Constituency Dates
Tavistock 1715 – 1734
Bere Alston 1734 – 1741
Family and Education
bap. 2 Mar. 1694, 1st surv. s. of Sir Francis Drake, 3rd Bt., M.P., by his 3rd w. Elizabeth, da. of Sir Henry Pollexfen of Nutwell Court, Devon, c.j. of common pleas. educ. privately. m. 29 Sept. 1720 (‘with above £13,000’), Anne, da. of Samuel Heathcote of Clapton House, Hackney, Mdx., merchant, sis. of Sir William Heathcote, 1st Bt., 3s. 2da. suc. fa. as 4th Bt. Jan. 1718, and uncle Henry Pollexfen to Nutwell Court 1732.
Address
Main residence: Buckland and Nutwell Court, Devon.
biography text

Drake succeeded to an encumbered estate but was able to pay off the debt with his wife’s money.1Lady F. E. Eliott-Drake, Fam. and Heirs of Sir Francis Drake ii. 212, 217-18. Although the family controlled one seat at Bere Alston, before coming of age he was returned for Tavistock jointly on his own and the Bedford interest, voting for the septennial bill in 1716 and the repeal of the Occasional Conformity and Schism Acts in 1719, but against the peerage bill. Under Walpole he is recorded as voting only for the Hessian troops in 1729 and against the repeal of the Septennial Act in 1734. He was a member of the gaols committee of the House of Commons.2HMC Egmont Diary, i. 55. In 1734 he was turned out of Tavistock by the new Duke of Bedford, but was returned for Bere Alston. He died of pleuritic fever, 26 Jan. 1740, at his lodgings at Covent Garden.

Author
S.R.M.
Volume
Commons 1715-1754
Notes
  • 1. Lady F. E. Eliott-Drake, Fam. and Heirs of Sir Francis Drake ii. 212, 217-18.
  • 2. HMC Egmont Diary, i. 55.