(1764 - 1821), diplomat, of Wells, Som.; served in the army as a young man; min.plen. Genoa 1793 - 7; m. 1795 Eliza-Anne Mackworth.
1793 - 7 Novi, Genoa (15 Aug. 1793 - ) [Toulon 10 Nov. - Dec. 1793] Leghorn (6 Dec. 1793 - 14 Mar. 1794), Florence (25 Mar. - 10 Apr.), Leghorn (12 - 21 Apr.), Milan (5 - 13 May), Turin (24 - 31 May), Milan (10 Jun. - 30 Jul.) [Corsica, Aug.] Leghorn (27 Aug. - 5 Sep.), Florence (7 Sep.), Milan (12 Sep. - ), Genoa (Sep. and 5 Oct. - 20 Nov. 1794) [England] Genoa (29 Jun. - 4 Dec. 1795), Milan (early 1796), Bergamo (9 May), Brescia (10 May), Verona, Venice (3 Jun. 1796 - 22 Feb. 1797)
After a four-year gap in diplomatic relations, Drake arrived in Genoa as British minister plenipotentiary on 15 August 1793.1 He was officially listed as holding this position until December 1795, after which, according to his recorded movements, he appears to have held a roving diplomatic commission, with Joseph Brame acting as his charg? d'affaires in Genoa. The French wars dominated his periods of office.
According to Lady Berwick, Drake was 'a regular man' who knew 'all expenses' being, in his own words, of small fortune. Lord Granville Leveson Gower, who met him in Leghorn in January 1794, formed 'a good opinion of his abilities' as Drake talked of the importance of preventing 'any little neutral power' from undermining the allies' endeavour to blockade France.2 He was on leave in England in the first part of 1795 when he married Lady Mackworth's daughter, Eliza-Anne. Together they sailed back to Genoa at the end of June.3 Drake had presented credentials to the Archduke Ferdinand of Parma at Milan on 14 September 17941 and from September 1795 to May 1796 Drake was also acting as a commissioner with the Austrian army in Italy. On 23 December 1795 Lady Berwick described an incident in which the Drakes had been surrounded in a country house near Genoa (it is unclear whether by local Jacobins or French forces) and had only escaped through Austrian intervention with a 'a price' remaining on Drake's head.4 Thereafter the Drakes lived in Lombardy, but since Mrs Drake 'hated' Milan ('I believe she had rather be masacred by ye French than remain [there] any longer') a house was taken for a year at Como.5 Drake was not forthcoming on behalf of British travellers and at this time he gave some offence, which was not unduly difficult, to Lady Maynard.5 In May 1796 the Drakes travelled from Milan to Verona via Bergamo and Brescia, accompanied by Lord [Henry?] Fitzgerald and Francis Hill.6 That same month Mrs Drake travelled through Mantua, Verona, Vicenza and Padua where she was to stay a few weeks with her mother, Lady Mackworth.7 From June 1796 to February 1797 Drake 'and family' were based in Venice, visiting Padua in June and Conegliano in July.8 In November and December 1796 Francis Hill described Drake as too ill to submit reports on the war.9 The Drakes left Venice for Udine on 22 February 1797.(10) In November Genoa had passed into French control.
1. Horn 2:55 - 6. 2. Granville Letters, 1:844 - 5. 3. Add. 39793, f.41. 4. Attingham MSS (Ldy. Berwick, 23 Dec. 1795). 5. Ibid. (10 Mar. 1796). 6. ASV IS 782. 7. ASV IS 777, 783. 8. ASV IS 778, 779 and 780. 9. Add.41199, ff.47, 49, 51. 10. ASV IS 781.