The History of the Family of
DRURY
In the Counties of Suffolk and Norfolk
From the Conquest
By Arthur Campling, London, 1937
CHAPTER III.
Drury of Rougham and
Tendring
SIR NICHOLAS DRURY, knight, son of JOHN DRURY of THURSTON, succeeded at Thurston, and was the first of the family to live at Rougham where the Drurys were to continue for eleven generations. The first mention of him is in an abstract of a deed 1339 purchasing land in Thurston.
On 31 July 1358 he was named first on the panel of the inquisition held at Sudbury to enquire into the lands of Michael de Bures, and again Nov. 1359 at Poslingworth on a similar enquiry as to the lands of Robert atte Park.
There was pardon to Nicholas Drury of Thurston of his outlawry in the county of Suffolk for non-appearance before William de Notton and his fellows, justices of oyer and terminer in the said county, to answer touching an indictment that he with John Straunge of Tymworth and others, conspired at Thurston on Monday after Michaelmas (i.e. 30 Sept. 7) 33 Edw. III (1359), that John would act so that no execution of right by plaint or otherwise should be done in the Abbot of St. Edmund’s hundred of Thedwardistre of any injury or wrong done to any in the eight towns of the hundred adjacent to the town of Tymworth and that Nicholas would do the like in the eight towns of the hundred adjacent to Thurston.
A quit-claim is dated at Timworth co. Suffolk 25 April 1362 by which Richard Pakenham of Garboldisham, Thomas Pakenham of the same, his brother, Nicholas Druri of Thurston and Roger Druri of the same, his brother, release to John le Strange of Timworth all their right to land there with the advowson of the church of Timworth. There are attached to the deed the seals of the four grantors. That of Roger Druri is a fine one with elaborate ornamentation surrounding the device of the lamb and flag. The Roger Drury concerned was presented by the Crown chaplain to the church of Little Reyne in co. Essex in the diocese of London 15 July 1362.
Nicholas Drury, with Thomas Pakenham, had letters of protection 4 February 1369/70 on going to Ireland with William de Wyndsore to stay there on the King’s service, and again on 20 September 1373. A commission to him was enrolled as follows:
Limerick, 3 Sept. 49 Edw. III (1375). – The King assigns Nicholas Drewry and Walter Padeley to buy and take all hawks and tercels which they shall be able to find in the counties of Tipperary and Waterford, causing them to be appraised at a reasonable price by oath &c: to the use of the King, and to certify by indentures between themselves and the sellers to the Governor of Ireland touching the number and value of them, so that due payment may be made upon the consideration of the said Governor; and commissions to all sheriffs &c. that they may aid the said Nicholas and Walter in executing the things aforesaid.
Again Nicholas Drury of Rougham who is about to go to parts beyond the seas in the King’s service has letters general of attorney from the King. Witness the King at Westminster 26 Ap. 3 Ric. II (1380).
At Easter 1382 Nicholas Drury of Rougham, co. Suffolk, was sued in the King’s Court by John Scorfeyn, citizen of London, but did not appear and the Sheriffs of London returned that he had nothing within their jurisdiction. 27 May 1384 he was appointed, being then a Knight, a collector of a Subsidy for the county of Suffolk. He was joint executor of the will of Sir William de Rushbroke, knight, 18 Dec. 1381, and was witness to a grant of Elizabeth widow of Sir John Gildesborough, knight, of lands in Great Whelnetham, Hawstead etc., co. Suffolk, 25 Jan. 1393/4. His will dated at Rougham 1383/4 is no longer in existence.
Roger Drury, his brother, was parson of Barton, and appears as executor of the will of a third brother, name unknown, whose will was proved at Norwich 11 Nov. 1375
SIR ROGER DRURY, knight, succeeded Sir Nicholas at ROUGHAM as son and heir, Nicholas, the second son, founded the Hawstead line, and John, the third son, was of Wetherden, co. Suffolk.
