DRAKE, Montague Garrard (1692-1728), of Shardeloes, nr. Amersham, Bucks.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1715-1754, ed. R. Sedgwick, 1970
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

1713 - 1722
1722 - 1727
1727 - 26 Apr. 1728

Family and Education

b. 14 Oct. 1692, o.s. of Montague Drake, M.P., of Shardeloes by Jane, da. and h. of Sir John Garrard, 3rd Bt., M.P., of Lamer, Herts. educ. St. John’s, Oxf. 1706; Grand Tour. m. 13 Oct. 1719, Isabella, da. and h. of Thomas Marshall1 of St. Michael Bassishaw, London, merchant, 3s. suc. fa. 1698.

Offices Held

Biography

The Drakes acquired Shardeloes by marriage in 1626 and the manor of Amersham by purchase in 1637.2 Four generations of the family had sat for the borough since the restoration of its representation in 1624 after a gap of 300 years. Succeeding as a child to the principal interest at Amersham, Drake was returned there unopposed as a Tory in 1713 as soon as he came of age. He was re-elected in 1715, voting against the Administration in all recorded divisions. His name was sent to the Pretender in 1721 as a probable supporter in the event of a rising;3 and he was well known to Bishop Atterbury, to whom he gave an annuity when in exile.4 The following year he was again successful at Amersham but chose to sit for the county, where he had been returned on a compromise. In 1727 ‘the populace ... were so mutinous and exasperated against the great Mr. Drake, [whom] they apprehended the chief promoter of the compromise and against the rights of the freeholders’,5 that he went back to Amersham. He died 26 Apr. 1728.

Ref Volumes: 1715-1754

Author: R. S. Lea

Notes

  • 1. Yorks. Arch. Jnl. vii. 97.
  • 2. VCH Bucks. iii. 147, 149; Lipscomb, Bucks. iii. 154-5.
  • 3. Stuart mss 65/16.
  • 4. Atterbury Mems. and Corresp. ed. F. Williams, 271-2, 274.
  • 5. Verney Letters of 18th Cent. ii. 101.