Sea captain, explorer and pirate. Born in Crowndale, near Tavistock, Devon. He spent his formative years in the house of his cousin Sir John Hawkins and by 1565 was voyaging to Guinea and the Spanish Main. In 1572 he plundered on the Isthmus of Panama and became the first Englishman to see the Pacific Ocean. His famous circumnavigation of the globe took place from 1577 to 1580. He played a leading part in harassing the Spanish Armada as it passed through the English Channel. Died of dysentery at Porto Bello, Panama.
Drake and Hawkins were England's first slave traders, travelling to West Africa to capture men and women as early as 1560.
2023: LBC reported: "Sir Francis Drake Primary School to be renamed over slave trading past following BLM protests".
Credit for this entry to: Alan Patient of www.plaquesoflondon.co.uk