Sir Roger Drury of Rougham was knighted in his father’s lifetime, before 1381; he was party to a fine 1386, and 8 Feb. 1388/9 was witness to a quit-claim to Margaret, Countess of Norfolk, of land in Great and Little Livermere, co. Suffolk and the advowson of Great Livermere. He was Knight of the Shire for Suffolk, 1391, 1401 and 1407 and was summoned to the Privy Council 21 July 1401. Abstract of deeds follows:
Sir Roger was on a commission of Array 14 July 1402 for the defence of the sea coast against the King’s enemies who intend invasion, and again 2 July 1405, and on Commissions of array for the resistance of the King’s enemies of France, and others, at present assembled with no small force in the parts of Picardy, who propose to besiege and destroy the King’s castles and towns in those parts and harm the King’s lieges and to go to Wales to strengthen the rebels there: Roger Drury ‘chivaler’ Andrew Butiller ‘chivaler’ and two others in Suffolk.
Harleian M.S. 4205, which is an early 15th century book of mainly Suffolk heraldry depicting jousting with lances and swords by the knights of that period, contains a spirited drawing in colour of "Drwry" in the lists against "Botteler", and it is probable that the antagonists were Sir Roger Drury of Rougham and Sir Andrew Boteler of Waldingfield, knights; the latter married a sister of Sir William Phelip of Dennington, Co. Suffolk, K.G., Lord Bardolf; and died 1429.
There is a brass in Rougham church for Sir Roger Drury and his first wife (died 1405), and a window in Bardwell church has two effigies said to represent them, but in this case the female figure is more likely to be that of Joan, second wife of Sir Roger, possibly a Pakenham.
Sir Roger Drury made his will as follows:
He married twice, 1. Margaret, daughter and sole heir of Thomas Naunton of Chavent in Rougham, and 2. Joan, whose will was dated 27 Oct. 1446 at Bury St. Edmunds, proved there 9 Nov. 1446. By his first wife he had issue, 1. Sir William, son and heir, 2. Roger, died without issue, 3. Nicholas, died 1445. 4. Thomas Drury of Candlers in Hessett (whose will dated 21 July 1444 names his children William, John, Thomas, Walter, Alice, Joan, Margery and Agnes), also four daughters, Margaret, second wife of Sir William Clopton, knight, Elizabeth, wife of John Baret of Bury, Margery and Joan.
SIR WILLIAM DRURY, knight, succeeded at ROUGHAM. He was escheater in Norfolk and Suffolk 1425 and was a knight 8 July 1427, and held a knight’s fee in Weston by Hopton and one in Sproughton, co. Suffolk, of John, duke of Norfolk, 1433.
He had an award at Arbitration 1434, in which some of his lands were described:
"To all the faithful in Christ to whom the present letters indented shall come – Robert Cavendisshe sergeant at law – greeting. Whereas a certain controversy or discord of late arose between William, Abbot of the Monastery of St. Edmund and the Convent of the same place, on the one part, and William Drury of Rougham, knight, on the other part, touching upon the right title and possession of divers rents detained, belonging to the Abbot’s hundred of Thedwardestre, issuing from divers tenements, and payable at the usual terms, namely concerning a tenement late of Roger Drury, knight, father of the said William in the town of Rougham – land called Elefeld in the towns of Thurston and Rougham and lands of Chaventsfee and lands formerly of George Felbryg and Thomas Naunton in Rougham – and four acres in Bacton."
William Drury was invested Knight of the Bath at Leicester Whitsun 19 May 1426. He was named executor in the will of his brother Thomas Drury of Hessett, co. Suffolk 4 July 1444, and was one of the witnesses to a charter of Richard, duke of York, tested at Bury St. Edmunds 28 February 1447. His will was as follows:
He married Catherine, daughter of Sir Thomas Swynford, Knight, and grand-daughter of Catherine Roet, daughter of Sir Payn Roet, Guyenne King of Arms who afterwards married, 1396, John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster. Catherine, widow of Sir William Drury, died 1479. Their children were Thomas, who succeeded at Rougham; Roger of Hepworth, co. Suffolk, second son, died without issue, George, third son, of Woolpit, co. Suffolk, clerk; Catherine and Ann, both nuns, and Mary wife of Edward Grimston of Rishangles, co. Suffolk, esquire, died March 1469-70.
