Francis (Frank) Henry Evans (1840-1907), engineer, banker, businessman, politician, was born in Crumpsall-grange, Lancashire, England on 29 August 1840, the eldest son of Mary (Nicholson) and William Evans. He married Marie Stevens of Albany, New York on 31 July 1872. They had two daughters and three sons, two of whom succeeded their father as baronet. Evans died on 22 January 1907.
Evans was educated at the Moravian school at Neuweid on the Rhine, and at New College, Manchester. After graduation, he articled with Sir James Brunlees as a civil engineer. Evans' career as an engineer included the development of the London and North-Western Railway system (England) and railway construction in Brazil. Circa 1880, Evans gave up engineering to pursue careers in banking and shipping.
Evans became a partner in the banking firm, Nelville, Evans and Company. His shipping interests commenced with his appointment to the board of directors, where he later assumed the duties of deputy-chairman, chairman, and managing director of the Union Steamship Company. Evans oversaw the amalgamation of Union Steamship with Castle Steamship Company and remained with Castle's parent company, Donald Currie & Co., until his death. Other business ventures included directorships with the Thames and Mersey Marine Insurance Company and the International Sleeping Car Company. He was also chairman of the Elysee Palace Hotel, Paris.
It was probably Evans' knowledge of railway construction that precipitated his involvement in Newfoundland affairs. In 1881 the Newfoundland Railway Company, under the direction of A. L. Blackman of New York, obtained government support to build a railway from St. John's to Hall's Bay at the western end of Notre Dame Bay. Melville, Evans and Company arranged much of the required financing. When the Newfoundland Railway Company declared bankruptcy (1884), Melville, Evans and Company were appointed receivers of the company on behalf of the bondholders, and as operators of the railway until the government purchased the railway in 1896. A document (dated 1892) lists Evans as Receiver and Manager of the Southern Division of the Newfoundland Railway. Evans also served as agent for Newfoundland, and reported on the Paris discussions concerning French fishing rights in 1891.
Evans was elected to the British House of Commons, serving as the Liberal MP for Southampton (1888-1900), and Maidstone (1901-6), a polictical career which included several disputed elections. Evans was knighted (1893) and created a baronet (1902).
Ephraim (18-? - ) was an Eskimo who resided in the area around Nain. He was charged and convicted of the death of his son-in-law, Philipus, in 1881.
Philip English (1651-1736) was one of the foremost fishing and shipping merchants of seventeenth-century Salem, Massachusetts. Born on the Isle of Jersey, he immigrated to Salem sometime before 1670 and set himself up as a general merchant. He outfitted fishing voyages and exported local produce to Spain, France, Ireland, Maryland, Virginia, Jersey, and the West Indies. As early as 1680, he was one of the wealthiest merchants in town, and, by 1692, he was said to own a wharf and warehouse, 14 buildings in Salem, and 21 sea-going vessels.
English was one of the first merchants in Massachusetts to specialize in outfitting voyages to the offshore banks. The majority of his vessels, chiefly two-masted ketches, divided their year between the offshore banks and the export trade to Europe and the West Indies.
Although originally a mariner himself, and one of the very few local merchants who actually dwelt on the waterfront amongst the seamen he employed, English had a turbulent relationship with the maritime community. He was a frequent litigant before the courts, mostly suing his customers for debt. When the controversy concerning witchcraft erupted in 1692, English had to flee the colony for a year to escape prosecution himself.