Drake, William Richard, Sir (1817 -1890)

Sir William Richard Drake, of Oatlands Lodge, Surrey, was the eldest son of William Drake, Esq., of Gray's Inn in London and of Barnstaple, and Frances, daughter of Robert Lincoln, of Crowland, Lincolnshire. Educated at Reading School, he was admitted attorney in 1843. He married Katherine Stewart Forbes, daughter of Richard Thomas Goodwin, 8 August 1846. He was a Treasurer of County Courts, became a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries 17 February 1848, and contributed to the periodical Archæologia. A Knight Commander of the Italian Orders of SS. Maurizio and Lazzaro, and of the Corona d'Italia, a Knight of the Austrian Order of the Iron Crown, and the 2nd class of the Turkish Order of the Medjidie, he was knighted 6 September 1869 at the instance of Mr Gladstone. The heraldic and genealogical library of Sir William Drake, F.S.A. was sold by Sotheby, Wilkinson and Hodge 24 February 1893.