Sebastian Evans

Sebastian Evans (2 March 1830 – 19 December 1909) was an English journalist and political activist, known also as a man of letters and artist.

Born on 2 March 1830 at Market Bosworth, Leicestershire, he was the youngest son of Arthur Benoni Evans by his wife Anne, daughter of Captain Thomas Dickinson, R.N.; Sir John Evans was his elder brother. After early education under his father at the Market Bosworth grammar school, he won in 1849 a scholarship at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, graduating B.A. in 1853 and proceeding M.A. in 1857.

On leaving the university Evans became a student at Lincoln's Inn on 29 January 1855, but was shortly appointed secretary of the Indian Reform Association, and in that capacity was the first man in England to receive news of the Indian Rebellion of 1857. That year he resigned the secretaryship and turned a talent for drawing to use, becoming manager of the art department of the glass-works of Messrs. Chance Bros. & Co., at Oldbury, near Birmingham. This position he occupied for ten years, and designed many windows, including one illustrating the Robin Hood legend for the International Exhibition of 1862.

While working for the Indian Reform Association, Evans had met John Bright, and at Birmingham he made the acquaintance of Joseph Chamberlain, who became a friend. In 1867 Evans left the glassworks to become editor of the Birmingham Daily Gazette, a conservative newspaper. In 1868 he unsuccessfully contested Birmingham in the conservative interest in the general election and also helped to form the National Union of Conservative Associations. In the same year he took the degree of LL.D. at Cambridge.

...
Wikipedia