John Evelyn was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons

House of Commons of England

The House of Commons of England was the lower house of the Parliament of England from its development in the 14th century to the union of England and Scotland in 1707, when it was replaced by the House of Commons of Great Britain...

  at various times between 1628 and 1660. He reluctantly supported the Parliamentary side in the English Civil War

English Civil War

The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...

.

Evelyn was the son of John Evelyn, of Godstone, Surrey and his wife Elizabeth Stever, daughter of William Stever of Kingston upon Thames. He was baptised at Kingston upon Thames

Kingston upon Thames

Kingston upon Thames is the principal settlement of the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames in southwest London. It was the ancient market town where Saxon kings were crowned and is now a suburb situated south west of Charing Cross. It is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the...

  on 20 October 1591. He was admitted at Emmanuel College, Cambridge

Emmanuel College, Cambridge

Emmanuel College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge.The college was founded in 1584 by Sir Walter Mildmay on the site of a Dominican friary...

  on 13 March 1606. He was a member of the Virginia Company in 1612 and of the East India Company in 1624. He was a JP for Surrey from 1624.

In 1628, Evelyn was elected Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 for Bletchingley

Bletchingley (UK Parliament constituency)

Bletchingley was a parliamentary borough in Surrey. It returned two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons of England from 1295 to 1707, to the House of Commons of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800, and to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom until 1832, when the constituency was...

 and sat until 1629 when King Charles decided to rule without parliament for eleven years.
In November 1640, Evelyn was re-elected MP for Bletchingley in the Long Parliament

Long Parliament

The Long Parliament was made on 3 November 1640, following the Bishops' Wars. It received its name from the fact that through an Act of Parliament, it could only be dissolved with the agreement of the members, and those members did not agree to its dissolution until after the English Civil War and...

. He sat until 1648 when he was excluded under Pride's Purge

Pride's Purge

Pride’s Purge is an event in December 1648, during the Second English Civil War, when troops under the command of Colonel Thomas Pride forcibly removed from the Long Parliament all those who were not supporters of the Grandees in the New Model Army and the Independents...

. He was a commissioner for assessments from 1643 to 1648 and a commissioner for sequestrations in 1643.

In 1660, Evelyn was re-elected MP for Bletchingley in the Convention Parliament.

Evelyn died at the age of 71 and was buried at Godstone, Surrey on 18 January 1664.

Evelyn married Thomasine Heynes daughter of William Heynes of Chessington. Their son John was created a Baronet

Evelyn Baronets

There have been three Evelyn Baronetcies, two in the Baronetage of England and one in the Baronetage of Great Britain. These are shown individually below in order of creation...

of Godstone.