EVANS
,
JOHN
(
c.
1680
-
1730
),
Presbyterian minister and theologian
;
the son of
John
Evans
(
1628
-
1700
) (q.v.)
by
Katherine
, widow of
Vavasor
Powell
(q.v.)
and daughter of
colonel
Gilbert
Gerard
,
governor
of
Chester castle
for
Charles
I
. He was b. at
Wrexham
, educated at
Dissenting academies
at
Newington Green
(
c. 1694
) and
Rathmell, Yorks.
, and studied the early Fathers under
James
Owen
of
Oswestry
(q.v.)
. He became
chaplain
to
Mrs.
Rowland
Hunt
of
Boreatton
,
Salop
, and shortly before his father's death went to assist him in the oversight of the ‘
Old Meeting
’ (
Independent
and
Baptist
) at
Wrexham
. The congregation invited him to succeed his father, but he made it a condition that the ‘
New Meeting
’ (
Presbyterian
) should be reunited to the Old, and when that proved impossible he seems to have accepted a call from the latter. He was ordained at
Wrexham
on
18 Aug. 1702
, among those officiating being
Matthew
Henry
of
Chester
(q.v.)
,
James
Owen
of
Oswestry
(q.v.)
, and
Francis
Tallents
of
Shrewsbury
. In
1704
he became
assistant pastor
to
Daniel
Williams
(q.v.)
at
Hand Alley
,
London
, succeeding
Williams
in the pastorate on the latter's death in
1716
. He took a leading part (on the orthodox side) in the
Arian controversy
of
1719
, but always maintained a tolerant attitude in matters of doctrine. He was a
trustee of the
regium donum
(
1723
) and headed the Nonconformist deputation to congratulate
George
II
on his accession (
1727
). He wrote many theological works (listed in
D.N.B.
), and received the degree of
D.D.
from
Edinburgh University
in
Nov. 1728
, but not from
Aberdeen
(as in
D.N.B.
) nor from
Glasgow
(as in
Palmer
). He also collected (but did not live to use) materials for a history of
Puritanism
(some of which are preserved in
Dr. Williams's library
), and statistics of
Nonconformity
from
1717 to 1729
. He had lost heavily in the bursting of the
South Sea Bubble
(
1720
), and d. ‘but in mean circumstances’ on
23 May 1730
; but he left behind him some 10,000 volumes, also lodged in
Dr. Williams's library
, where his portrait hangs. He was buried in
Dr.
Williams
's vault in
Bunhill Fields
. His wife was the daughter of an ejected
minister
of
1662
.
Bibliography:
-
Calamy
,
An historical account of my own life with
some reflections on the times I have lived in
(1671-1731)
, 2nd ed., London Henry Colburn and R.
Bentley, 1830
,
1830
;
-
A. N. Palmer
,
A history of the older nonconformity of
Wrexham and its neighbourhood being the third part of ‘A
history of the town and parish of Wrexham’
, 1888
,
1888
;
-
Oxford Dictionary of National
Biography
, xviii, 65-6;
-
National Library of Wales Manuscript
11097
-
and
Rhual Manuscript.
110.
Author:
Emeritus Professor Arthur Herbert Dodd, M.A., (1891-1975), Bangor
