Sir Robert Drury
Chest tomb with effigy of Sir Robert Drury; St Mary's Church, Bury St Edmunds
Born	c. 1456 Hawstead,Suffolk
Died	2 March 1536
Spouses	Anne Calthorpe Anne Jerningham
Children	Sir William Drury Sir Robert Drury Anne Drury Elizabeth Drury Bridget Drury Ursula Drury
Parent(s)	Roger Drury, Felice Denston

Sir Robert Drury (c. 1456–1536) was an Englishknight,Lord of the Manor ofHawstead, Suffolk, andKnight of the Body to KingsHenry VII andHenry VIII. As a politician he wasKnight of the Shire for Suffolk,Speaker of the House of Commons (elected 4 October 1495), andPrivy Councillor. He was also abarrister-at-law. His Londontownhouse was on the site of today'sDrury Lane.

Robert Drury, born before 1456 atHawstead,Suffolk, was the eldest of four sons of Roger Drury (d. 1496) ofHawstead,Suffolk, by his second wife Felice Denston, daughter and heiress of William Denston ofBesthorpe, Norfolk.^[3]

With Sir Robert Drury began for this family a long connection with the courts of theTudor sovereigns, and a succession of capable and eminent men whose careers are part of English history throughout the 16th century. In 1473 he was admitted toLincoln's Inn, where he became a prominent figure. However, according to Hyde 'there is no evidence, as was once thought,^[4] that he was educated atGonville Hall, Cambridge'.^[5]

Drury was named in many commissions in the county ofSuffolk from 1486 onwards. Drury procured fromPope Alexander VI a licence for thechapel in his house at Hawstead, dated 8 July 1501 in the tenth year of that pontificate. The original is now in themuseum atBury. Another early reference to him is an indenture 15 December 1490 by which Robert Geddying, son andheir of John Geddyng, agreed with Robert Drury, esquire, for the erection of houses atLackford,Suffolk, Roger and William Drury being co-feoffees.

He was electedKnight of the Shire (MP) forSuffolk in 1491, 1495 and 1510, acting asSpeaker of the House in 1495.^[6]

Drury was knighted byKing Henry VII on 17 June 1497, after thebattle of Blackheath,^[7] and was present at the funeral of the youngPrince Henry in 1511, where, amongst the list of mourners, he is included as one of the knights to bear thecanopy. He was anexecutor of the will ofJohn de Vere, 13th Earl of Oxford, who died in 1513.

Between June 1510 and February 1513 inclusive he was engaged with various colleagues in the attempt "to pacify theScottish border by peaceful methods and to obtain redress for wrongs committed." Previously, on 29 August 1509, he had been a witness to the renewal of the "Treaty of Perpetual Peace" between England and Scotland, signed shortly after Henry VIII's accession to the throne.^[6]

In 1520 he sailed with other knights to France to attend the famous meeting betweenHenry VIII andFrancis I of France now known as theField of the Cloth of Gold.^[8]

Two splendid books once owned by Sir Robert Drury have survived. One, a fine Latin MS of theVulgate, written by an English scribe early in the 13th century, is now in the library ofChrist's College, Cambridge. Some blank leaves at the end have been used to record the marriages and progeny of his children. The first group of entries was made at the end of 1527; subsequent entries carry on the records of the growth of the family until 1566. The other book is the finest and most famous of allChaucer MSS, theEllesmere manuscript ofThe Canterbury Tales now in theHuntington Library. At the top of a preliminary fly-leaf is written "Robertus Drury, miles", and below a list of his children: "William Drury, miles, Robertus Drury, miles, Domina [Anne] Jarmin, Domina [Bridget] Jarningham, and Domina [Ursula] Allington."^[9]

On 1 May 1531 Drury made his last will, requesting burial in the chancel ofSt. Mary's Church, Bury St. Edmunds beside his first wife, Anne Calthorpe. He died 2 March 1535. Drury and Anne Calthorpe are buried under a stone monument in St. Mary's Church; a wooden palisade, no longer in situ*,once bore the inscription 'Such as ye be, sometime were we, such as we are, such shall ye be. Miserere nostri.'^[10][5] (*ref. visual inspection 21/6/2023)

Drury House, the mansion built by Robert Drury, eventually gave its name to London's Drury Lane and to the well-known Drury Lane Theatre.

