In 1740, at the age of 17, Sir Francis Henry Drake of Buckland and Nutwell in Devon succeeded his father as Baronet and in due course followed him as MP for Bere Alston. This volume presents 320 letters written to Sir Francis between 1740 and 1778 by his Devon overseer, Nicholas Rowe, and by his London agent, William Hudson, who was a well-known apothecary and botanist and author of Flora Anglica (1762).

The early letters from Devon have much to say about elections and related property dealings in the pocket borough of Bere Alston, while the later ones centre on Sir Francis’s reshaping of Nutwell Court and its gardens.

Health matters are an issue throughout, and the letters from London are a rich source of information on eighteenth-century medical practice in the city as well as in the country. They also informed Sir Francis about London society and parliamentary business during the months he spent in Devon.

Taken as a whole, they offer a rich insight into eighteenth-century life both in Devon and in London.

CHARITY SCOTT-STOKES (M.A., D.Phil.) is a retired university lecturer, secondary school teacher, free-lance translator and editor. ALAN LUMB (B.A., M.A.) is a retired sociology lecturer and secondary school teacher with special interests in vernacular architecture, plants and gardens.