DRU DRURY. AN EIGHTEENTH CENTURY ENTOMOLOGIST
By Professor T. D. A. COCKERELL
UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO
ALL entomologists are familiar with the name of Dru Drury. one of the fathers of their science in England. Living in the time of Linnaeus, when the discovery and description of new forms of life was rapidly increasing the bounds of zoology and botany, he entered fully into the spirit of the new knowledge and contributed largely to it. Something more than an amateur collector, he keenly interested him self in the natural history of insects, and did everything in his power to encourage biological investigations. He corresponded with some of the prominent zoologists of his day, and with many persons in foreign countries, who were interested in collecting insects. His letters were copied, nearly always in his own hand, in a large book. Then at Funchal, Madeira, recently, I was greatly interested to find this letter-book in the possession of Mr. C. O. L. Power, of the firm of wine merchants, Power, Drury and Company. Henry Dru Drury, the former head of the business, was my father s greatest friend, and I was named Dru after him. He died in 1888. but Mrs. Power is also a descendant of the entomologist and the letter-book thus still remains in the family. Mr. Power kindly gave me the following pedigree. The known ancestry goes back to Thomas Drury of Fincham in Norfolk, who died in 1545. William Drury, who lived at Godmanchester and Tempsford, had a son Dru Drury, born in 1688. His son, born February 4, 1725, was Dru Drury the entomologist. He is described as of Wood street in the Parish of St. Alban, London, citizen and goldsmith; afterwards of the Strand, of Enfield and of Turnham Green, all in the county of Middle sex, and of Broxbourne. Hereford. He married Easter Pedley, daughter of John Pedley of London, soapmaker. He died January 15, 1804. and was buried at the church of St. Martins in the Fields. He had three children, Mary, born 1749; William (goldsmith, of Turnham Green), born 1752; and Dru, born 1767. William had a son, Henry Dru Drury, born 1799, whose sons were Henry Dru Drury. my father s friend, born 1837, and Charles Dru Drury. The last was the father of Mrs. Power (Gertrude F. Drury), now living at Funchal. Charles Dru Drury, who lived at Blackheath, and died at the early age of 32, was interested in entomology.
