(as
found May 2001)
A collection of notes relating to our Drake
ancestors

Thomas Samuel
Drake was born in 1782 in
Norwich, Norfolk. He was the son of Thomas
Drake, a Worstead Weaver, and Freeman of Norwich.
At age 21, he married Ann Nichols
on 10th March 1803 in St Augustine's church, Norwich. She was born in
1782, also in Norwich St Augustine's parish, the daughter of Thomas Nichols
II and Mary Nursey. She died 12 July, 1857 in The Great Hospital,
Norwich St Helen, aged 75.
Four children are known in the family of
Thomas S Drake and Ann Nichols: Robert was born in 1803 and christened on
8th January, 1804 at St Augustine's and was later a plumber and a Freeman of
Norwich; Mary Ann was born in 1805 and christened on the 29th September of
the same year; Thomas
Samuel II, born 24th May, 1807 who married Mary Ann Merry; and Walter
who was christened 10th March, 1811 and died before 1851.
Thomas became a Freeman of the City of
Norwich in 1803, listing his profession as Plumber.
On 24 Nov 1812, he voted in the St Peter
Permountergate district of Norwich.
In March of 1851, Thomas was aged 69 and his
wife, Ann, was a patient in The Great Hospital in Norwich St Helen's. Thomas
was lodging nearby. He gave his occupation on the census as "journeyman
Painter, late master". He voted liberal in St Helen's voting
District in 1852.
He died, aged 87, on 14 December 1869 at The
Great Hospital, Norwich St Helen, of heart disease and
"exhaustion".

Thomas
Samuel Drake II
was born on 24th of May, 1807 in St Augustine's parish, Norwich, Norfolk. He
was the son of Thomas Samuel and Ann (Nichols) Drake.
On the 24th of May 1828, his 21st birthday,
Thomas became a freeman of the City of Norwich and was listed as a tailor.
His business was listed at 62 Giles Street in the Hunt and Co. Directory of
1850 and at Rose Lane in White's Directory of 1883.
On 26th of September, 1833 he married Mary
Ann Merry in St Bartholomew's church, Heigham. She was born 1807 in Norwich.
Thomas and Mary Ann had six children between
1833 and 1847, all probably at the same address on Rose Lane: Thomas
Samuel born in December of 1833; Walter Charles, born in 1835;
Benjamin, born in 1837 and who married Caroline Mallett; Robert, born in
1839 who married Louisa Pearse; Mary Ann born in 1841 or 1842 ; and George,
born in 1847 who married Ann Elizabeth ?
Thomas died 24 May 1885, at home, aged 78.

Thomas
Samuel Drake III was born in 24
February, 1834 in Rose Lane, Norwich, Norfolk. He was the first child
of Thomas Samuel II and Mary Ann (Merry) Drake. He was christened on
the 9th of March 1834 at St Peter Parmentergate.
In March of 1851, Thomas was listed on the
census as a 17 year old warehouseman living with his parents at Watson's
Building, on Rose Lane. This is also the occupation he held on 8th Dec 1856
when he became a Freeman of the City of Norwich at age 23 and was living on
St Faith's Lane..
He married Emma Ellen
Hannent on May 9th., 1856 at St Margaret's Baptist Chapel. She was also
born in 1833 in Norwich St Augustine, the daughter of Robert Jones and Mary
Ann (Knights) Hannent.
Thomas and Emma had 9 children. Their first
child, Henry George, was born in December of 1857 in St Augustine's and then
Rosa Ann was born in 1860 (Rosa married Fredrick Alden II in 1883, but from
1887 she lived with and worked as a seamstress for her sister Emma at
Beaconsfield Rd, Norwich St Clement).
Thomas' second daughter, Emma Ellen, was born
in 1862 in St Augustine's, she married Abraham "Abe" Woolfe and he
ran a tailors business, she a ladies costumier on Beaconsfield Road.
Thomas and Emma lived in St Clement's
from 1864 to at least 1881 and had the following children: Thomas Robert,
born in January of 1864; William Walter,
born in February 1866 when Thomas was an Overlooker in a factory; Arthur
E, born in 1868-9; Alice, born in 1870; Kate born in 1873; and finally
Herbert J born in 1879.
In June of 1881 Thomas and his family lived
in Parry's Building, St Augustine Road, Norwich St Clement. Thomas was a
poultry dealer, an occupation he still had in 1883, listed in White's
directory of that year.
On the morning of 10th of May, 1887, Thomas
died at his home on Aylsham Road in St Clement's, by drowning in a water
tank. An inquest was held that afternoon in the Prospect's Tavern at the end
of the road, where the coroner reached the conclusion of accidental death.
Thomas was aged 54.

William
Walter Drake was born
in 1866 in the Green Hills area of Norwich St Clement, Norfolk. He was the
third son and fifth child of Thomas Samuel Drake III and Emma
Hannent. In 1881 he was a Printer, in 1891 he was a Shoe Finisher and in
1897 he was a poultry dealer, like his father.
He married Harriett
Emma Quantrell between Oct - Dec 1892 in Norwich. He was 26 and
Harriett was a 24 year old dressmaker. Harriett was the daughter of
James and Sarah Anne (Ward) Quantrell and had served her apprenticeship
with her aunt, Emma Ward, in Cheetham Hill, just north of Manchester,
Lancashire.
William Walter and Harriett Emma Drake had
three children : May Rosa in 1893, Valentine in 1895 and William. Their
fourth child, Kate Emma was born 30 Dec 1896 in 10 Rope Row, still in
St Clement. William listed his occupation at that time (on Kate's birth
certificate) as a Poultry Dealer. This was the occupation also listed on his
death certificate. They had one more daughter, Dorothy, between 1897 and
1900.
Between April 1901 and 1904, William moved
his family from St Clement's to Poringland, a small village south of Norwich
where he was a horse dealer and publican at the White Hart Inn. This inn was
a staging point for coaches from London to Norwich. William
was also depicted in a painting by (Sir) Alfred Munnings called "Man
with a Horse".
Before 1908, William had moved his family
back to St Clement's, to one half of a converted farmhouse at 65 Denmark
Road. The house was located opposite the public house, The Prince of
Denmark. On the 9th of July, 1935, aged 69, William became a Freeman of the
City of Norwich. His occupation was "Dealer".
William Walter Drake, aged 75, died 21 May
1941 and was buried at Christchurch, New Catton.


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