| Sir Robert Drury | |
| Birth Date: | c. 1503 |
| Parents: | Sir Robert Drury, Anne Calthorpe |
| Spouse: | Elizabeth Brudenell |
| Children: | Robert Drury Sir William Drury Sir Drue Drury Roger Drury Edmund Drury Anne Drury Margaret Drury Lucy Drury Elizabeth Drury |
| Death Date: | 21 May |
| Death Place: | Hedgerley, Buckinghamshire |
Sir Robert Drury (c. 1503 – 21 May 1577) of Hedgerley and Chalfont St Peter, Buckinghamshire, was the second son of Sir Robert Drury, Speaker of the House of Commons, and was the father of Sir Robert Drury (1525–1593), Sir William Drury, and Sir Drue Drury.
He was active in local administration in Buckinghamshire, and a Member of Parliament for that county. His name appears in the Ellesmere manuscript of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.[1] [2]
Robert Drury, born about 1503, was the second son of Sir Robert Drury (before 1456 – 2 March 1535), Speaker of the House of Commons, and Anne Calthorpe, daughter of Sir William Calthorpe of Burnham Thorpe, Norfolk.[3] He had an elder brother, and four sisters:[3]
Drury was admitted to Lincoln's Inn on 12 February 1522. However, his marriage to an heiress shortly thereafter is said to have "spared him the need to practise law". He was appointed as a Justice of the Peace in Buckinghamshire from 1534 to 1543 and again in 1554, and served on numerous commissions in that county. In 1544-45 he was appointed escheator for Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire, and in 1546–47, 1555–56 and 1561–62, was High Sheriff of Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire.[8]
In 1538 a manor owned by Drury's father-in-law, Edmund Brudenell, came into Drury's hands, and he augmented the property by purchasing neighbouring monastic lands and other properties. In 1538, he purchased the manor of Temple Bulstrode in Hedgerley, and, in 1541, the chief manor in Chalfont St Peter. In 1556 he was granted licence to empark 400 acres at Hedgerley.[8]
In addition to his activities in local government, Drury attended court on state occasions, served with the King's forces at the time of the Pilgrimage of Grace in 1536, participated as a commissioner when Henry Pole, 1st Baron Montagu, Sir Edward Neville and others were tried for treason in 1538, and in 1544 was in the forces mustered to serve in Henry VIII's war against France. He is said to have been knighted by August 1548.[8] [9]
Perhaps as a result of Catholic sympathies, Drury did not serve as a Justice of the Peace during the reign of King Edward VI. He was among the first to support Mary Tudor's claim to the throne in July 1553, and was later awarded a pension of £66 13s 4d for his service in her cause.[8]
In October 1533, he sat as one of the two Knights of the Shire for Buckinghamshire in the first Parliament of Mary's reign. His son, Robert, was elected as MP for Chipping Wycombe in the same Parliament. He was among the noblemen, members of the gentry, and divines who attended when Archbishop Thomas Cranmer was tried for heresy in 1555. In 1564, six years after Queen Elizabeth's accession, he was termed a 'hinderer of religion', but in 1569 accepted the Act of Uniformity in connection with his appointment to a commission of the peace.[8]
As noted in the Guide to Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the Huntington Library, Drury's name appears on folio i verso of the Ellesmere manuscript of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales:
On f. i verso, s. XVI2/4, "Robertus drury miles [space], William drury miles, Robertus drury miles, domina Jarmin, domina Jarningam, dommina Alington", referring to Sir Robert Drury (mentioned above as executor; speaker of the House of Commons in 1495 and a member of Henry VIII’s Council), to his sons William and Robert, and to his 3 daughters: Anna, married first to George Waldegrave, and after his death in 1528 to Sir Thomas Jermyn; Bridget, married to Sir John Jernyngham (Jernegan, of Somerleyton); Ursula (d. 1521), married to Sir Giles Alington.[1] [2]
Drury made his last will on 12 and 28 April 1577, requesting burial by his wife in the church of Chalfont St Peter. Drury named his three surviving sons, Robert, Sir William and Drue as executors, and appointed as supervisors Sir William Cordell, Master of the Rolls, Sir Thomas Cornwallis, Sir Christopher Heydon, and his son-in-law, Robert Woodleaf. Drury died at Hedgerley on 21 May.[8] [10]
Drury married by 1524, Elizabeth Brudenell (d. 12 December 1542),[11] daughter of Edmund Brudenell of Chalfont St Peter, by whom he was the father of five sons and four daughters:[8] [11] [12]