| Ref No | D-TE |
| Acc No | 2529 |
| Title | Papers of John Tasker and the Evans, later Tasker-Evans, family of Upton Castle |
| Description | Papers of John Tasker of the East India Company and Upton Castle, 1775-1802; papers of the Rev. William Evans, 1795-1837, including personal and estate matters, papers of the Rev. William Paynter Evans, 1826-1853; papers of Dr John Tasker Evans, 1833-1891; papers of Admiral Richard Evans of Upton Court, 1881-1927; and prints and photographs, [c. 1800]-1932.
Arranged into the following: papers of John Tasker; papers relating to the affairs of John Tasker after his death; papers of the Rev. William Evans; personal and estate matters; executorship and legacies; the Oxfordshire lands; ecclesiastical matters; papers of the Rev. William Paynter Evans; papers of Dr John Tasker Evans; papers of Admiral Richard Evans; prints and photographs; and miscellaneous items. |
| Date | 1775-1988 |
| Related Material | In the Pembrokeshire Record Office are two other groups of papers about Upton Castle and its owners. In the Eaton Evans collection under the reference D/EE/14 is a small group of papers about John Tasker, while under the reference HDX/844 is a bigger collection deposited by Canon Skelton, the present owner of the Castle. In the letter files under the reference Q/12/161 are letters from Major Tasker-Evans which provide more information on Upton and his family.
Item 264 in the list is a detailed family tree compiled by the depositor which provides all of the genealogical information necessary for the proper understanding of this group of papers. The pedigree below is a simplified one which includes some of the main characters in the family's story.
John Tasker (c.1742-1800)
Maria Catherine Margaretta Jones (1774-1822) grand-niece of John Tasker
m.
1st) Rev. Thomas Woods (1758 - 1801) 2nd) Rev. William Evans (1762-1838)
____The Upton triplets, all born llth October 1803__________
1
Rev. William Paynter Evans Dr. John Tasker Evans Dr. Richard David
Jones Evans
(1803-53) (1803-95) (1803-62)
I
Charles Tasker Evans Admiral Richard Evans Dr. John Tasker Tasker-
Evans
(1844-72) (1840-1927) (1842-1914)
Who John Tasker was is not at all clear. Major Tasker-Evans has been unable to identify John Taskerfs parents or place of birth. He made his fortune in the service of the East India Company and bought the Upton Estate to retire to. He died unmarried and childless, though he had brought back from India a young Indian boy, whom he called John William Tasker. John Tasker had at least two sisters, one of whom became Mary Rees by marriage and the other Martha Williams. It was the grand-daughter of Mary Rees, Maria Catherine Margaretta Jones, who inherited the Upton Castle Estate and it was her two husbands, the Rev. Thomas Woods until 1801 and Rev. William Evans from 1803, who ran it.
William Evans had himself been married before, in Hook Norton in Oxfordshire, but his first wife, Anne Appletree, had died in June 1800 just 4 months after marrying him. He married the widowed Maria Woods in 1803 and Upton passed to the eldest of the triplets born to them in October 1803 - William Paynter Evans, who followed his father into the Church. William seems to have been in financial difficulties for most of his last years. He died in 1853, leaving his son Charles Tasker Evans a 9 year old minor. It was the other two triplets, Doctors John and Richard who ran the estate while Charles was a minor and it was to John that the estate reverted after the early death of Charles in 1872 at the age of 28. John Tasker Evans lived to the ripe old age of 92 and on his death in 1895 Upton passed to his colourful son, Richard Evans, Captain, later Vice Admiral on the retired list, of the Royal Navy. On his death in 1927 Upton passed to his nephew, Charles Tasker Tasker-Evans (the depositor's father), who sold it to Stanley Neale, a trawler owner from Penarth. Thus Upton passed out of the family's hands after nearly 140 years.
The papers are arranged as follows:-
Papers of John Tasker of the East India Company
and Upton Castle 1-31
Papers relating to the affairs of John Tasker
after his death 32 - 76
Papers of the Reverend William Evans of Hook
Norton and Upton Castle 77 - 169
Personal and estate matters 77 - 91
Executorships and legacies 92 - 131
The Oxfordshire lands 132 - 152
Ecclesiastical matters 153 - 169
Papers of the Reverend William Paynter Evans
of Cosheston and Upton Castle 170 - 197
Papers of Dr. John Tasker Evans of Hertford
and Upton Castle 198 - 227
Papers of Captain, later Admiral, Richard
Evans of Upton Castle 228 - 249
Prints and photographs 250 - 262
Miscellaneous items 263 - 290 |
| Physical Description | Language/scripts of material: English |