Drury married first, by 1494, Anne Calthorpe, daughter of SirWilliam Calthorpe ofBurnham Thorpe,Norfolk, by whom he had two sons and four daughters:^[3][5]

• Sir William Drury (c. 1500–1558) ofHawstead,Suffolk, who married first, Jane Saint Maur (d. 1517), by whom he had no issue; and secondly, Elizabeth Sothill (1505–1575) a granddaughter of another Speaker of the House of Commons, andChancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, SirRichard Empson (d. 17 August 1510).
• Sir Robert Drury.
• Anne Drury, who married first Sir George Waldegrave, esquire (c. 1483 – 8 July 1528) ofSmallbridge, Suffolk, from whom descend theEarls Waldegrave, as well as a branch of the Highams ofHigham Green and the Denham family; and secondly SirThomas Jermyn (c. 1500 – 1552) ofRushbrooke, Suffolk, from whom descend that family (including the Jacobite peer) as well as the Crane family ofChilton, laterbaronets.
• Elizabeth Drury, who married, in 1510,Sir Philip Boteler.
• Bridget Drury (d. 19 January 1518), who married Sir John Jerningham ofSomerleyton,Suffolk, eldest son and heir of Edward Jerningham (d. 6 January 1515) of Somerleyton by his first wife, Margaret Bedingfield (d. 24 March 1504). By him she had three sons, George, Robert and John, and two daughters, Anne Jerningham, who marriedSir Thomas Cornwallis ofBrome, Suffolk, and Elizabeth Jerningham, who marriedJohn Sulyard ofWetherden,Suffolk.^[11]
• Ursula Drury, who marriedSir Giles Alington ofHorseheath,Cambridgeshire.

After Anne Calthorpe's death, Drury married secondly, Anne (née Jerningham), daughter of Sir Edward Jerningham (d. 6 January 1515) ofSomerleyton,Suffolk, by Margaret Bedingfield (d. 24 March 1504), and sister of Sir John Jerningham (see above). At the time of her marriage to Sir Robert Drury, she is said to have been the widow of two husbands: Lord Edward Grey (d. before 1517), eldest son and heir ofThomas Grey, 1st Marquess of Dorset, and grandson ofKing Edward IV's wife,Elizabeth Woodville; and also ofHenry Barley (d. 12 November 1529) ofAlbury, Hertfordshire. In his will Drury refers to her as 'my Lady Grey'. There was no issue of Drury's second marriage. After Drury's death, Anne (née Jerningham) marriedSir Edmund Walsingham.^{[12][13][14][15][16][17]}

• Betham, William (1801).The Baronetage of England. Vol. I. Ipswich: Burrell and Bransby. pp. 227–9.
• Campling, Arthur (1937)."The History of the Family of Drury". London. Archived fromthe original on 19 July 2013.
• Challen, W.H. (January 1963). "Lady Anne Grey".Notes and Queries.10 (1):5–9.doi:10.1093/nq/10-1-5b.
• Hyde, Patricia (2004). "Drury, Sir Robert (b. before 1456, d. 1535)".Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press.doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/8097. (Subscription,Wikipedia Library access orUK public library membership required.)
• Richardson, Douglas (2011). Everingham, Kimball G. (ed.).Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families. Vol. II (2nd ed.). Salt Lake City.ISBN 978-1449966386.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Shaw, William A. (1906).The Knights of England. Vol. II. London: Sherratt and Hughes. p. 29.
• Burke, Messrs John and John Bernard,The Royal Families of England, Scotland, and Wales, with their descendants, Sovereigns and Subjects, London, 1851, vol.2, pedigree CXVII.
• Carr-Calthrop, Colonel Christopher William, C.B.E., M.D., &c.,Notes on the Families of Calthorpe & Calthrop, 3rd edition, London, 1933, p. 43.
• Bald, R.C.,Donne and the Drurys, Cambridge University Press, 1959, pp. 10-11.

• Will of Sir Robert Drury, National Archives
• The Ellesmere mss at theHuntington Library
• Will of Lady Anne Grey, widow, of Yates, Kent, proved 8 May 1559, PROB 11/42B/3, National Archives Retrieved 15 June 2013
• Campling, Arthur, F.S.A.,The History of the family of Drury, London, 1937

• 1450s births
• 1535 deaths
• Speakers of the House of Commons of England
• People from Hawstead
• Members of the Privy Council of England
• 16th-century English knights
• 15th-century English military personnel
• English MPs 1495
• English MPs 1510

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