Drake baronets

There have been four baronetcies created for people with the surname Drake, three in the Baronetage of England and one in the Baronetage of Great Britain.

The Drake Baronetcy of Buckland, in the County of Devon, was created in the Baronetage of England on 2 August 1622 for Francis Drake, nephew of the privateer and explorer Sir Francis Drake. The first baronet was also a Member of Parliament, as were all his successors. The baronets' seat was originally Buckland Abbey, Sir Francis Drake's home, but upon their inheritance of Nutwell Court, near Exeter, the Drakes ceased to live year-round at Buckland. A daughter of the fourth baronet was the wife of George Augustus Eliott, 1st Baron Heathfield, the defender of Gibraltar, and their descendants ultimately inherited both Buckland Abbey and Nutwell Court. The baronetcy became dormant, and probably extinct, on the death of the fifth baronet in 1794.

The family relationship or otherwise of Drake of Buckland to the more ancient family of Drake of Ash in the parish of Musbury, Devon, is illustrated by the famous story concerning the admiral's choice of armorials. After having received his knighthood, Drake the admiral unilaterally adopted the armorials of the ancient Devon family of Drake of Ash, near Musbury, to whom he claimed a distant but unspecified kinship. These arms were: Argent, a wyvern wings displayed and tail nowed gules. The head of that family, also a distinguished sailor, Sir Bernard Drake (d.1586), angrily refuted Sir Francis's claimed kinship and his right to bear his family's arms. That dispute led to "a box in the ear" being given to Sir Francis by Sir Bernard at court, as recorded by John Prince in his "Worthies of Devon" (1697). Queen Elizabeth, in order to assuage matters, awarded Sir Francis his own coat of arms, blazoned as follows:

...
Wikipedia