Sir John Trevelyan, 4th Baronet
Sir John Trevelyan, 4th Baronet (6 February 1735 – 18 April 1828) was a British politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1777 to 1796.
Origins
A member of an ancient family of Cornwall, he was the only son and heir of Sir George Trevelyan, 3rd Baronet (1707–1768) of Nettlecombe.[1]
Career
He served as High Sheriff of Somerset for 1777-8 and sat as a Member of Parliament for Newcastle-upon-Tyne from 1777 to 1780 and for Somerset from 1780 to 1796. In 1784 he was a member of the St. Alban's Tavern group who tried to bring Fox and Pitt together.[1]
Involvement in slavery
He owned enslaved people on Grenada.[2] 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.[3] A descendant is the former BBC journalist Laura Trevelyan who quit the BBC to campaign for reparative justice for the Caribbean.[4]
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.[1] By his wife he had 6 sons and 2 daughters[1] 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, 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 (1807–1886) of Wallington Hall, near Cambo in Northumberland, title created in 1874; the 1st Baronet's grandson was the historian George Macaulay Trevelyan (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
- ^ a b c d "TREVELYAN, Sir John, 4th Bt. (1735–1828), of Nettlecombe, Som. and Wallington, Northumb". History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 27 May 2013.
- ^ "Sir John Trevelyan 4th Bart. of Nettlecombe". Centre for the Study of Legacies of British Slavery. Retrieved 24 April 2023.
- ^ Lashmar, Paul (4 February 2023). "'My forefathers did something horribly wrong': British slave owners' family to apologise and pay reparations". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 April 2023.
- ^ Mohdin, Aamna (16 March 2023). "Laura Trevelyan quits BBC to campaign for reparative justice for Caribbean". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 April 2023.
- ^ Debrett's Peerage, 1968, p.798
- Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990,
- Leigh Rayment's list of baronets