MEMOIR OF DRURY. 19 



in Suffolk, that the first of that name who settl^w 

 in this country was a Norman gentleman, who 

 came to England from Normandy with William the 

 Conqueror in 1066. It is further stated, that in 

 Normandy there is still a place called Drury, * and 

 sundry persons of that surname. The manor of 

 Hamstead, above alluded to, was in the possession 

 of the Drury family one hundred and ninety years, 

 but in 1 656 it passed into another family by mar- 

 riage. 



Of the early life of that member of the family 

 with whom we are more immediately concerned, it 

 is not in our power to furnish any account. In a 

 brief sketch which he himself gives of his history to 

 one of his correspondents, he commences with his 

 marriage. It is probable that, after finishing his 

 education, which seems to have been conducted 

 with some care, he assisted his father in the busi- 

 ness he carried on in Wood Street. However this 

 may be, we find that, when he had attained the 

 age of twenty-three, his father entirely resigned the 

 business into his hands. About the same time he 

 married Esther Pedley, the daughter of his father's 

 first wife by her former husband, John Pedley of 

 Wood Street, soapmaker. The marriage took place 

 on the 7th of June 1748, in Allhallow's Church, 

 London Wall. In consequence of these marriages 

 with the Pedleys, Dru Drury became possessed of 

 some freehold houses in London, Essex, Hertford- 



* It is possible that the well-known Drury Lane may have 

 derived its name from the same source. 



