Sir John Trevelyan, 4th Baronet (6 February 1735 – 18 April 1828), of Nettlecombe Court in Somerset, 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

Arms of Trevelyan: *Gules, a demi-horse argent hoofed and maned or issuing out of water in base proper*^[5]

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,^{[page needed]}
Leigh Rayment's list of baronets

Parliament of Great Britain Preceded bySir Walter Blackett Sir Matthew White Ridley Member of Parliament for Newcastle-upon-Tyne 1777–1780 With: Sir Matthew White Ridley Succeeded bySir Matthew White Ridley Andrew Robinson Bowes Preceded byRichard Hippisley Coxe Edward Phelips Member of Parliament for Somerset 1780–1796 With: Richard Hippisley Coxe 1780–1784Edward Phelips 1784–1792Henry Hippisley Coxe 1792–1795William Gore-Langton 1795–1796 Succeeded byWilliam Gore-Langton William Dickinson Baronetage of England Preceded byGeorge Trevelyan Baronet(of Nettlecombe) 1768–1828 Succeeded byJohn Trevelyan

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