Drake's Drum is a snare drum that Sir Francis Drake took with him when he circumnavigated the world. [1] Shortly before he died he ordered the drum to be taken to Buckland Abbey and vowed that if England were ever in danger and someone was to beat the drum he would return to defend the country. [2] According to legend it can be heard to beat at times when England is at war or significant national events take place. [3]
Drake is said to have taken the drum, emblazoned with his coat of arms, with him on his voyages around the world between 1577 and 1580. [1] It was still with him for his final voyage and as he lay on his death bed off the coast of Panama in 1596 he ordered the drum returned to England, where in times of trouble it should be beaten to recall him from heaven to rescue the country. [2]
Following his death the drum was returned to Drake's family home of Buckland Abbey in Buckland Monachorum, Devon. A replica of the drum remains on public display at Buckland Abbey under the care of the National Trust.
The Drake's Drum on display is a replica made by Mr J Manning, art and display officer at Plymouth Museum. The original drum, being fragile, is stored in a climate controlled store in central England. Another replica, also made by Mr Manning, is kept in storage. Both replicas were made in Plymouth from historically authentic materials.
Take my drum to England, hang et by the shore, Strike et when your powder’s runnin’ low; If the Dons sight Devon, I’ll quit the port o’ Heaven, An’ drum them up the Channel as we drummed them long ago.
From Drake’s Drum by Sir Henry Newbolt
The drum has become an icon of English folklore with its variation of the classic king asleep in mountain story. Several times throughout history, people have claimed to have heard the drum beating, including: when the Mayflower left Plymouth for America in 1620, [1] when Admiral Lord Nelson was made a freeman of Plymouth, [1] when Napoleon was brought into Plymouth Harbour as a prisoner, [1] [2] and when World War I first began in 1914 [2] and when HMS Revenge was closed down and at the point of sailing, as part of the Grand Fleet, before the Battle of Jutland.
Reportedly, on HMS Royal Oak, a victory drum roll from a drum was heard when the Imperial German Navy surrendered in 1918. The ship was then searched twice by the officers and then again by the captain and neither a drum nor a drummer was found on board and eventually the phenomenon was put down to the legendary drum. [2] [3] [4]
In 1938, when Buckland Abbey was partly destroyed by fire, the drum was rescued and taken to safety at Buckfast Abbey. [1] [3] Plymouth was devastated in the air raids that followed, reminding some of the ancient legend that “If Drake’s Drum should be moved from its rightful home, the city will fall”. [5] The drum was returned and the city remained safe for the rest of the war.
The drum was most recently reported to have been heard in 1940 at the Dunkirk evacuation during World War II. [2] In 1940 the 45th Infantry Division, which included 4th and 5th Battalions of The Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry and the 9th battalion The Devonshire Regiment, took Drake's Drum as their emblem. This emblem was painted on their transport.
Drake's Drum has been the title and subject of poems by Sir Henry Newbolt [6] and the Victorian poet Norah M. Holland. [7] Newbolt's poem was set to music by Charles Villiers Stanford as part of his Songs of the Sea, op.91 suite2. It was popularised by Peter Dawson. The setting is in the key of D minor, with a dramatic resolution to D major.
The drum was also mentioned in Bernard Cornwell's 1988 novel Sharpe's Rifles as analogous to the Gonfalon of Santiago Matamoros that features heavily in the story. A composition called "Drake's Drum" can also be heard on the album by British instrumental band Acoustic Alchemy, Natural Elements (1988). Drake's Drum is mentioned in the Sabbat song "Behind the Crooked Cross" from their 1988 album History of a Time to Come . It features in Katherine Kurtz's World War II supernatural novel Lammas Night . [8]
Sir Francis Drake was an English explorer and privateer best known for his circumnavigation of the world in a single expedition between 1577 and 1580. This was the first English circumnavigation, and third circumnavigation overall. He is also known for participating in the early English slaving voyages of his cousin, Sir John Hawkins, and John Lovell. Having started as a simple seaman, in 1588 he was part of the fight against the Spanish Armada as a vice-admiral.
Plymouth Sound, or locally just The Sound, is a deep inlet or sound in the English Channel near Plymouth in England.
Sir Henry John Newbolt, CH was an English poet, novelist and historian. He also had a role as a government adviser with regard to the study of English in England. He is perhaps best remembered for his poems "Vitaï Lampada" and "Drake's Drum".
