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Catalogue description DRAKE OF BUCKLAND ABBEY
This record is held by Devon Archives and Local Studies Service (South West Heritage Trust)
| Reference: | 346M |
|---|---|
| Title: | DRAKE OF BUCKLAND ABBEY |
| Description: |
The Drake records as they now exist in the Devon Record Office contain hardly anything relating to the founder of the family. The little that survived among the family papers, mainly relating to the acquisition of Buckland Abbey, was not deposited with the rest of the collection and has since been sold. However, they are still of significant interest in depicting the history of an important Devon family and estate. The deposited records bear the impress, in their arrangement and selection, of Lady Elizabeth Fuller-Eliott-Drake and her extensive notes, transcripts and collections towards the family history form a substantial part of the collection. It is evident that Lady Drake not only arranged the documents but also destroyed many, particularly deeds and leases. Family letters are well represented and amongst these is a good series of correspondence dealing with the organization of electoral patronage in the pocket borough of Bere Alston. There are also deeds and leases relating to this town which show how burgages were conveyed in trust in order to create votes. Many of the family and legal documents, such as deeds of trust and settlements, illustrate the alliances with other important local families which were thought to be crucially important at the time and the extent to which the estate was burdened with charges for dower and younger children' portions. In 1680, conveyances in trust were hastily arranged to shield the 3rd baronet from the consequences of the political enmity of the Duke of York, later James II. A more unusual survival in the collection is four volumes of letters and memorials, 1774-1787, relating to the siege of Gibraltar when General Eliott, Lord Heathfield, was the Governor. 346M/M1-281 Manorial Yarcombe and Knightshayne, Nutwell, Littleham and Exmouth; Sherford; Bere Alston 346M/F1-895 Family Drake: letters, accounts, Lady Drake's collections, deeds and papers Pollexfen: deeds and papers 346M/O1-19 Public Office J.P.s, Commissions, Quit rolls 346M/E1-897 Estate 346M/P1-7 Maps and Plans 346M/T1-1443 Title Deeds Bere Ferrers, Bere Alston, Buckland Monachorum, Meavy, Nutwell estates, Plymouth, Sherford estate, Tavistock, Werrington estates, small properties in Devon, Outcounty 346M/Z1-29 Miscellaneous |
| Date: | 13th cent -1910 |
| Held by: | Devon Archives and Local Studies Service (South West Heritage Trust), not available at The National Archives |
| Language: | English |
| Creator: |
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| Physical description: | 3571 Files |
| Publication note: |
For a guide to the Drake papers in this collection see: Lady Elizabeth Fuller-Eliott-Drake, **EMPH**The Family and Heirs of Sir Francis Drake**/EMPH**, 2 vols., London, 1911 This published history is referred to in catalogue entries as Lady Elizabeth Fuller-Eliott-Drake: "The Family and Heirs of Sir Francis Drake", 2 Vols., London, 1911, followed by volume and page no. |
| Administrative / biographical background: |
The fortunes of the Drake family of Buckland were founded by Sir Francis Drake, the famous Elizabethan seaman. He bought Buckland Abbey in Buckland Monachorum, which became the family seat, from Sir Richard Grenville, and also purchased lands in Yarcombe. Nutwell Court in Lympstone was acquired by inheritance and became the family's main residence after 1732. The direct line came to an end on the death of Sir Francis Henry Drake in 1794 and the properties passed to the Elliot family, through the family of General George Augustus Eliott, Baron Heathfield, Francis' brother-in-law, and from them to Thomas Trayton Fuller who, on becoming a baronet in 1821, took the additional names of Eliott-Drake. The family remained at Nutwell until the 20th century. |
| Link to NRA Record: |
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