7 YEARS IN DUNGEON

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXV, Issue 3262, 3 February 1931, Page 2

7 YEARS IN DUNGEON

OR THE FAMILY WILL DIE. The Squire of Amersham, Mr. Edward Thomas T. Drake, a direct descendant of Sir Francis Drake, has received a letter which has brought into prominenece a curse which has been handed down to the family since the days of the Spanish Armade.

Sir Francis Drake was alleged to have murdered a cabin boy, and the curse, laid by the boy's mother, was that:

No male child will be born in the Drake family until a member of the family lies in the dungeons of Shardeloes, the mansion home of the Drakes, for seven years —or a stranger for fourteen years. Two men, one a farm labourer working on the estate, underwent the ordeal many years ago. One man died, and the farm labourer withdrew his offer, but not until he had lain in the dungeon for ten years.

He returned to his farm at a place called Buckland Common and, according to legend, the memory of his suffering drove him mad. The squire lately recevied a letter from a stranger offering to live in the dungeons for a year. Mr. Drake has four daughters and no sons.

The curse in the past has been a dismal failure. Scores of male children have been born in the Drake family.

Mr. Drake has been Master of the Old Berkeley Foxhounds for ten years. He told the strange eotry of the curse:

"We had forgotten all about it until this letter arrived," he said, "and now, just as we are enjoying the hunting and looking forward to the hunt ball, a stranger rakes up this dark deed of long ago." He pointed with his hunting crop at a portrait of Sir Francis Drake, and said: "I am not going to allow my family to be frightened by this offer to fulfil the horrible conditions of the 'Hand and Axe curse.' " "The Hand and Axe?"

"Yes," went on Mr. Drake. "It is called by that name because there is a hand holding an upraised axe in my coat-of-arms, and we believe it was put there by the Court fo Heralds because of this dreadful murder Sir Francis is supposed to have committed. "For the same reason a scarlet circle was included, and until recent years appeared on all our carriages, carts, and even perambulators. My father did away with this awful red circle.

"I certainly do not propose to accept this stranger's offer to wipe the curse out by living in the Shardeloes dungeons. "My grandfather received an offer, but turned it down, enraged at being reminded of the curse. I shall do the same.

"Sir Francis gives me the creeps occasionally," he went on. "He is supposed to have murdered a cabin boy in a fit of pique. "Sir Francis prided himself on his knowledge of the Thames, but one dark night he lost his way and a cabin boy volunteered the required information. This was too much for the proud Sir Francis. Angry at being taught his job by a cabin boy, he seized an axe and chopped off his head."