Sir Francis Drake, 1st Baronet

{{Short description|English politician}}

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{{Use British English|date=February 2017}}

Sir Francis Drake, 1st Baronet (1588 – 11 March 1637) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons in two parliaments between 1625 and 1629.

Drake was the son of Thomas Drake of Buckland Abbey, Devon and his wife, Elizabeth Gregory, widow of John Elford. His father was the brother of Sir Francis Drake and accompanied him in his sea adventures.[https://archive.org/stream/familyheirsofsir01fulluoft#page/130/mode/2up The Family and Heirs of Sir Francis Drake, p. 130] He was baptised at Buckland Monachorum on 16 September 1588. He matriculated at Exeter College, Oxford on 23 November 1604, aged 15, and was of Lincoln's Inn in 1606.[http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=117056 'Alumni Oxonienses, 1500-1714: Disbrowe-Dyve', Alumni Oxonienses 1500-1714: Abannan-Kyte (1891), pp. 406-439]. Accessed 24 March 2011.

In 1622, King James sought to make up the money denied him by parliament, by seeking voluntary contributions from the gentry and the petty nobility. Following this, Drake was created baronet on 2 August 1622.[https://archive.org/stream/familyheirsofsir01fulluoft#page/210/mode/2up The Family and Heirs of Sir Francis Drake, p. 210]

In 1624, Drake was elected Member of Parliament for Plympton Erle. He was elected MP for Devon in 1628 and sat until 1629 when King Charles decided to rule without parliament for eleven years.{{Cite Notitia Parliamentaria|converted=1|part=2|pages=229–239}} He was High Sheriff of Devon in 1633.[https://archive.org/stream/familyheirsofsir01fulluoft#page/238/mode/2up The Family and Heirs of Sir Francis Drake, p. 238]

In 1628, he compiled the first detailed account of his uncle's circumnavigation, The World Encompassed by Sir Francis Drake, based on his uncle's journal, the notes of Francis Fletcher, and other sources.{{Cite web|date=1628|title=The World Encompassed by Sir Francis Drake, Being His Next Voyage to That to Nombre de Dios Formerly Imprinted: Carefully Collected out of the Notes of Master Francis Fletcher, Preacher in This Imployment|url=https://www.wdl.org/en/item/624/|access-date=7 October 2020|website=wdl.org}}{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=The World Encompassed by Sir Francis Drake|url=http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/amerbegin/contact/text5/drake.pdf|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=|website=National Humanities Center}}

Drake married, firstly, to Jane Bampfield, who died in 1613, and secondly, to Joan Stroud, daughter of Sir William Stroud of Newnham. His son, Francis, succeeded to the baronetcy.