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, ...

, 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. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

Tory 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. ...

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 within the unitary authority of Buckinghamshire, England, in the Chiltern Hills, northwest of central London, from Aylesbury and from High Wycombe. Amersham is part of the London commuter belt. ...

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...

and his wife Jane Garrard, daughter of

Sir John Garrard, 3rd Baronet Sir John Garrard, 3rd Baronet (1638–1701), was an English politician. Garrard was the eldest son of Sir John Garrard, 2nd Baronet, of the Garrard baronets and Jane Lambard, daughter of Sir Moulton Lambard, and educated at Christ Church, Oxfo ...

. 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 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 founder, Sir Thomas White, intended to pro ...

on 16 July 1706 aged 15 and was awarded MA on 16 July 1709. From 1710 to 1712, he undertook the

Grand Tour The Grand Tour was the principally 17th- to early 19th-century custom of a traditional trip through Europe, with Italy as a key destination, undertaken by upper-class young European men of sufficient means and rank (typically accompanied by a tuto ...

visiting Netherlands, Italy, Switzerland and France between 1710 and 1712 studying at

Padua Padua ( ; it, Padova ; vec, Pàdova) is a city and ''comune'' in Veneto, northern Italy. Padua is on the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice. It is the capital of the province of Padua. It is also the economic and communications hub of the ...

in 1710. Drake was returned unopposed 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 of ...

for

at the

1713 British general election The 1713 British general election produced further gains for the governing Tory party. Since 1710 Robert Harley had led a government appointed after the downfall of the Whig Junto, attempting to pursue a moderate and non-controversial policy, b ...

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 i ...

and in 1722, 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 Flemish sculptor who worked for most of his life in London. His public and church sculptures in a classicist style had an important influenc ...

.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 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 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