John Evans was a writer, noted for his description of Wales.

Life and works

Evans was born in 1768 and studied at the University of Oxford

University of Oxford

The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...

, matriculating

Matriculation

Matriculation, in the broadest sense, means to be registered or added to a list, from the Latin matricula – little list. In Scottish heraldry, for instance, a matriculation is a registration of armorial bearings...

 as a member of Jesus College

Jesus College, Oxford

Jesus College is one of the colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It is in the centre of the city, on a site between Turl Street, Ship Street, Cornmarket Street and Market Street...

 in 1789 and obtaining a Bachelor of Arts

Bachelor of Arts

A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...

degree in 1792. He wrote about Wales in four publications, although the details they contain is more based upon material that Evans had read than upon any personal observation by Evans. His works are:

• A Tour through part of North Wales in … 1798 and at other times: principally undertaken with a view to Botanical researches in that alpine country; interspersed with observations on its Scenery, Agriculture, Manufactures (1800; further editions in 1802 and 1804)
• Letters written during a Tour through South Wales in … 1803 and at other times (1804)
• Monmouthshire (in volume 11 of The Beauties of England and Wales, 1810)
• North Wales (volume 17 of The Beauties of England and Wales, 1812)

He died in about 1812, before he finished writing about south Wales.