The inquisition on the death of Catherine, widow of Sir William Drury, was taken 5 Nov. 1479, when it was found that feoffees had by their deed dated at Rougham 12 July 1450 confirmed to her a moiety of the manor of Cowling and of (the whole) manor of Lawneys in the Towns of Rougham, Bacton, Hessett, Bradfield and Drinkston, and a tenement called Druryes formerly Sudburies in Rougham, and that at her death 3 Dec. 1478 she held no other lands of the King, and that Thomas Drury was her son and heir and aged 50 years and more.
John Drury, a scribe of Beccles, (a St. Edmund’s manor) was a writer on grammar, and appears to have been a Schoolmaster there about 1434. Supposing him to have been born about 1390 he would have been contemporary with Sr. Roger Drury of Rougham (d. 1430) and Nicholas Drury (died 1456) but there is no evidence to establish his exact relationship. He was probably a member of Cambridge University.
THOMAS DRURY OF ROUGHAM, son and heir of Sir William and Catherine (Swynford) was born about 1430, being found to be 50 at his mother’s death in 1479. With his brother Roger he had a commission to arrest any persons guilty of gatherings, associations and unlawful congregations in Suffolk 3 Feb. 1461/2. His seal is appended to two of his grants, one being the Bond of Thomas Drury Esq. And Henry Harleston ‘gentilman’ in l 40 to John Asshefeld Esq. The elder, payable on the feast of St. Matthias next, unless John Curson, knight, and wife Joan stand to an arbitration to be made between John and Joan and the said John Asshefeld the elder concerning the title to the manor of Litelhawe, co. Suffolk and lands in Great Yarmouth, co. Norf. And Southton, co. Suffolk.
The seal of Drury is: A greyhound’s head couped, collared and ringed, in the mouth a pierced mullet, in allusion to the arms of DRURY. In the field are four roses, the initial T in base, and in the upper part the motto: REMEMBER.
Thomas Drury of Rougham, esquire, died 12 December 1486. The inquisition after his death was by Writ 29 Jan. 2 Hen. VII (1486); made Thursday after Michaelmas, 3 Hen. VII (1486) and recites that by deed dated at Rougham 1 Dec. 2 Hen. VII (1486) he gave the undermentioned manors to Roger Drury of Hausted esq. Robert and William Drury, esqs. sons of the said Roger, John Aleyn ‘gentilman’, John Bacon the elder, John Bacon the younger, Thomas Bacon, and Thomas Soole and Robert Crask, clerks to the use of his will. He died 12 Dec. last. John Drury esq., aged 31 and more, is his son and heir. Suffolk. Manor of Sudburyes, otherwise called ‘Druryes’ in Rougham, the manor of Nether Place in Thurston, the manor of Lawenes in Heggesett; worth 40 marks, held of Thomas, Abbot of Bury St. Edmunds, service unknown.
Beside John, his son and heir, he left issue by Catherine his wife, daughter of John Whitwell, Clement, his second son, who settled in Shropshire and from who descended the Drurys of co. Sussex, Catherine married to Robert Rokewood of Euston, co. Suffolk, Elizabeth, married to Thomas Tracy, and Ann who died young.
JOHN DRURY of ROUGHAM, esquire, succeeded as son and heir. He was born about 1456, being aged 31 at this father’s death. He died 1499, and an inquisition post mortem was held.
His wife was Margaret, daughter of William Felton alias Chapman of Sudbury, gent., by whom he had issue, with John, who succeeded as son and heir, Francis, second son, married Elizabeth, daughter and heir of Robert Davy of Swardeston, co. Norfolk (their son John Drury died without issue); Elizabeth married Fulk de Grey of Merton, co. Norfolk, Dorothy married firstly Edmund West of Weston, gent. And secondly Robert Downes of Melton, co. Norfolk esquire, and Ann who died unmarried.
JOHN DRURY of ROUGHAM, esquire, succeeded in 1499 as son and heir of John and Margaret (Felton). He married Elizabeth, daughter of John Goldingham of Belstead, co. Suffolk. Their three sons all married and left issue.
