Sir Francis Evans, 1st Baronet

Sir Francis Henry Evans, 1st Baronet, KCMG (29 August 1840 – 22 January 1907) was a British civil engineer, businessman and Liberal Party politician.

Evans was born at Crumpsall Grange in Lancashire the son of William Evans of Manchester and his wife Mary, née Nicholson. His sister Emily Evans was married to the Industrialist and Politician Sir Charles Seely, 1st Baronet, and his nephew was the Secretary of State for War (1912–1914) J. E. B. Seely, 1st Baron Mottistone.

He was educated at the Moravian School in Neuwied in the Rhineland-Palatinate on the banks of the River Rhine and then at Manchester New College, London. In 1872, he married the widow of Irving Van Wart, Marie de Grasse Stevens, the daughter of the Hon Samuel Stevens of Albany, New York, who, though described in The Times as sometime New York State Attorney General, never in fact held that position, having lost the nomination by three votes in January 1839. They had three sons and two daughters.

It was first intended that Evans should become a civil engineer. He was therefore articled to Sir James Brunlees with whom he worked on a number of projects including the construction of the London and North Western Railway system. Under Brunlees' direction, Evans worked on the construction of a railway in Brazil. He then went to America with his father during the time of the Civil War and travelled extensively, including taking part in scouting expeditions in Texas.

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