John Land
John Land (c1731-1817), proprietor of the New London Inn
1800 Takes over the Seven Stars Inn at Totnes.[1]
1817 January 25th. Died. '...Mr. John Land, Master of the New London Inn, in this city: He had nearly completed his 87th year, and had always enjoyed uninterrupted health and spirits, until within the last two or three years, since which (the infirmities of age having prevented him from taking his accustomed exercise) he has been gradually declining, and expired at last without a struggle. He was the most opulent, and we believe the oldest innkeeper in the West of England, having carried on the business with the greatest respectability and unvarying success for considerably more than half a century. Honest integrity, and plain sincerity, marked all his transactions, which rendered him highly esteemed, not only by his fellow-citizens, and the principal gentry of this county, but by the first characters in the kingdom, who were in the habit of frequenting his house. By a long life of indefatigable application to his extensive concerns, and a strict attention to the comforts of his guests, he had acquired a very large fortune, which he has bequeathed to his relatives...'[2]