[2] He was baptised in Pontefract on 29 September 1622, the first of the three children of Nathan Drake (1587–1658) of Halifax and Elizabeth Higgins (died 1672).

He afterwards joined the Royalist army, and was a member of the garrison at Pontefract, and present at the Battle of Newark.

In 1651 the Parliament ordered him and several other ministers to be tried by the High Court of Justice on suspicion of conspiracy, but the result is unknown.

At the Restoration he was presented to the living of Pontefract, and in 1661 he petitioned the King to intercede with the vice-chancellor of Cambridge University that he might proceed to the degree of B.D., as he had not been able to keep his name on the college books, and sent certificates to show that he had served with the army, and that his father's estate had been plundered.

In November 1661 Charles II complied with his request, and in a letter of Williamson Drake says the vice-chancellor permitted him to proceed D.D.