Career
He went into business at Stamford, Lincolnshire as a printer and book-seller at the beginning of the 19th century. On 15 September 1809 he started a weekly paper, the Stamford News. The first editor was the topographer Thomas Blore, but he and Drakard soon fell out.
On 13 March 1811 Drakard was tried at Lincoln before Baron George Wood and a special jury on an ex officio information for libel, and was sentenced to eighteen months" imprisonment in Lincoln Castle, and fined £200.
The subject matter of the libel was an article published in Drakard"s paper for 24 August 1810, entitled "One Thousand Lashes", which dealt with the question of corporal punishment in the British Army. Drakard was a defendant in other libel suits.
He was horsewhipped by Robert Brudenell, 6th Earl of Cardigan for some remarks in the Stamford News. Cardigan tracked him to Northampton, and gave him a public whipping on the racecourse.
The poet John Clare wrote anonymous political satire in lieutenant
In 1834 the publication of both his newspapers ceased, and Drakard retired to Ripley, North Yorkshire, where he lived on a meagre income. He died at Ripon on 25 January 1854, aged 79.