Sir Richard Grenville, also spelt Greynvile, Greeneville, and Greenfield, was an English privateer and explorer. Grenville was lord of the manors of Stowe, Cornwall and Bideford, Devon. He subsequently participated in the plantations of Ireland specifically the Munster plantations, the English colonisation of the Americas and the repulse of the Spanish Armada.
Tavistock is an ancient stannary and market town within West Devon, England. It is situated on the River Tavy from which its name derives. At the 2011 census the three electoral wards had a population of 13,028. It traces its recorded history back to at least 961 when Tavistock Abbey, whose ruins lie in the centre of the town, was founded. Its most famous son is Sir Francis Drake.
Sir John Hawkins was an English naval commander, naval administrator, privateer and slave trader.
Golden Hind was a galleon captained by Francis Drake in his circumnavigation of the world between 1577 and 1580. She was originally known as Pelican, but Drake renamed her mid-voyage in 1578, in honour of his patron, Sir Christopher Hatton, whose crest was a golden hind. Hatton was one of the principal sponsors of Drake's world voyage. A full-sized, seaworthy reconstruction is in London, on the south bank of the Thames.
Francis William Drake was an officer of the Royal Navy. He served during the War of the Austrian Succession, the Seven Years' War and the American War of Independence, rising to the rank of vice-admiral of the red.
Buckland Monachorum is a village and civil parish in the West Devon district of Devon, England, situated on the River Tavy, about 10 miles north of Plymouth.
Buckland Abbey is a Grade I listed 700-year-old house in Buckland Monachorum, near Yelverton, Devon, England, noted for its connection with Sir Richard Grenville the Younger and Sir Francis Drake. It is owned by the National Trust.
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.
Sir Francis Drake, 2nd Baronet of Buckland Abbey, Devon was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons variously between 1646 and 1662. He was a Colonel of the Horse, fighting in the Parliamentary army during the English Civil War.
Sir Francis Samuel Drake, 1st Baronet was an officer of the Royal Navy. He served during the Seven Years' War and the American War of Independence, rising to the rank of Rear-admiral of the Red.
Sir William Strode (1562–1637) of Newnham in the parish of Plympton St Mary, Devon, England, was a member of the Devon landed gentry, a military engineer and seven times a Member of Parliament elected for Devon in 1597 and 1624, for Plympton Erle in 1601, 1604, 1621 and 1625, and for Plymouth in 1614. He was High Sheriff of Devon from 1593 to 1594 and was knighted in 1598. In 1599 he was appointed Deputy Lieutenant of Devon. There is a monument to him in the parish church of Plympton St Mary.
John Bampfield of Poltimore and North Molton, Devon, England, was a Member of Parliament for Tiverton in Devon (1621) and for the prestigious county seat of Devon (1628-9).
Sir Francis Drake, 3rd Baronet (1642–1718), of Buckland Abbey in the parish of Buckland Monachorum and of Meavy, both in Devon, England, was elected seven times as a Member of Parliament for Tavistock in Devon, in 1673, 1679, 1681, 1689, 1690, 1696 and 1698.
The Armada Service is a set of more than 31 gilded silver dishes, dated between 1581 and 1601, formerly owned by Sir Christopher Harris, MP, of Radford House in the parish of Plymstock in Devon, England. Twenty-six of these dishes are now in the collection of the British Museum in London.
Nutwell in the parish of Woodbury on the south coast of Devon is a historic manor and the site of a Georgian neo-classical Grade II* listed mansion house known as Nutwell Court. The house is situated on the east bank of the estuary of the River Exe, on low-lying ground nearly contiguous to the water, and almost facing Powderham Castle similarly sited on the west bank. The manor was long held by the powerful Dynham family, which also held adjacent Lympstone, and was according to Risdon the site of their castle until John Dynham, 1st Baron Dynham (1433–1501), the last in the male line, converted it into "a fair and stately dwelling house".
Songs of the Sea is a cycle of five songs for baritone, male voice chorus, and orchestra, to poems by Henry Newbolt. It was composed by Charles Villiers Stanford, was premiered at the 1904 Leeds Festival, and was published as his Op. 91.
Sir Francis Henry Drake, 4th Baronet (1694–1740) of Buckland Abbey, Devon was a British landowner and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1715 to 1740.