The Amazing Edmund Drake

Vicar of Upchurch 1560-1567

One of the first things you will be told about local history when you visit Upchurch is that Sir Francis Drake's father was vicar of the village church. Unfortunately, little more information is usually given. So who was this man whose son gained world fame as a sea faring adventurer and pirate?  He was certainly not a conventional priest as demonstrated by his escape from Devon after criminal activity, living on a shipwreck and then becoming a village vicar with a wife and twelve children.

Edmund Drake was born into a Devonshire farming family in 1514 and was brought up at Crowndale Farm near Tavistock comprising of 157 acres of land. The family was well off by contemporary standards and the Lay Subsidy Rolls of 1524 show that Edmund personally possessed £4 worth of goods when aged ten.

Memories of Upchurch.

Edmund became a shearman in the cloth industry for a while but there was only part time work in Tavistock and he disliked it. After what was believed to be a brief period in farming he decided to enter the clergy. He was born a Catholic but after the religious changes made during the reign of Henry VIII he converted to Protestantism at an early age. Little information is available about his ordination as a vicar, the date or precise details of his work but it is known that he became a lay preacher in Devon for a while and was vehemently anti Catholic, a trait that his son Francis inherited. In 1539 he got married and had twelve children. His son Francis was the eldest. During these years Edmund struggled. He had a family to maintain but was unable to live well on his income. This was probably because he was initially unable to enter or advance in the clergy because he was married. Although celibacy in the clergy was formally abolished in the Church of England in 1549, Mary Tudor revived it in the early 1550s during her attempt to reintroduce Catholicism to England. Elizabeth 1 later relaxed the requirement during the 1560s.

According to the English Patent Rolls of 1548, Edmund, with the help of two accomplices, attacked a man named Roger Langiford just outside Tavistock on April 16th 1548. After beating him with staves and swords they stole his purse containing twenty one shillings and seven pence. Nine days later Edmund was involved in another incident when he and an accomplice attacked a man named John Harte at Peter Tavy near Tavistock. They stole his horse worth £3. However, in December 1548 Edmund was pardoned of both crimes. The reason is not clear but it was probably due to influence and money. Edmund's father knew the Abbot of Tavistock and Lord Russell who later became godfather to Edmund's son Francis.

Because of the Catholic rebellion in Devon against the imposition of the New English Prayer Book in 1549 Edmund, who may have suffered religious persecution, fled to Plymouth then took refuge in Kent. He found a home in the hulk of an old ship on the banks of the river Medway and became a prayer reader to seamen and shipwrights in Chatham. Edmund later applied to the Church authorities in Canterbury to become vicar of Upchurch. He succeeded and took up the position on June 25^th 1560. It is not clear how he managed to do this, particularly with regard to his past misconduct but influence and his contacts in Devon probably played a part.

During the 1560s the parish of Upchurch consisted of 40 dwellings and had a population of about 250 people. The small port of Otterham Quay was situated nearby where six boats were based. Fourteen men from the village worked there and by getting to know them Edmund is thought to have secured an apprenticeship for his eldest son Francis. Until this time Francis had continued to live in Devon with the family of his cousin John Hawkins who also became a famous seaman. Francis did not attend school as Edmund is believed to have taught him to read and write himself. After this Francis obtained work on a small vessel that sailed up and down the river Medway to local and nearby continental ports. This is where he most likely learnt to sail. He later inherited the boat after the death of the owner.

Edmund continued as the vicar of Upchurch until his death in 1567. In such a small rural village as Upchurch he probably got to know his parishioners very well. He never returned to Devon. According to his will of December 26^th, 1566 located in Canterbury Cathedral archives, he requested to be buried in Upchurch churchyard. This information is backed up by Lady Eliot Drake in her book Family and Heirs of Sir Francis Drake published in 1911.

Since Edmund’s death in 1567 the exact location of his grave in the churchyard is unknown as gravestones prior to the 18^th century almost no longer exist there. He has been remembered as the father of Sir Francis Drake and his name has been given to a housing estate in the village known as Drakes Close.


David Wood, who was born and raised in Upchurch, is able to write from personal experience about many people and aspects of the village and of changes that have taken place over the years making ‘Memories of Upchurch’ a very readable book and a detailed historical study of the village.

David Wood's book ‘Memories of Upchurch’ is available direct from David on:  david3702001@yahoo.co.uk  price £12 + p+p £2.

David Wood

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