Sir Edward Pellew, Viscount Exmouth

Edward Pellew was born in Dover on 19 April 1757 and died at Teignmouth on 23 January 1833. He served in the Royal Navy, was made a baronet in 1796, Baron Exmouth of Canonteign in 1814 and Viscount Exmouth on 10 December 1816.

That last title followed the bombardment of Algiers, where in 1816 he led an Anglo-Dutch fleet against the city. Wikipedia says the action freed 1,200 Christian slaves. Figures for the number freed vary between accounts.

The Dartmoor link is his land. He bought the manors of Canonteign and Christow from William Helyar in 1812 (one history of the estate says 1811). The estate lies in the Teign valley, on what Wikipedia calls the eastern edge of Dartmoor, and his title "of Canonteign" comes from it. He lived at Bitton House in Teignmouth rather than on the estate. His son, the 2nd Viscount, had Canonteign House built in 1828.

Canonteign Falls is often tied to the family, but the waterfall came later. It was made in 1890, 57 years after Pellew died, when a stream was diverted over a cliff edge under the 3rd Lady Exmouth. He was buried at Christow on 30 January 1833, and the church holds monuments to him and to his son, who died the same year.