Their daughters were Ann, wife of Francis Bacon of London, and Mary, married to Edward Page of Framingham, co. Suffolk, Harbinger to Queen Elizabeth.
JOHN DRURY, the second son, was of GODWICK, co. Norfolk and WILLIAM DRURY, the third and youngest son, of Tendring, co. Essex. Both of these are dealt with later. The eldest son was ROBERT DRURY, who, dying in his father’s lifetime, left by his wife (who remarried Edward Goodwin of Thurston), daughter of Thomas Tay of Layer de la Hay, co. Essex, with an elder son and heir Robert, a younger son, John Drury of Rougham, who had no issue by his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Hamon Claxton of Norwich.
Sir ROBERT DRURY of ROUGHAM, the elder son, born 1543, was heir to his grandfather 1556, and was knighted in the Royal Garden at Whitehall 23 July 1603, before the coronation of James I. Three others of his family were knighted on this occasion, viz. Sir Anthony Drury, of Besthorpe, Sir Dru Drury, of Rollesby, and Sir Henry Drury, of Hedgerley. Robert Drury was involved in a dispute with one Mr. Pigg in which the Privy Council acted.
"Whitehall, 11 May 1581
Swan marks were the property of Sir Robert Drury of Rougham (died 1625) and Sir Dru Drury of Riddlesworth (d. 1617) and they had different marks adapted from the family arms; that is to say Sir Robert Drury had a mark of two pierced mullets and Sir Dru the chief and the cross Tau.
Sir Robert Drury’s will was dated 22 November 1624 and proved in the Consistory Court of Norwich 10 January 1625/6. There were two inquisitions after his death, one in Norfolk and one in Suffolk. He was buried in the Chancel of Rougham Church where there is a monument to him and his wife (who was his 4th cousin twice removed), Elizabeth, daughter of Sir William Drury of Hawstead, who had bought his wardship. She died 1621. They had a numerous family. Robert was the eldest. Edmund Drury, the second son, died unmarried, his will being dated the 2nd and proved the 5th of December 1616. John, the third son, founded the family of Drury of Leziate, co. Norfolk, who on the death of Roger Drury 11 July 1634 became senior representatives of the family and continued the line to the present day. Thomas Drury, the fourth son, was of Rougham. He died unmarried. Thomas compiled the elaborate pedigree of the family now in the possession of F. S. E. Drury, his representative. His will was dated 5 July 1616.
Francis Drury, born 1584, was 5th surviving son, and Clement Drury, born 1585, sixth son, was of Rougham. His will was dated January 1623 and proved in the Court of the Archdeacon of Sudbury 13 April 1624. By Margaret his wife he had four daughters only.
The daughters of Sir Robert Drury were Dorothy, married Sir John Pretyman of Bacton, co. Suffolk, knight, (who remarried Mary daughter of William Bourchier of Barnesley, co. Gloucester) and Elizabeth, wife of William Playne of Preston, co. Suffolk, gent.
ROBERT DRURY, son and heir of Sir Robert, died 1622 in his father’s lifetime. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Charles Crofts of Bardwell, co. Suffolk, esquire, and had issue, with others dying young, Charles, heir to his grand-father, and Roger, eventual heir, also three daughters, Elizabeth married 1622 Rev William Wells, rector of Rougham, Cecily married Rev. George Douglas D.D. rector of Stepney, co. Middlesex, and Ann, wife of Charles Alexander.
The main line of the family was now near extinction. CHARLES DRURY, who succeeded to ROUGHAM as heir to his grand-father 1625 married Sarah, daughter and coheir of Henry Seckford, esquire, of Seckford Hall in Woodbridge, co. Suffolk (who re-married John North, second son of Dudley, lord North in Kirtling, co. Cambridge) and by her had issue an only son and heir, Seckford Drury, and a daughter Dorothy.
