Drake was born on 26 April 1850 in London, England. He was the son of Ann and Edward Drake, his father being a publican. He was educated at King's College School and then worked for merchant firms for several years. Drake left London in October 1873 and arrived in Brisbane in January 1874. He sought work unsuccessfully in the tin mines at Stanthorpe before finding employment as a store clerk in Toowoomba, later returning to Brisbane. He also spent some time as a jackaroo in western Queensland.
Journalism and legal career
In 1875, Drake began working as a journalist with the Bundaberg Star. He subsequently moved to the Daily Northern Argus and then returned to Brisbane to work on the Telegraph and Courier. For a brief period he moved to Melbourne and worked as a parliamentary reporter for the Argus. Upon his return to Queensland he joined the staff of Hansard, making use of his shorthand skills in transcribing debates in the colonial parliament; he was president of the Queensland Shorthand Writers' Association. Drake began reading law in May 1881 and was admitted to the bar in June 1882. He established a "flourishing practice" in partnership with Magnus Jensen. His radical views led to a friendship with the utopian socialist William Lane, and in 1887 he became a shareholder, writer, and joint editor of Lane's weekly newspaper The Boomerang.
Military service
Drake was commissioned as a lieutenant in the Queeensland Defence Force in 1886, and promoted to captain in 1888 and major in 1900.
After Federation on 1 January 1901, Edmund Barton formed a caretaker ministry with James Dickson as Queensland's sole representative. Dickson's sudden death just over a week later caused Barton to seek another Queenslander to join his ministry. Philp recommended that Drake be offered the position, and as a result he was appointed Postmaster-General on 5 February 1901. He was elected to the Senate as a Protectionist at the inaugural federal election held the following month. Drake was tasked with establishing a national post and telegraph system from the six existing colonial systems. He secured the passage of the Post and Telegraph Act 1901, in his second reading speech expressing the need for non-discrimination in the provision of services and the advantages of a publicly owned telegraph service. He was generally regarded as a competent administrator, although his appointment of Queenslander Robert Scott as the inaugural head of the Postmaster-General's Department led to accusation of state bias. Punch regarded him as "a plodder – thorough rather than brilliant". Following a reshuffle in August 1903, Drake replaced John Forrest as Minister for Defence. He held the position for only six weeks, as Attorney-General Alfred Deakin replaced Barton as prime minister the following month and appointed Drake as his successor. He presented the Commonwealth's arguments in D'Emden v Pedder, one of the first significant constitutional cases decided by the High Court of Australia. Drake was a strong supporter of the White Australia policy. Days before the 1903 federal election, in response to the Petriana affair, he stated that its provisions should even extend to shipwrecked sailors. The Argus reported he had told an election meeting in Sydney:
It was undesirable that educated gentlemen who had been in gaol, or coloured men who had been shipwrecked, should land in Australia in defiance of the law. They intended to keep their race pure, and make Australia a place worth living in.
Deakin's first government fell in April 1904. After a brief interlude of Australian Labor Party government led by Chris Watson, opposition leader George Reid formed a coalition government of his Free Traders and the Protectionists willing to support him. Drake joined the government as Vice-President of the Executive Council and Leader of the Government in the Senate, holding office until the government fell in July 1905. He was not invited to join the Second Deakin Ministry, although in January 1906 he established Commonwealth, a broadsheet designed to counter anti-federation feeling in Queensland. He lost preselection prior to the 1906 federal election, and decided to retire from federal politics rather than stand for re-election as an independent.
He died in Brisbane Hospital and was buried in Toowong Cemetery. He was the last surviving member of the Barton, Reid and the first Deakin Cabinet. Drake was survived by four children from his marriage to Mary Street in 1897.
