Family and Education

b. c.1674, 1st s. of Rev. Edward Drewe, canon of Exeter and adn. of Cornw., by Joan, da. and coh. of Anthony Sparrow, bp. of Exeter; nephew of Thomas Drewe*.  educ. Corpus Christi, Oxf. matric. 2 Aug. 1690, aged 16; M. Temple 1691, called 1697, bencher 1723.  m. 7 Jan. 1695, Mary, da. of Humphrey Bidgood of Rockbeare, nr. Exeter, Devon, 2s. 3da.  suc. fa. 1714.1

Offices Held

Freeman, Exeter 1699, Totnes 1712; dep. recorder, Totnes 1709–18.2

Biography

Drewe’s father, a member of the cathedral chapter at Exeter, had inherited the Grange in 1710 after the deaths of his two elder brothers. He was a staunch High Churchman, who was connected with George Granville*, the leader of the Cornish Tories and had campaigned in Exeter in the 1705 election on behalf of the Tackers Sir Edward Seymour, 4th Bt.*, and John Snell I*. Francis Drewe himself had begun his career as a barrister in the city. His father’s influence and his own financial assistance to the corporation presumably played a key part in his being returned unopposed in 1713. An inactive Member in his first Parliament, he was given leave of absence for a month on 10 May 1714. The Worsley list described him as a Tory and he continued to represent Exeter in the Tory interest until shortly before his death on 13 Sept. 1734.3

Ref Volumes: 1690-1715

Author: Eveline Cruickshanks

Notes

• 1. Vivian, Vis. Devon, 307; Burke, Commoners, iv. 624; IGI, Devon.
• 2. Trans. Devon Assoc. lxii. 212.
• 3. Ibid. 212; EHR, xlv. 26–72; HMC Exeter, 88; Gent. Mag. 1734, p. 511.