Charles Drury made his will 2 December 1633:
SECKFORD DRURY, the son and heir of Charles was the last of eleven generations of Drurys to hold ROUGHAM, and did not long survive his father, dying unmarried 29 March 1634. By the inquisition post mortem, ROGER DRURY his uncle, then under age, was found to be his next heir, who very shortly followed him to the grave, dying 11 July 1634. His heirs were found to be Robert Wells son of his eldest sister Elizabeth, then aged 11 (inherited Rougham), Cecily, another sister then aged 21 and more, and Ann the youngest sister then aged 19 years.
Thus the line failed and Rougham went from the name, but the family continued in the neighbouring county in the person of JOHN DRURY, (great uncle to Seckford Drury) who had settled at Holt House in the parish of Leziate, co. Norfolk.
The second son of John Drury of Rougham and Elizabeth Goldingham was JOHN DRURY, who settled at GODWICK in the parish of Tittleshall in Norfolk, and was proceeded against as a recusant by order of Privy Council 22 August 1578.
John Drury in 1592 had persisted in his recusancy. By his wife Eleanor, daughter of Thomas Sidney of Walsingham co. Norfolk (who re-married John Claxton of Chediston, co. Suffolk) he had with Francis, William and Frances, (wife of Fermour Pepys of South Creake co. Norfolk) a son and heir, ROBERT DRURY, who succeeded his father at DOCKING. His will was dated 27 September 1624 and proved 17 January following. By Mary his wife, daughter and eventually heir of John Radcliffe of Sturmer, co. Essex, esquire, he had issue four sons and eight daughers, JOHN son and heir, Robert, Thomas and William and Ann, wife of Thomas Toll of Fakenham, co. Norfolk, Frances, Audrey, Elizabeth, Parnell, Jeane (married Christopher Jetter of Heveningham) and Mary.
JOHN DRURY, who succeeded at DOCKING, was a Royalist, and was concerned in a composition for his estate 25 December 1649:
He died before 15 April 1658, at which date Administration of his estate was granted to his brother ROBERT DRURY.
WILLIAM DRURY, third son of John Drury of Rougham, Suffolk, by Elizabeth (Goldingham), was educated at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, where he took the degree of L.L.B. in 1553. He was appointed Regius Professor of Civil Law in the university of Cambridge, with a salary of l 40 per annum, on 30 Jan. 1558-9, and proceeded L.L.D. in 1560. Admitted advocate at Doctors’ Commons on 5 May 1561, he shortly afterwards became Secretary to Archbishop Parker.
He was also a member of the ecclesiastical commission as early as 1567, and on 28 June of that year was appointed visitor of the churches, city and diocese of Norwich.
Dr. Drury was one of the civilians consulted by Elizabeth in 1571 on the important points of international law raised by the intrigues of the Bishop of Ross on behalf of Mary Stuart…Briefly stated the questions were – Whether an ambassador plotting insurrection, or aiding and abetting treason against the sovereign to whom he was accredited, did not forfeit his privileges as an ambassador and become amenable to the ordinary law of the land; and whether a deposed and refugee sovereign was capable by international law of having an ambassador in his land of asylum in such sense as to clothe the ambassador with the personal inviolability ordinarily belonging to his rank.
The civilians answered the first question in a sense adverse to the ambassador, and their decision was held at the time conclusive, and acted on accordingly; but, though much discussed since, it has not been generally approved by publicists, or frequently followed in practice by statesmen. The second question they answered in the affirmative, adding, however, the proviso, ‘so long as he do not exceed the bounds of an ambassador.’ The case is generally regarded by publicists as the locus classicus on the subject.
On 28 November 1574 Dr. Drury received from Archbishop Parker a grant of the advowson of Buxted, Sussex, and at some date not later than 21 April 1577 he was appointed Master of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury. He was also appointed, on 12 Nove. 1577, locum tenens for Dr. Yale, Archbishop Grindal’s vicar-general. At this time he seems to have incurred some suspicion of popish views. He was sworn Master-extraordinary in Chancery on 10 Oct. 1580, and Master-in-ordinary in Chancery 10 Feb. 1484-5.
