The book opens by examining the geographical and historical isolation of Cornwall, noting how its Celtic roots and wild coast have bred a hardy, independent race. This isolation, combined with underground mining life and seafaring traditions, fostered a remarkable degree of originality, producing world-famous scientists, daring smugglers, and eccentric local figures.
The volume chronicles the lives of lesser-known luminaries rather than the most famous sons of Cornwall, serving as a companion to Devonshire Characters. Among the figures explored are William Pengelly, the geologist whose patient excavations in Kent's Cavern startled Victorian England with the antiquity of man; General Sir Charles Wills, who commanded the royal forces against the Jacobites at Preston; and Lieutenant Goldsmith, nephew of Oliver, whose wanton prank of toppling the Logan Rock brought him near ruin.
Other notable accounts include Hugh Peters, the regicide whose stormy career linked New England commerce with the execution of Charles King of England; James Polkinghorne, the celebrated champion wrestler who threw the Devonshire champion before seventeen thousand spectators; and Henry Trengrouse, the cabinet-maker whose lifelong crusade to perfect the life-saving rocket apparatus cost him his fortune.
The narrative also delves into local mysteries, such as the famous Botathan ghost investigated by Parson Ruddle, and the eccentric existence of Daniel Gumb, who carved his dwelling out of the solid granite near the Cheesewring. We read of Laurence Braddon's tireless quest to expose the truth behind the death of the Earl of Essex, and of Thomasine Bonaventura, the shepherd girl who rose to become Lady Mayor of London and founded a school in her native parish.
The volume continues through dozens of varied lives, including the murder of Nevill Norway, the strange enterprise of the Algiers pirates at Penzance, the scandalous story of Dame Killigrew, and the scientific labours of John Ralfs and George Carter Bignell. It details the life of John Couch Adams, who discovered the planet Neptune through mathematics, and concludes with a vast array of forgotten local figures whose stories preserve the eccentric spirit of the duchy.
