Life

He was born in 1797, the eldest son of Sir John Trevelyan, fifth baronet, of Nettlecombe, Somerset

Nettlecombe, Somerset

Nettlecombe is a civil parish in the English county of Somerset. The parish covers a rural area below the Brendon Hills, comprising the small hamlets of Woodford, Yarde and Torre together with more isolated individual farms and homes...

, by his wife Maria, daughter of Sir Thomas Spencer Wilson of Charlton, Kent. The family is Cornish

Cornish people

The Cornish are a people associated with Cornwall, a county and Duchy in the south-west of the United Kingdom that is seen in some respects as distinct from England, having more in common with the other Celtic parts of the United Kingdom such as Wales, as well as with other Celtic nations in Europe...

, deriving its name from Tre-Velian or Trevelyan, near Fowey. The baronetage

Trevelyan Baronets

There have been two Baronetcies created for members of the Trevelyan family, one in the Baronetage of England and one in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom...

 dates from 24 Jan. 1661–2.

Walter Calverley Trevelyan was educated at Harrow

Harrow

Harrow may refer to:*Harrow , an agricultural implement consisting of many spikes, tines or discs dragged across the soil-Places:* London Borough of Harrow** Harrow, London** Harrow on the Hill** North Harrow** West Harrow** Harrow Weald...

. He matriculated from University College, Oxford

University College, Oxford

.University College , is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. As of 2009 the college had an estimated financial endowment of £110m...

, on 26 April 1816, graduating B.A. in 1820 and M.A. in 1822. In the former year he proceeded to Edinburgh to continue the scientific studies which he had begun at Oxford. In 1821 he visited the Faroe Islands

Faroe Islands

The Faroe Islands are an island group situated between the Norwegian Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, approximately halfway between Scotland and Iceland. The Faroe Islands are a self-governing territory within the Kingdom of Denmark, along with Denmark proper and Greenland...

, and published in the New Philosophical Journal (1835, vol. xviii.) an account of his observations, which he reprinted in 1837 for private circulation. Between 1835 and 1846 he travelled much in the south of Europe, but in the latter year succeeded to the title and family estates in Somerset, Devon, Cornwall, and Northumberland. These were greatly improved during his tenure, for he was a generous landlord and a public-spirited agriculturist, much noted for his herd of short-horned cattle.

He was elected a fellow of the Geological Society in 1817, and was also a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh

Royal Society of Edinburgh

The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity, operating on a wholly independent and non-party-political basis and providing public benefit throughout Scotland...

 and of the Society of Antiquaries

Society of Antiquaries of London

The Society of Antiquaries of London is a learned society "charged by its Royal Charter of 1751 with 'the encouragement, advancement and furtherance of the study and knowledge of the antiquities and history of this and other countries'." It is based at Burlington House, Piccadilly, London , and is...

. For some years he was president of the United Kingdom Alliance

United Kingdom Alliance

The United Kingdom Alliance was a temperance movement in the United Kingdom founded on 20 July 1852. It was based in Manchester and sought to outlaw the alcohol trade.-History:...

. Botany and geology were his favourite sciences, but he had also an excellent knowledge of antiquities, and was a liberal supporter of all efforts for the augmentation of knowledge, among others of the erection of the museum buildings at Oxford. He was a liberal patron of the fine arts, and formed at Wallington Hall

Wallington Hall

Wallington is a country house and gardens located about west of Morpeth, Northumberland, England, near the village of Cambo. It has been owned by the National Trust since 1942, after it was donated by Sir Charles Philips Trevelyan, the first donation of its kind...

 a good collection of curious books and of specimens illustrative of natural history and ethnology. In conjunction with his cousin, Sir Charles Edward Trevelyan, he edited the Trevelyan Papers (Camden Soc. 1856, 1862, 1872), to the third part of which a valuable introductory notice is prefixed. He published, according to the Royal Society's catalogue, fifteen papers on scientific subjects, the majority dealing with geological topics in the north of England.

He died at Wallington

Wallington Hall

Wallington is a country house and gardens located about west of Morpeth, Northumberland, England, near the village of Cambo. It has been owned by the National Trust since 1942, after it was donated by Sir Charles Philips Trevelyan, the first donation of its kind...

 on 23 March 1879. He was twice married: first, on 21 May 1835, to Pauline Jermyn, daughter of the Rev. Dr. Jermyn, who died on 13 May 1866; secondly, on 11 July 1867, to Laura Capel, daughter of Capel Lofft

Capel Lofft

Capel or Capell Lofft was an English lawyer, minor political figure and miscellaneous writer.Born in London, he was educated at Eton College, and Peterhouse, Cambridge, which he left to become a member of Lincoln's Inn...

, Esq., of Troston Hall, Suffolk. As both marriages were childless, the title descended to his nephew, Sir Alfred Wilson Trevelyan (1831–1891), seventh baronet, but he left the north-country property to his cousin, Sir Charles Edward Trevelyan.

The changed will came as a surprise to Alfred, being advised at the end of a lengthy letter on the evils of alcohol, and he issued a costly and unsuccessful challenge for the title and estate. A biographer from the family notes that Walter changed his will in 1852, being impressed by his cousin's son; the young George Otto had been one of the couple's visitors and received hints of the secret will. The modest family of the civil servant, Charles, was suddenly elevated to a position of wealth and position, recorded as an important event in the history of the baronetcy.

A medallion head is introduced into the decorations of the hall at Wallington; a portrait in oils, painted by an Italian artist about 1845, is at Nettlecombe, and a small watercolour (by Millais) is in the possession of the widow of Sir A. W. Trevelyan.