In 1584 he was consulted as to the best mode of defending the revenues of the church against an apprehended confiscation by the crown under cover of a writ of melius inquirendum. An opinion was drawn up by him on this occasion, in which he advises the collection of evidence to prove that ‘the tenth part of the fruits of the land is not possessed by the clergy."
He died shortly before Christmas 1589, and was buried in the church of St. Mary Magdalen, Old Fish Street, London. He married Mary, daughter of Sir Richard Southwell of Woodrising, Norfolk, by whom he had issue four sons and two daughters. He resided at Brett’s Hall, in the parish of Tendring, Essex.
His widow, who died 1622, had married firstly, Henry Paston, and remarried for her third husband, Robert Forth L.L.D. Dr. Drury had two daughters, Bridget, born 1575, married Richard Babington of Mucking Hill, co. Worcester, esquire, and Elizabeth, born 1577, wife to Charles Clere of Stokesby, co. Norfolk, esquire. Also with four younger sons, George, born 1580, William born 1584 and Robert, born 1586 (the Jesuit whose tragic end in 1623 will be alluded to hereafter), a son and heir, afterwards Sir John Drury of Tendring, co. Essex. Dr. Drury’s will was dated 14 December 1589.
SIR JOHN DRURY of TENDRING, son and heir of Dr. Drury, was born 1573, and was knighted at Whitehall 6 November 1604. He died 18 December 1619. His will proved 17 December 1621. An inquisition post mortem was held as to his lands both in Norfolk and Suffolk. He married Ann, eldest daughter of Edmund Saunders of Charlton, co. Surrey (who re-married John Bowyer). Her will was dated 17 September 1640 and proved 16 May 1642. Their issue were John, son and heir, Southwell, William, Edmund, married to Alice Chapman of Great Bently, co. Essex and died 1669, and Robert Drury, who married Elizabeth, daughter of John Welby of London. Robert’s will was dated 14 April 1691.
JOHN DRURY, son and heir, born 1603, succeeded at TENDRING and died 22 March 1640. There is a monument to him in the chancel of Tendring Church. An inquisition post mortem on his Essex lands was held. By his wife Bridget, daughter of Thomas Edon of Sudbury, co. Suffolk, he had issue, JOHN DRURY born 1629 and Ann, both living 1640. John sold Old Hall in Tendring to his uncle Robert.
ROBERT DRURY, the fourth son of Sir William Drury of Tendring and Mary (Southwell), was a victim with many others of the extraordinary accident in Blackfriars, London, known as the "Fatal Vespers", described in a report printed in the Calendar of State Papers, Domestic Series.
Robert Drury was first educated in London, and at the age of 14 was sent to the English College, at Douai, where he began his course of humanities, which he completed at St. Omer. On 9 Oct. 1605 he entered the English College, Rome, for his higher course. After receiving minor orders he joined the Society of Jesus in Oct. 1608, and subsequently went to Posna to finish his theology, arriving there 28 Feb. 1611-12. In 1620 he was rector of the College of St. Omer, and afterwards was sent on a mission to his native country, where he became a distinguished preacher. He was professed of the four vows 8 Sept. 1622. Occasionally he went under the names of Bedford and Stanley. He lost his life on Sunday 5 Nov. 1623, at the "fatal vespers" in Blackfriars. On the afternoon of that day about 300 persons were assembled in an upper room at the French ambassador’s residence, Hunsdon House, Blackfriars, for the purpose of participating in a religious service by Drury and another Jesuit priest, and the great weight of the crowd in the old room suddenly snapped the main summer-beam of the floor, which instantly crashed and fell into the room below. The main beam there also snapped and broke through the ambassador’s drawing-room over the gate house, a distance of twenty-two feet. Part of the floor being less crowded, stood firm, and the people on it cut a way through a plaster wall into a neighbouring room. The two Jesuits were killed on the spot. About 95 people lost their lives, while many others sustained serious injuries. The bigotry of the times led some people to regard this calamity as a judgment on the Catholics, so much was God offended with their detestable idolatries."
