John Edgcumbe

The cover of the 2000 edition of the letters of Joshua Reynolds co-edited by Edgcumbe.

John Oliver Pearce Edgcumbe (1920 – 18 October 2001) was a British medical practitioner who became Devon's first consultant haematologist. He was a collateral descendant of the painter Joshua Reynolds and co-edited, with John Ingamells, a new edition of the letters of Sir Joshua, the first for over 70 years.

Early life and family John Edgcumbe was born in Teignmouth in 1920, a collateral descendant of Joshua Reynolds. He married Teryll ) Thomas and they had a son and a daughter.

Career Edgcumbe qualified in medicine from Cambridge/The London Hospital in 1946. He received his MD in 1952. He originally leaned towards neurology and won the Queen Square Prize for Neurology in 1954, but decided to specialise instead in haematology and became Devon's first consultant haematologist. After he retired, Edgcumbe held a visiting fellowship at the Yale Center for British Art in order to complete the work. Records relating to the editing of the book are held at the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, Yale University.

Edgcumbe was a member of the Reynolds Society and the Johnson Club.

Publications The letters of Sir Joshua Reynolds. Yale University Press, New Haven, 2000. (Editor with John Ingamells)