Richard Stevens (1702-1776)

Richard Stevens (1702–1776) of Winscott in the parish of Peters Marland, Devon, was Member of Parliament for Callington in Cornwall (1761–1768).

He was the second son of Richard Stevens (c. 1670 – 1727) of Vielstone in the parish of Buckland Brewer, Devon, (son of Henry Stevens (1617-post 1675) of Vielstone by his wife Judith Hancock (1650–1676), daughter of John Hancock lord of the manor of Combe Martin.) His elder brother was Henry Stevens (1689–1748) of Cross, Little Torrington and Smithacott in the parish of .

No entry for the Stevens family exists in the 1620 Heraldic Visitation of Devon, and thus the family's pedigree is not officially recorded, and the family must be assumed not to have been counted amongst the gentry of Devon at that time, or to have settled in the county after that date. The earliest record of the Stevens family in Devon is as follows:

He was the chief agent in charge of the estates centred on Heanton Satchville, Petrockstowe belonging to the wealthy heiress Margaret Rolle, suo jure 15th Baroness Clinton (1709–1781). Her first husband was Robert Walpole, 2nd Earl of Orford eldest son of Robert Walpole the first Prime Minister. She lived briefly at the Walpole's palatial residence Houghton Hall in Norfolk, built by Robert Walpole in 1722, but on the failure of her marriage she moved abroad to Italy. Thus she required a trustworthy agent in Devon to manage her affairs, which included estates in Devon and Cornwall. The Rolle family controlled one of the seats in the rotten borough of Callington in Cornwall, and at the 1761 general election Richard Stevens was returned on her interest as one of its members of Parliament. He held the seat until 1768.

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