John Evans,  London

John Evans (1767-1827) was a Baptist minister and schoolmaster. He was a descendant of the Evans family of Radnorshire, Wales; he was the grandson of Caleb Evans (d. 1790), a Baptist preacher and schoolmaster in Wales, who was the half-brother of Hugh Evans (1712-81), President of Bristol Baptist Academy and pastor of the two congregations at Broadmead in Bristol, 1758-81.  John Evans was educated for the ministry at Bristol Academy, where Robert Hall served as his tutor. He then became a Ward scholar at the Universities of Aberdeen and Edinburgh, graduating from the latter with an M.A. in 1790. While in Scotland, he became a Unitarian.  He was ordained in 1792 by the General Baptist congregation at Worship Street, London, remaining there as pastor until shortly before his death in 1827.  He opened his school at Islington in 1796 and earned much renown for his work with young preachers, continuing in that capacity until 1821.  He was a friend and correspondent of Russell Scott, son-in-law of Dr. Hawes.  He published some forty works in his lifetime, including his influential A Sketch of the Denominations of the Christian World (1795).