Montague Garrard Drake (1692–1728), of

Shardeloes Shardeloes is a large 18th-century country house located one mile west of Amersham in Buckinghamshire, England (). A previous manor house on the site was demolished and the present building constructed between 1758 and 1766 for William Drake, th ...

, near Amersham, Buckinghamshire was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

Tory politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, 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 ...

between 1713 and 1728.

Life

Drake was the only surviving son of Montagu Drake MP of Shardeloes, near

Amersham Amersham ( ) is a market town and civil parish in Buckinghamshire, England, in the Chiltern Hills, northwest of central London, south-east of Aylesbury and north-east of High Wycombe. Amersham is part of the London commuter belt. There ar ...

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (, abbreviated ''Bucks'') is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-east, Hertfordshir ...

and his wife Jane Garrard, daughter of Sir John Garrard, 3rd Baronet. His father died in 1698 and he succeeded to the estates. He was educated privately under Philip Ayres and matriculated at

St John's College, Oxford St John's College is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded as a men's college in 1555, it has been coeducational since 1979.Communication from Michael Riordan, college archivist Its foun ...

on 16 July 1706 aged 15 and was awarded MA on 16 July 1709. From 1710 to 1712, he undertook the Grand Tour visiting Netherlands, Italy, Switzerland and France between 1710 and 1712 studying at

Padua Padua ( ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Veneto, northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Padua. The city lies on the banks of the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice and southeast of Vicenza, and has a population of 20 ...

in 1710. Drake was returned unopposed as Member of Parliament for

at the

1713 British general election The 1713 British general election was held on 22 August 1713 to 12 November 1713, to elect members of the House of Commons, the lower house of the Parliament of Great Britain. It produced further gains for the governing Tory party. Since 1710 R ...

as soon as he came of age. He was re-elected in

1715 Events For dates within Great Britain and the British Empire, as well as in the Russian Empire, the "old style" Julian calendar was used in 1715, and can be converted to the "new style" Gregorian calendar (adopted in the British Empire in ...

and in

1722 Events January–March * January 27 – Daniel Defoe's novel '' Moll Flanders'' is published anonymously in London. * February 10 – The Battle of Cape Lopez begins off of the coast of West Africa (and present-day Gabon), ...

, but in 1722 decided to sit for

instead. He voted against the Administration in all recorded divisions. However, at the

1727 British general election The 1727 British general election returned members to serve in the House of Commons of the 7th Parliament of Great Britain to be summoned, after the merger of the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland in 1707. The election was trigg ...

, it was said that the populace were mutinous and so exasperated with the great Mr. Drake, homthey considered the chief promoter of the compromise and against the rights of the freeholders that he decided to return to Amersham where he was elected in 1727. Drake's tomb in Amersham was designed and sculpted by

Peter Scheemakers Peter Scheemakers or Pieter Scheemaeckers II or the Younger (10 January 1691 – 12 September 1781) was a Southern Netherlands, Flemish sculptor who worked for most of his life in London. His public and church sculptures in a classicism, classici ...

.dictionary of British Sculptors 1660-1851 by rupert Gunnis

Family

Drake married Isabella Marshall daughter of Thomas Marshall merchant of St. Michael Bassishaw, London on 13 October 1719. He died at Bath on 26 April 1728. His son

William William is a masculine given name of Germanic languages, Germanic origin. It became popular in England after the Norman Conquest, Norman conquest in 1066,All Things William"Meaning & Origin of the Name"/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle ...

was also MP for Amersham.

References

1692 births 1728 deaths People from Amersham Alumni of St John's College, Oxford British MPs 1713–1715 British MPs 1715–1722 British MPs 1722–1727 British MPs 1727–1734 Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies {{England-GreatBritain-MP-stub