Constituency Dates
Exeter 1713 – 1734
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 Vivian, Vis. Devon, 307; Burke, Commoners, iv. 624; IGI, Devon.
Offices Held

Freeman, Exeter 1699, Totnes 1712; dep. recorder, Totnes 1709–18.2 Trans. Devon Assoc. lxii. 212.

Address
Main residences: Exeter; the Grange, Broadhembury, Devon.
biography text

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 Ibid. 212; EHR, xlv. 26–72; HMC Exeter, 88; Gent. Mag. 1734, p. 511.

Author
E.C.
Volume
Commons 1690-1715
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.