Family and Education

b. 13 Sept. 1673, 1st s. of Sir William Drake*.  m. 3 Dec. 1691, Jane (d. 1724), da. and h. of Sir John Garrard, 3rd Bt.*, 2s. (1 d.v.p.) 1da.  suc. fa. 1690.1

Offices Held

Master, chirographer’s office in c.p. 1692–d.

Freeman, Hertford 1698.2

Biography

After Drake succeeded his father around his 17th birthday, the family priority appears to have been to get him married and settled. Not the least reason for this may have been the wish of his mother to remarry: mention in April 1691 of a ‘match’ between Drake and a Mrs Grenville being ‘off’ coincided with news of Lady Drake’s likely alliance with Samuel Trotman*. Drake did not remain single for long however, marrying into the Garrard family, although a later family historian surmised that ‘her father not making her fortune or portions so good as he had promised . . . occasioned some family discontents’. Indeed, although marriage articles exist for 2 Dec. 1691, a post-nuptial settlement of 16 Oct. 1694 was referred to by Drake in his will.3

At the first opportunity after his coming of age Drake was returned for his family borough. Though technically a placeman, in that he held a post in the court of common pleas which he exercised by deputy, he followed his father-in-law Garrard’s Tory politics rather than his father’s Whiggism. He was forecast as likely to oppose the government in the division of 31 Jan. 1696 on the proposed council of trade and refused the Association, for which he was removed from the Buckinghamshire bench. He also voted against fixing the price of guineas at 22s., and on 25 Nov. against the attainder of Sir John Fenwick†. Significantly, he was appointed on 1 Feb. 1697 to convey the thanks of the House to the Tory divine Dr William Lancaster for preaching to the Commons. In the Hertfordshire by-election of December 1697 he voted for the Tory Ralph Freman II*. On 15 Mar. 1698 he was given leave of absence for health reasons, but was nominated on 11 Apr. to an inquiry committee. He died on 27 June 1698, John Isham remarking: ‘Montagu Drake died last week of convulsions which I fear is in a great measure to be attributed to his drinking strong waters and that in a morning as I am told, Sir John Garrard shews little concern upon the occasion.’ Another noted that he had ‘made too free with a good constitution’ and referred to a fall from his horse on ‘the road near Acton’, the effects of which contributed to his death. His inventory, mainly of his lodgings in Brewer Street, St. James’s, came to £625, with a further £735 being granted to Sir John Garrard, mostly from Shardeloes. In his will Drake appointed Sir John Garrard, his uncle John Drake*, Simon Harcourt I*, William Jennens* and Belzial Knight as trustees to pay his legacies and debts. However, since his estate was encumbered with debts amounting to £14,800, this proved too complex a task and necessitated a private Act in 1707 to enable his widow and his uncle, John Drake, to sell the Kentish property which had come to him at his marriage. The residue of the money, after debts had been settled, went to his son Montagu Garrard Drake*.4

Ref Volumes: 1690-1715

Authors: Eveline Cruickshanks / Stuart Handley

Notes

• 1. Lipscomb, Bucks. iii. 155, 169; Burke, Commoners, i. 582; BL, Verney mss mic. 636/45, John Verney* (Ld. Fermanagh) to Sir Ralph Verney, 1st Bt.†, 9 Dec. 1691; HMC Lords, n.s. vii. 47.
• 2. Herts. RO, Hertford bor. recs. 25/100.
• 3. Add. 70149, Lady Pye to Abigail Harley, 11 Apr. 1691; Shardeloes Pprs. ed. Eland, 70; Bucks. Probate Inventories (Bucks. Rec. Soc. xxiv), 263; PCC 261 Lort.
• 4. L. K. J. Glassey, Appt. JPs, 123; Bodl. Carte 79, f. 682; Herts. RO, Q/PE/2, f. 3; Lipscomb, 168–9; Northants. RO, Isham mss IC 1579, John to Sir Justinian Isham, 4th Bt.*, 5 July 1698; Bucks. Recs. xiv. 352; Bucks. Probate Inventories, 258, 262, 271; PCC 263 Lort; Bucks. RO, D/Dr/9/12; HMC Lords, 47–48.