Sir William Drury, Knt., (2 October 1527 – October 1579) was an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 statesman and soldier,

He was a son of Sir Robert Drury of Hedgerley in Buckinghamshire

Buckinghamshire

Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....

, and grandson of another Sir Robert Drury (died 1536), who was speaker of the House of Commons

British House of Commons

The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...

 in 1495. He was a brother of Dru Drury

Dru Drury (courtier)

Sir Dru or Sir Drue Drury was an English courtier.-Early life:Drury was probably born in 1531 or 1532, the fifth but third surviving son of Sir Robert Drury of Hedgerley, Buckinghamshire, by his wife Elizabeth, daughter and heir of Edmund Brudenell and was a younger brother of Sir William...

.

He was born at Hawstead in Suffolk

Suffolk

Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...

, and was educated at Gonville College, Cambridge

Cambridge

The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...

. Fighting in France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, Drury was taken prisoner in 1544; then after his release, he helped Lord Russell

William Russell, 1st Baron Russell of Thornhaugh

William Russell, 1st Baron Russell of Thornhaugh was a younger son of Francis Russell, 2nd Earl of Bedford. His birthdate is uncertain, with some records showing that he was born as early as 1553, some as late as 1563...

, afterwards Earl of Bedford

Earl of Bedford

Earl of Bedford is a title that has been created three times in the Peerage of England. The first creation came in 1138 in favour Hugh de Beaumont. He appears to have been degraded from the title three or four years after its creation. However, the existence of the title altogether has been...

, to quell a rising in Devon

Devon

Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...

shire in 1549, but he did not come to the front until the reign of Elizabeth

Elizabeth I of England

Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...

.

In 1554 he sat as Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 for Chipping Wycombe. In 1559, he was sent to Edinburgh

Edinburgh

Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...

 to report on the condition of Scottish politics, and five years later he became Marshal and deputy-governor of Berwick-upon-Tweed

Berwick-upon-Tweed

Berwick-upon-Tweed or simply Berwick is a town in the county of Northumberland and is the northernmost town in England, on the east coast at the mouth of the River Tweed. It is situated 2.5 miles south of the Scottish border....

. He was a close observer of the affairs of Mary, Queen of Scots, and her house-arrest in Loch Leven

Loch Leven

Loch Leven is a fresh water loch in Perth and Kinross council area, central Scotland.Roughly triangular, the loch is about 6 km at its longest. The burgh of Kinross lies at its western end. Loch Leven Castle lies on an island a short way offshore...

 castle, and was in constant communication with Lord Burghley

William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley

William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley , KG was an English statesman, the chief advisor of Queen Elizabeth I for most of her reign, twice Secretary of State and Lord High Treasurer from 1572...

 and wrote to him on 3 April 1568 regarding her escape from that place on 25 March about which he gave a full account. Again in Scotland in January 1570, it is interesting to note that the regent James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray

James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray

James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray , a member of the House of Stewart as the illegitimate son of King James V, was Regent of Scotland for his nephew, the infant King James VI of Scotland, from 1567 until his assassination in 1570...

, was proceeding to keep an appointment with Drury in Linlithgow

Linlithgow

Linlithgow is a Royal Burgh in West Lothian, Scotland. An ancient town, it lies south of its two most prominent landmarks: Linlithgow Palace and Linlithgow Loch, and north of the Union Canal....

 when he was mortally wounded, and it was probably intended to murder the English envoy also.

After this event, Drury led two raids into Scotland; at least thrice he went to that country on more peaceable errands, during which, however, his life was continually in danger from assassins; and he commanded the force which compelled Edinburgh Castle

Edinburgh Castle

Edinburgh Castle is a fortress which dominates the skyline of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, from its position atop the volcanic Castle Rock. Human habitation of the site is dated back as far as the 9th century BC, although the nature of early settlement is unclear...

 to surrender in May 1573. In 1576, he was sent to Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

 as President of Munster, where his rule was severe but effective, and in 1578 he became Lord Justice to the Irish Council, taking the chief control of affairs after the departure of Sir Henry Sidney

Henry Sidney

Sir Henry Sidney , Lord Deputy of Ireland was the eldest son of Sir William Sidney of Penshurst, a prominent politician and courtier during the reigns of Henry VIII and Edward VI, from both of whom he received extensive grants of land, including the manor of Penshurst in Kent, which became the...

. The Second Desmond Rebellion

Second Desmond Rebellion

The Second Desmond rebellion was the more widespread and bloody of the two Desmond Rebellions launched by the FitzGerald dynasty of Desmond in Munster, Ireland, against English rule in Ireland...

 had just broken out when Sir William died in October 1579.

Drury's letters to Cecil, and others, are invaluable for the story of the relations between England and Scotland at this time.

Sir William Drury married (as her second husband) Nancy Park (d.1624) daughter of Sir Thomas Wentworth, 1st Baron Wentworth

Thomas Wentworth, 1st Baron Wentworth

Thomas Wentworth, 1st Baron Wentworth and de jure 6th Baron le Despencer, PC was an English peer and courtier during the Tudor dynasty....

 of Nettlestead, Suffolk

Nettlestead, Suffolk

Nettlestead is a village and civil parish in the Mid Suffolk district of Suffolk in eastern England. Located to the north-west of Ipswich, in 2005 its population was 90....

.

His house in London gave its name to the street Drury Lane

Drury Lane

Drury Lane is a street on the eastern boundary of the Covent Garden area of London, running between Aldwych and High Holborn. The northern part is in the borough of Camden and the southern part in the City of Westminster....

.