Drake, Joseph – Was youngest drum-major in the British Army

Joseph Drake (1892-1940)

BELIEVED to have been the youngest drum-major in the British Army, Joseph Frederic Drake, came from a family with a proud military record.

A native of Grantham, he was eldest son of Quartermaster-Sergeant Drake, and Mrs Drake, of 129 Harlaxton Road .

He was drum-major for  the 2nd Battalion the Lincolnshire Regiment, to which position he was appointed in March, 1915, while serving in the Great War, in which he was gassed and wounded.

He enlisted in the 4th Battalion at Grantham as a boy and afterwards joined the 2nd Battalion, being promoted lance-corporal in 1910, corporal in 1912 and sergeant in 1913.

During his service he spent some time in Malta and Gibraltar.

After leaving the Army he moved to Grimsby where for some time employed at the county court.

He later he became a certified bailiff with a firm of rent collectors, and remained with them until he was taken ill three years before his death.

The family had long military tradition, and there had been a Drake in the Lincolnshire Regiment for more than years.

His father was for many years connected with the 4th Militia Battalion Lincolnshire Regiment, and his grandfather was serving during the Indian Mutiny.

Two of his grandsons joined the forces for the Second World War, one of them was in the Dunkirk evacuation.