John Evelyn

Who was John Evelyn?

Sir John Evelyn was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons variously between 1626 and 1660.

Evelyn was the son of George Evelyn of West Dean, a clerk in Chancery, and his wife Elizabeth Rivers, daughter of Sir John Rivers of Chafford, Kent. He was a cousin of the diarist John Evelyn, and nephew of another John Evelyn, of Godstone in Surrey, who served as MP for nearby Bletchingley in 1628, 1640 and 1660.

In 1626, Evelyn was elected Member of Parliament for Wilton. He became a JP for Wiltshire in 1637. In April 1640, he was elected Member of Parliament for Ludgershall in the Short Parliament, and was re-elected MP for Ludgershall in the Long Parliament in November 1640. He became a JP for Hampshire in 1641. He was a commissioner for Westminster Assembly, a commissioner for assessment for Wiltshire and a commissioner for levying of money in 1643. In 1645 he became a commissioner for the execution of ordinances in Hampshire, a commissioner for the New Model Army and then for the Admiralty. He was also commissioner for propositions for the relief of Ireland. In 1646 he was governor of the Covent Garden precinct and commissioner for abuses in heraldry and for exclusion from sacrament and for bishops lands. In 1648 he was a member of the committee of both kingdoms. He abstained from the House of Commons after Pride's Purge.