Evan Nepean

Sir Evan Nepean, 1st Baronet, PC FRS (9 July 1752 – 2 October 1822) 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.

Career Nepean entered the Royal Navy on 28 December 1773, serving on 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 for Captain John Jervis (later Lord St. Vincent). 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). 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. During the 1797 Spithead and Nore Mutinies, Nepean was heavily involved in the communications and negotiations across government departments and between the state and the mutinous sailors.

He was Member of Parliament for Queenborough from 1796 till 1802, 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. He was made a baronet in 1802 and was admitted to the Privy Council of the United Kingdom in 1804.

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, Nepean Point, Nepean Bay. India - the Nepean Road and Nepean Sea Road in Mumbai.

Arms