DRAYTON, WILLIAM HENRY, eldest son of John Drayton, Drayton Hall, Ashley River, Berkley County, South Carolina, USA, and his second wife Charlotte, sister of Stephen Bull (qv); b. Sep 1742; sent over to England 1753, under charge of the father of Charles Cotesworth Pinckney (qv); at school under Markham (J. Drayton, Memoirs of the American Revolution, 1821, I, xiii ); left 1761; Balliol Coll. Oxford, adm. 3 Oct 1761, matr. 10 Oct 1761; elected to Assembly, South Carolina 1765; opposed non-importation agreement and Wilkes fund grant; member of Council, South Carolina, sworn 3 Apr 1772; Assistant Judge, South Carolina 25 Jan 1774; wrote “a letter from Freeman of South Carolina to the Deputies of North Americas assembled in the High Court of Congress at Philadelphia”, in which he set forth the grievances of the colonists and suggested a Bill of Rights; made a bitter protest against the conduct of the crown officials, and suspended from Council 1 Mar 1775; became member, Popular Committee of Safety, and elected President, Provincial Congress; Chief Justice of South Carolina from 1776; acted as President of South Carolina for a short time in 1777-8; delegate to Continental Congress, York Town 1778-9; left in manuscript a history of the American Revolution to the end of 1778, published by his son in 1821; m. 29 Mar 1764 Dorothy, dau. of Culceth Golightly, St. Andrew, Berkley County, South Carolina; d. at Philadelphia, USA 3 Sep 1779.
