Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Evans, John (1774-1828)
EVANS, JOHN (1774–1828), printer, a native of Bristol, was baptised at St. Philip's Church, Bristol, 16 Jan. 1774. At various periods of his life he was concerned in printing and editing more than one newspaper in that city, among others the ‘Bristol Observer,’ a weekly journal, which, started in January 1819, collapsed 1 Oct. 1823, after 322 numbers had been published. Early in 1828 he left Bristol for the purpose of entering into some engagement with a printer named Maurice, of Fenchurch Street, London, who was also principal proprietor of the newly erected Brunswick Theatre in Well Street, Wellclose Square. Evans was killed by the sudden falling of the theatre on the morning of 28 Feb. 1828, when in his fifty-fifth year. He had become a widower only a few weeks before, and left two daughters and a son. He was author of: 1. ‘Practical Observations on the due performance of Psalmody. With a short postscript on the Present State of Vocal Music in other Departments,’ 8vo, Bristol, 1823. 2. ‘A Chronological Outline of the History of Bristol, and the Stranger's Guide through its Streets and Neighbourhood,’ 8vo, London, 1824, a storehouse of entertaining facts. At p. 327 of this miscellany will be found a list of Evans's contributions to the ‘Bristol Observer.’ Some anecdotes by Evans of William Combe appear in the ‘Gentleman's Magazine,’ 1823, ii. 185.
[Felix Farley's Bristol Journal, 8 March 1828; Gent. Mag. vol. xcviii. pt. i. pp. 264, 375–6; Chronological Outline of the Hist. of Bristol, pp. 326–8.]