
| office1 = Governor of Bombay
| term_start1 = 1812
| term_end1 = 1819
| predecessor1 = George Brown
| successor1 = Mountstuart Elphinstone
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1752|07|9}}
| birth_place = St Stephens by Saltash, Cornwall, England
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1822|10|2|1752|07|9}}
| death_place = Loders, Dorset, England
| education =
| occupation = {{hlist|Politician|colonial administrator}}
| spouse = Margaret Skinner
| parents = Nicholas Nepean
| children = 8
}}
Sir Evan Nepean, 1st Baronet, PC FRS (9 July 1752 – 2 October 1822)Sparrow (n.d.) was a British politician and colonial administrator. He was the first of the Nepean baronets.
Family
Nepean was born at St. Stephens near Saltash, Cornwall, the second of three sons of Nicholas Nepean, an innkeeper, and his second 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 6 June 1782 at the Garrison Church at Greenwich. They had eight children, 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. His grandson Charles was a Middlesex county cricketer who also played football.{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=The Association Challenge Cup |date=16 March 1874 |page=5 |issue=27951 |column=E}}
Career
Nepean entered the Royal Navy on 28 December 1773, serving on {{HMS|Boyne|1766|6}} 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 to 1782 he was Purser on {{HMS|Foudroyant|1758|6}} for Captain John Jervis (later Lord St. Vincent).
On 3 March 1782 (aged 29) he was appointed Permanent Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department. In this position, he came to have responsibility for naval and political intelligence which led to him running a network of spies across Europe. {{sfn|Knight|2013|p=6-13}}Victoria Syrett "Spies: The Georgian Secret Intelligence Service" Royal Museums, Greenwich, (11 Apr 2023) https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/blog/library-archive/spies-georgian-secret-intelligence-servicehttps://Victoria Syrett, "Secret Intelligent Service: The Spies Before James Bond" Royal Museums, Greenwich, (21 Jan 2020) www.rmg.co.uk/stories/blog/library-archive/secret-intelligent-service-spies-james-bond This, in effect, made him Britain's top civilian intelligence official, before the establishment of a formal intelligence service, which did not take place until 1909 with the establishment of the domestically-focused Security Service (MI5) and the foreign-focused Secret Intelligence Service (SIS).Christopher Andrew, Defend the Realm: The Authorized History of MI5 (New York: Vintage, 2010) 1-3 He served 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,"Sir Evan Nepean" https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG202986 then moving to Bridport where he remained until 1812. The Bridport Town Hall, designed by architect William Tyler RA, was given a clock tower with cupola, in about 1805, by Sir Evan.{{Cite web|url=https://thebridgemagazine.org/the-baronet-who-gave-bridport-one-of-its-most-famous-landmarks|title=The baronet who gave Bridport one of its most famous landmarks – The Bridge|date=8 May 2023}}{{PastScape |num=450130 |desc=Town Hall |access-date=5 October 2015}} He was made a baronet in 1802 and was admitted to the Privy Council of the United Kingdom in 1804.
In 1820 he was made a member of the Royal Society. In 1822 he was appointed High Sheriff of Dorset but died in office the same year at his estate at Loders.{{Cite book|chapter-url=http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/nepean-evan-2504|title=Australian Dictionary of Biography|chapter=Nepean, Evan (1752–1822)|publisher=National Centre of Biography, Australian National University}}
Legacy
Places named after Evan Nepean include:
- Australia - the Nepean River in New South Wales, the Nepean Highway and Point Nepean both in Victoria, Nepean Bay in South Australia and Nepean Island in the external territory of Norfolk Island.
- Canada - the former city of Nepean, Ontario,{{cite news | url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=aNowAAAAIBAJ&pg=7069%2C5933544 | title=Courageous settlers first located in Carleton back in 1818 | work=Ottawa Citizen | date=28 April 1953 | access-date=2 December 2015 | pages=A20}} Nepean Point, Nepean Bay.{{Cite news|title=Nepean...Who's Nepean?|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/25310037/nepeanwhos-nepean-august-17-1967/|access-date=2021-07-04|newspaper=Ottawa Citizen|date=August 17, 1967}}
- India - the Nepean Road and Nepean Sea Road in Mumbai.
Arms
{{Infobox COA wide
|image = Nepean Achievement.png
|escutcheon = Gules a fesse wavy Erminois between three mullets Argent.
|crest = On a mount Vert a goat passant Sable charged on the side with two Ermine spots in fesse Or collared and horned Gold
|motto = Respice (Look Back) {{cite book|title=Debrett's Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage and Companionage |date=1896}}}}
References
=Notes=
{{Reflist}}
=Sources=
- {{cite book |last=Knight |first= Roger |author-link=Roger Knight |year=2013 |title=Britain Against Napoleon: The Organization of Victory 1793-1815 |location=London |publisher=Allen Lane |isbn=978-1-846-14177-5}}
- {{cite book |last=Sparrow |first=Elizabeth |url=http://0-www.oxforddnb.com.catalogue.ulrls.lon.ac.uk/view/article/19894 |title=Nepean, Sir Evan |work=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |url-access=subscription |access-date=14 March 2014}}
External links
{{Portal|Cornwall}}
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20120506132756/http://www.nepeanmuseum.ca/content/sir-evan-nepean The Nepean Museum]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20041205100024/http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/docs/hohist.html History of the Home Office 1782-1982]
- [http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1790-1820/member/nepean-evan-1752-1822 History of Parliament biography]
{{S-start}}
{{S-par|gb}}
{{Succession box | title=Member of Parliament for Queenborough
| with = John Sargent | before=Richard Hopkins | before2=John Sargent | after= Parliament of the United Kingdom | years=1796–1801 }}
{{S-par|uk}}
{{Succession box | title=Member of Parliament for Queenborough
| with = John Sargent | before= Parliament of Great Britain | after= John Prinsep | after2=George Peter Moore | years=1801–1802 }}
{{Succession box
| title = Member of Parliament for Bridport
| with = George Barclay 1802–1807
| with2 = Sir Samuel Hood 1807–1812
| before = Charles Sturt | before2=George Barclay | after= William Best | after2=Sir Horace St Paul | years=1802–1812}}
{{S-off}}
{{Succession box | title=Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department | before=None | after=Thomas Orde | years=1782}}
{{Succession box | title=Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department | years=1782–1794 | before=John Bell| after=John King}}
{{Succession box | title=Under-Secretary of State for War | before=None | after=William Huskisson | years=1794–1795}}
{{Succession box | title=First Secretary to the Admiralty | years=1795–1804 | before=Philip Stephens | after=William Marsden}}
{{Succession box | title=Chief Secretary for Ireland | years=1804–1805 | before=William Wickham | after=Nicholas Vansittart}}
{{Succession box | title=Governor of Bombay | before=George Brown | after=Mountstuart Elphinstone | years=1812–1819}}
{{S-reg|uk-bt}}
{{S-new | creation}}
{{S-ttl
| title = Baronet
(of Bothenhampton)
| years = 1802–1822
}}
{{S-aft | after=Molyneux Hyde Nepean}}
{{S-end}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nepean, Evan}}
Category:Lords of the Admiralty
Category:Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom
Category:Politicians from Cornwall
Category:Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies
Category:British MPs 1796–1800
Category:Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Bridport
Category:High sheriffs of Dorset
Category:Permanent Under-Secretaries of State for the Home Department
Category:Fellows of the Royal Society
Category:Members of the Privy Council of Ireland