Family and Education

b. 14 Oct. 1692, 1st and o. surv. s. of Montagu Drake*.  educ. private tutor (Philip Ayres); St. John’s, Oxf. 1706, MA 1709; Padua 1710; travelled abroad (Netherlands, Italy, Switzerland, France) 1710–12.  m. 13 Oct. 1719 (with £30,000), Isabella (d. 1744), da. and h. of Thomas Marshall (d. 1712), merchant, of St. Michael Bassishaw, London, wid., 3s. (1 d.v.p.).  suc. fa. 1698.1

Offices Held

Master, chirographer’s office in c.p. 1698–d.

Biography

Drake benefited from the private Act passed in 1707 to dispose of the family’s Kentish estates, amendments being tabled to ensure that he profited from any surplus gained by the sale after debts had been paid. Coming from an influential Tory family, Drake was thought of as a future candidate for the county as early as December 1707, and he was able to enter Parliament two months before his 21st birthday at the general election of 1713, when his great-uncle John* stepped down from the family seat at Amersham. Thus he was of age when the Parliament sat. However, he made little impact on the 1714 session, with no recorded intervention in debate. He supported the compromise drawn up in October 1714 whereby the county representation was divided between the parties. He was re-elected in 1715, when the Worsley list described him as a Tory, and also appeared as such in a list of the Members returned again in 1715. He voted consistently with the opposition under the Hanoverians and died at Bath on 26 Apr. 1728, being succeeded by his son, William†.2

Ref Volumes: 1690-1715

Authors: Eveline Cruickshanks / Stuart Handley

Notes

• 1. HMC Lords n.s. x. 248; Lipscomb, Bucks. iii. 155; Shardeloes Pprs. ed. Eland, 70–71, 143; Egerton 3339, f. 111; Add. 22229, f. 103; Bucks. RO, D/Dr/9/16; 10/3; Westminster Abbey (Harl. Soc. Reg. x), 44; Yorks. Arch. Soc. vii. 97; Burke, Commoners, i. 582; Verney Letters 18th Cent. ii. 75.
• 2. HMC Lords, n.s. vii. 47–48; Bodl. Ballard 10, f. 155; Verney Letters 18th Cent. i. 317; The Gen. n.s. vii. 158; Nichols, Lit. Anec. i. 206.