Mary Evans

Mary Evans was born on 1 Feb 1799 in the Red Lion Inn in Wolverhampton, the eldest daughter of Richard Evans and Sarah Styles.

She married Richard Hope Price on 30 Sep 1822 and as far as we can tell only had one child Richard Hope Price, the younger, born in 1824.

Both her husband and son were attorneys. The relationship between Mary’s father Richard Evans and his son-in-laws appears a little enigmatic. In his will of 1841 he treats Richard Hope Price at arms length, expllicitly ring fencing money for Mary under the trusteeship of his eldest son Richard and his two other son-in-laws John Philip Smith, a farmer, and George Edwardes, a surgeon.

Richard Evans had become a very rich man managing the most important coaching Inn in Wolverhampton and he must have been an astute businessman. His judge of character was therefore a key part in this. It is therefore interesting to note that the London Gaxette records Richard Hope Price, the younger, went bankrupt in 1858 and he appears to have decamped to the Isle of Man by the 1861 census. It is easy to understand how industrialists and buisnessman were declared bankrupt – for a solicitor it seems surprising. In the same 1861 census, Mary herself is recorded as a visitor at her sister Elizabeth Smith in Lower Wick, Worcestershire whilst her husband is in Codsall.

The role of Mary in this period can only be surmised but she continued to live in the centre of Wolverhampton after her husband died in 1865. She eventually died there in 1880. There is a memorial inscription to all three members of the Price family in St Peter’s Collegiate Church, Wolverhampton.

Family of Richard Hope PRICE and Mary EVANS