EVELYN, Lyndon (?1759-1839), of 28 York Place, Portman Square, Mdx. and Kinsham Court, Herefs.

Evelyn, an Irish barrister, was returned in second place for St. Ives in 1820 on the ‘independent’ interest.1 West Briton, 17 Mar. 1820. He attended more infrequently than in the past and, despite having joined Brooks’s Club, 3 June 1816, he gave silent general support to Lord Liverpool’s ministry. He voted in defence of their conduct towards Queen Caroline, 6 Feb. 1821. He paired for Catholic relief, 28 Feb., and against repeal of the additional malt duty, 3 Apr., and was granted one month’s leave for urgent private business, 15 May 1821. He divided against more extensive tax reductions, 11, 21 Feb., and abolition of one of the joint-postmasterships, 14 Mar. 1822. He voted against Hume’s amendment to limit the sinking fund, 13 Mar., and presented a St. Ives petition for repeal of the coastwise coal duty, 24 Mar. 1823.2 The Times, 25 Mar. 1823. He divided against ministers that day for papers regarding the Orange conspiracy to murder the Irish viceroy, but with them against inquiry into the prosecution of the miscreants, 22 Apr. He voted against repeal of the Foreign Enlistment Act, 16 Apr. 1823. He divided for Catholic relief, 1 Mar., 21 Apr., 10 May 1825. He voted for the separate salary of the president of the board of trade, 10 Apr. 1826. In June 1822 a rumour had circulated at St. Ives that he had vacated his seat. Although this was unfounded, there seems to have been no expectation that he would stand again, and he retired at the dissolution in 1826.3 Cornw. RO, Johnstone mss DD/J2/109, Edwards to Hawkins, 22 June 1822; AD 207/1, Hawkins to Roberts, 5 Mar. 1825.

In 1824 Evelyn purchased the Kinsham estate from the earl of Oxford, and he later added other properties in Herefordshire and Radnorshire. Shortly before his death in April 1839 he provided a dowry of £16,000 for his daughter from his first marriage, on her marriage to Randall Plunkett, son of the 14th Baron Dunsany. He left an annuity of £250 to his second wife, £5,000 each to their two daughters and the residue, including his estates, to their son Francis (b. 1828); all three children had been born out of wedlock and were described as ‘adopted’. Plunkett, who had spent time in a debtors’ prison, challenged the will, and the protracted litigation that followed meant that Francis’s inheritance was heavily encumbered when his rights were confirmed in 1861.4 PROB 11/1910/287; IR26/1513/162; TNA J90/170, 729.