Sir Robert Drury Charles Drury Frances Drury Elizabeth Drury Diana Drury Susanna Drury
Parent(s)
Robert Drury, Audrey Rich
Sir William Drury (8 March 1550 – 1589) was an English landowner and member of parliament. He was the father of
Sir Robert Drury, patron of the poet
John Donne.
Susan Drury (born 4 April 1549),[7] who married Robert Baspole.
Winifred Drury (born 27 August 1552),[7] who married Edmund Markhant or Marchant or Markham of
Colchester, Essex.
Bridget Drury, who married Richard Zouche of
Pitton, Wiltshire.[7]
Dorothy Drury, who married, on 26 August 1577,[7] Edward Barnes of
Soham, Cambridgeshire.
Audrey or Etheldred Drury, who married 28 December 1587, George Parker.[7]
Career
Drury was educated at Groton school and
Caius College, Cambridge. He probably entered
Lincoln's Inn in 1569. He succeeded his father, Robert, in 1557 and his grandfather, Sir William Drury, in 1558, inheriting considerable land in Suffolk, including Hawstead Place, where in 1578 he entertained
Queen Elizabeth I. He was knighted around the same time.
In 1581 he was elected MP for Castle Rising, Norfolk, in a by-election caused by the illness of
Edward Flowerdew. His return was challenged at the beginning of the session but confirmed by Parliament. In 1584 he was elected knight of the shire (MP) for
Suffolk, sitting until 1586.
Drury was a
Justice of the Peace from about 1577, and was appointed
High Sheriff of Suffolk for 1582. He became an
Exchequer receiver for Essex, Hertfordshire, Middlesex and London in 1587, but had to flee to the continent when owing the Exchequer £5000. By 1588, through the influence of
Lord Willoughby, then in command of English forces in the
Low Countries, Drury had been appointed Governor of
Bergen-op-Zoom in the Netherlands, which was threatened by the Spanish. After being replaced as Governor by
Thomas Morgan, a more experienced soldier, he was sent as colonel over 1000 men under Lord Willoughby to the assistance of
Henry IV of France. En route he quarreled with
Sir John Burgh over precedency,.[8] and a duel ensued in which Drury sustained a serious injury to his arm, losing first his hand to
gangrene and then his arm by amputation. He died soon afterwards.[9]
At his death Drury still owed the crown £3000. Much of his land was sold to pay the debt, all but £600 of which was eventually paid.[9] He was buried at Hawstead, where a marble bust over his tomb depicts him in full armour. Drury had made his last will on 1 July 1587 prior to leaving England. It was proved on 4 June 1595.[9]