William Drake (1723–1796), was a British politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

for 50 years between 1746 and 1796, eventually becoming Father of the House. Drake was the son of

Montague Garrard Drake Montague Garrard Drake (1692–1728), of Shardeloes, near Amersham, Buckinghamshire was a British Tory politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1713 and 1728. Life Drake was the only surviving son of Montagu Drake MP of Shardeloes, ...

, MP of Shardeloes, Buckinghamshire and his wife Isabella Marshall and was born on 12 May 1723. His father died when he was five. He was educated at

Westminster School (God Gives the Increase) , established = Earliest records date from the 14th century, refounded in 1560 , type = Public school Independent day and boarding school , religion = Church of England , head_label = Hea ...

in 1738. He matriculated at Brasenose College, Oxford on 2 October 1739 aged 16 and was created DCL on 12 April 1749. The Drake family controlled both seats at Amersham and in 1746 he was returned as

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

for Amersham. From then on he was returned at every election until his death. Shardloes Mansion - geograph

Between 1758 and 1768 he rebuilt the house at Shardeloes in the

Palladian Palladian architecture is a European architectural style derived from the work of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580). What is today recognised as Palladian architecture evolved from his concepts of symmetry, perspective and ...

style, of stuccoed brick. The architect and builder was

Stiff Leadbetter Stiff Leadbetter (c.1705–18 August 1766) was a British architect and builder, one of the most successful architect–builders of the 1750s and 1760s, working for many leading aristocratic families. Career Leadbetter's career began when he was ...

and designs for interior decorations were provided by

Robert Adam Robert Adam (3 July 17283 March 1792) was a British neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam (1689–1748), Scotland's foremost architect of the time, and trained under him. With his ...

. Drake died on 8 August 1796. He had married Elizabeth Raworth, daughter of John Raworth of Basinghall St., London on 9 February 1747 and had 5 sons and 3 daughters. His eldest son

William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

was MP for Amersham with him from 1768, but predeceased him in 1795. Shardeloes passed to his second son,

Thomas Drake Tyrwhitt-Drake Captain Thomas Drake Tyrwhitt-Drake (14 January 1749 – 18 October 1810) born Thomas Drake, later Thomas Drake Tyrwhitt, was a British Member of Parliament (MP) for Amersham from 1795 to 1810. Early life and family Thomas Drake was born on 1 ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Drake, William 1723 births 1796 deaths People educated at Westminster School, London Alumni of Brasenose College, Oxford British MPs 1754–1761 British MPs 1761–1768 British MPs 1768–1774 British MPs 1774–1780 British MPs 1780–1784 British MPs 1784–1790 British MPs 1790–1796 Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies