William Price Drury

Lieutenant-Colonel William Price Drury CBE (8 November 1861–21 January 1949) was a Royal Marine Light Infantry officer, novelist, playwright, and Mayor of Saltash from 1929 to 1931.

Life

Drury was educated at Brentwood School, Essex, and at Plymouth College. During his Royal Marines career, he served on the China Station and with the Mediterranean Fleet. He commanded the Royal Marines from HMS Camperdown and HMS Astraea who landed on Crete after local Christians and British soldiers were massacred by Turkish Bashi-bazouk forces in 1898.

He was a member of the Naval Intelligence Department from 1900 until he resigned to pursue his literary career the following year. At the outbreak of World War I, he rejoined the Royal Marines and served as an intelligence officer at Plymouth.[1]

Drury's mother-in-law was the romantic novelist Mrs. Pender Cudlip.[2] The actress Ruth Kettlewell was his niece.

Work

Drury was the author of a range of plays and novels, many with naval themes. Perhaps his best known play The Flag Lieutenant was filmed three times: twice as a silent film - in 1919 by Percy Nash and in 1926 by Maurice Elvey - and then again for sound in 1932 by Henry Edwards. The Further Adventures of the Flag Lieutenant was also filmed in 1927, after the huge success of Elvey's adaptation.[3]

The preface of Drury's collection The Tadpole of an Archangel helped to popularise the expression Tell it to the Marines. Drury attributed the phrase to Charles II reporting that the King made the remark to Samuel Pepys. Drury later admitted the attribution was a fabrication.[4] Drury also wrote a poem entitled The Dead Marines in tribute to the Royal Marines after the Duke of Clarence supposedly called empty alcohol bottles "Dead Marines".

The Royal Marines Barracks at Stonehouse, Plymouth have a Drury Room containing his desk and memorabilia.[5]

List of works

References

  1. ↑ Who Was Who 1941-1952 Volume IV, 1952,A&C Black
  2. ↑ Sutherland, John, The Stanford Companion to Victorian Fiction, 1989, Stanford University Press, p.165
  3. ↑ Internet Movie Database
  4. ↑ Boller, Jr., Paul F.; George, John (1990). They Never Said It : a Book of Fake Quotes, Misquotes, and Misleading Attributions (1. issued as paperback. ed.). New York, NY [u.a.]: Oxford Univ. Press. p. 103. ISBN 0195064690.
  5. ↑ Saltash Heritage Newsletter #29

External links

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