William Evans (priest)
William Edward Evans was an English divine and naturalist.
Life
Evans was born on 8 June 1801 in Shrewsbury. He inherited a taste for poetry and natural history from his father, John Evans M.D., a physician there and author of a poem in four books on bees. His mother was Jane Wilson. A brother, Robert Wilson Evans, became the Archdeacon of Westmorland and Furness. From Shrewsbury School, then run by Samuel Butler, Evans gained a scholarship at Clare Hall, Cambridge, where he proceeded to the degree of B.A. in 1823 and M.A. in 1826.After taking holy orders, Evans became curate of Llanymynech, Shropshire, until his marriage to a cousin, Elizabeth Evans, when he was presented to the living of Criggion, Montgomeryshire. This, however, he resigned to live at Burton Court, Leominster, which his wife had inherited, and to hold the sole charge of the parish of Monkland. In 1841 he was appointed prebendary of Hereford and praelector of the cathedral. After holding Monkland for eighteen years, in 1850, Evans accepted the living of Madley with Tibberton, Herefordshire. In 1861 he became canon of Hereford Cathedral. His health failed for the last two or three years of his life, and he died in the Close, Hereford on 21 November 1869, aged 68.