Drue Drury (courtier)

Sir Drue Drury (c. 1531 – 29 April 1617) was the son of Sir Robert Drury (c. 1503 – 1577), the grandson of Sir Robert Drury (c. 1456 – 2 March 1535), Speaker of the House of Commons, and the nephew of Sir William Drury. He was an English courtier and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1562 and 1584.

Early life

Drury was the fifth but third surviving son of Sir Robert Drury (c. 1503 – 1577) of Hedgerley, Buckinghamshire, and Elizabeth Brudenell, the daughter of Edmund Brudenell of Chalfont St Peter, Buckinghamshire. He was the grandson of Sir Robert Drury (c. 1456 – 2 March 1535), Speaker of the House of Commons in 1495. He was a brother of Sir Robert Drury (1525–1593) and Sir William Drury (2 October 1527 – 13 October 1579).{{Harvnb|Kelsey|2004}}.

Drury matriculated from St Edmund's Hostel, Cambridge in Autumn 1544.{{acad|id=DRRY544D|name=Drury, Drue}}

Public life

Drury was elected Member of Parliament for Mitchell in 1559 and for Camelford in 1562.{{cite web |url=http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1558-1603/member/drury-dru-1527-1617 |title=DRURY, Dru (aft.1527–1617), of Riddlesworth, Norf. |publisher=History of Parliament |accessdate=2012-04-13}} He was High Sheriff of Norfolk in 1576. During the reigns of Elizabeth and James I he was gentleman usher of the privy chamber. He seems to have kept in the good graces of the queen, except on one occasion.Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1547–80, p.170 In September 1579 he was knighted at Wanstead, Essex.Metcalfe, A Book of Knights, p.133 He was elected MP for Norfolk in 1584. and appointed custos rotulorum for the county in 1583. In November 1586 he was sent to Fotheringay to assist Sir Amias Paulet in the wardership of Mary, Queen of Scots.Cal. State Papers, Scottish Ser., ii. 1015, 1018 He was nominated Lieutenant of the Tower of London in 1596.

Drury died at his seat at Riddlesworth, Norfolk, aged about eighty-six, though on his monument the age of ninety-nine is given.Le Neve, Monumenta Anglicana, i. 59 His will of 7 July 1613 was proved in P.C.C. 31 May 1617 (registered 39, Weldon).

William Camden described Drury as a sincere, honest man, and a puritan in his religion.'Annals of Elizabeth,' in Kennett, Hist. of England, ii. 501

Family

File:Grace, Lady Parker by Hans Holbein the Younger.jpg

Drury married, firstly, Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Philip Calthorpe,'Woodhouse', in W. Rye (ed.), The Visitacion of Norfolk, made and taken by William Hervey, Clarencieux King of Arms, anno 1563, enlarged with another Visitacion made by Clarenceux Cook: with many other descents (etc.), Harleian Society XXXII (London 1891), pp. 320–23, at p. 321 (Internet Archive). by Amata Boleyn,{{Cite book |last=Emerson |first=Kathy Lynn |url=https://www.amazon.com/Whos-Who-Tudor-Women-ebook/dp/B08L5HLHXN |title=A Who's Who of Tudor Women |date=2020-10-11 |publisher=Kathy Lynn Emerson |pages=Entry for Elizabeth Calthorpe (1521 – 26 May 1578) |language=English |quote=}} the daughter of William Boleyn and the aunt of Anne Boleyn,{{Cite book |last=Emerson |first=Kathy Lynn |url=https://www.amazon.com/Whos-Who-Tudor-Women-ebook/dp/B08L5HLHXN |title=A Who's Who of Tudor Women |date=2020-10-11 |publisher=Kathy Lynn Emerson |pages=Entry for Amata Boleyn (c.1485–1543+) |language=English |quote=Amata or Amy Boleyn (sometimes called Jane)}} making Elizabeth the first cousin of Anne Boleyn and first cousin once removed of Elizabeth I. Elizabeth Calthorpe was the widow of Sir Henry Parker, knight, the son and heir of Henry Parker, 10th Baron Morley, and of Sir William Woodhouse of Waxham, Norfolk.

She brought him a moiety of Riddlesworth. In 1582 he married for his second wife Katherine Finch, daughter and heiress of William Finch of Lynsted, Kent. Through her, he acquired the manor of Sewards in Linstead, and Perry Court at Preston, Kent. He had an only son, Drue Drury, who was created a baronet[https://archive.org/stream/cu31924092524382#page/n31/mode/2up George Edward Cockayne Complete Baronetcies Vol 2] and three daughters; Elizabeth who married Sir Thomas Wingfield and then Henry Reynolds, Anne who married Sir Robert Boteler, and Frances. Drury was a younger brother of Sir William Drury.

Some correspondence between Drury and his second wife and Sir Julius Cæsar, which was written in 1588, 1596, and 1603–1614, is held in the Lansdowne collection in the British Library.

Drury is to be distinguished from a Drue Drury of Eccles and Rollesby, Norfolk, who married Anne, daughter and coheiress of Thomas Burgh, 3rd Baron Burgh, and was knighted at Whitehall on 23 July 1603, before the coronation of King Charles I.Metcalfe, A Book of Knights, p.147

Notes

References

{{cite ODNB |last=Kelsey |first=Sean |year=2004 |title=Drury, Sir William (1527–1579) |id=8101}}
{{DNB |last=Goodwin |first=Gordon |wstitle=Drury, Dru (1531?-1617) |volume=16 |page=64}}

{{succession box

| title=Member of Parliament for Mitchell

| before= John Arundell

| before2= Thomas Gardiner

| with= Robert Colshill

| years=1559

| after= Robert Hopton

| after2= Thomas Wilson

}}

{{succession box

| title=Member of Parliament for Camelford

| before= John Smith