Stow says that Drury was reputed by his fellow Churchmen to be a man of great learning and generally admitted to be of good moral life. A writer of the period describes him as a man of free, merry, and affable conversation, but adds that on the day before he preached he was observed to be very sad and pensive, as though some spirit of prediction had foretold him of his death. He was so affected that if his reputation for preaching and the promise he had made his friends would have allowed it he would at the last moment have withdrawn. It is said that a noble lady present at the meeting suggested to him that the structure of the building was not safe.
WILLIAM DRURY, alias BEDFORD, an elder brother of Father Robert Drury, was likewise an alumnus of the English College at Rome in 1605. He was then twenty-one years of age, born in Essex, and chiefly educated in London and at St. Omer’s, where he completed his humanity course. His brothers, sisters and nearly all his relatives were converts. He became a Roman Catholic through the efforts of his sister, who married Robert Abingdon, a gentleman of family and a staunch Catholic.
The Dictionary of National Biography states that William Drury was a dramatist, and an English gentleman (‘nobilis Anglus’) ‘of singular parts and learning’, and that it has been conjectured that he was a nephew of Dr. William Drury. He was for some time imprisoned in England on account of his adherence to the catholic religion, but about 1616 he was released through the intercession of Count Gondomar, the Spanish ambassador in London. In October 1618 he began to teach poetry and rhetoric at the English College at Douay. He wrote three Latin plays in verse, which were exhibited with great applause, first privately in the refectory of the College, and afterwards publicly in the quadrangle. These are: 1. "Alvredus sive Alfredus, Tragi-comoedia ter exhixbita in seminario Anglorum Duaceno ab ejusdem Collegii Juventute, Anno Domini MDCXIX" Douay 1620. 16 mo. (on the history of Alfred the Great and his subsequent deliverance of his people). At the end of the volume there is a poem entitled "De venerabili Eucharistia ab apibus inventa et mirabiliter servata, de qua scribit Caesarious, lib. 9, cap. 8. Carmen elegiacum." 2. "Mors, comoedia" printed with the preceding work, Douay, 1620. 15mo. Death and the Devil, in person, play the principal parts in this curious drama, or rather farce, of which Douce speaks in laudatory terms in his book on Holbein’s "Dance of Death", (edit. 1858, p156). 3. "Reparatus, save Depositum Tragico-Comoedia". First published, together with the two preceding works in Drury’s "Dramatica Poemata", Douay, 1628, 12 mo; reprinted at Antwerp, 1641, 12mo.
An earlier and junior branch of the Rougham family derived from CLEMENT DRURY, second son of Thomas Drury and Catherine (/whitwell). He married Susan, daughter of Peter Rowton of co. Suffolk, and settled in Shropshire. He was succeeded by a son and heir JOHN, and he by WILLIAM DRURY, who left issue HUMPHREY DRURY of Stoke, co. Salop, who was father of John Drury of Pulborough, co. Sussex, Doctor of Laws, one of the Masters-in-Chancery. John Drury’s will was dated 4 proved 9 June 1614. He took his degree of B.C.L. Oxford 1578 and D.C.L. 17 March 1584-5. He was canon of Chichester 1582, Rector of Pulborough 1589 and Witney, Oxon and Archdeacon of Oxford 1592.
By Alice his wife, daughter of John Apesley of Pulborough, he had issue William, son and heir, Henry Drury (will dated 7 Nov. 1631 proved 22 February following died unmarried), Thomas third son, married Susan Bullen, widow of Sir George Gunter, and Francis Drury of Lindfield, co. Sussex D.C.L. Their daughters were Mary, wife of Herbert Boord, Ann died young and Jane whose will was dated 31 March 1629.
The eldest son, WILLIAM DRURY, was of WATERGATE, near CHICHESTER, co. Sussex, and was sworn of the Privy Chamber March 1625. His will was dated 5 January 1643-4, proved 11 July 1646. By Katherine his wife, daughter of John Cowper of Dicham, co. Sussex, he had issue Francis of Trinity College, Oxford, born 1615, who died before 11 July 1646 leaving Elizabeth his relict; Thomas, Fellow of Corpus Christi, Cambridge; William, Christopher, Charles and Susan.
