William Drury

Sir William Drury (8 March 1550 – 1590) was an English landowner and member of parliament. He was the father of Sir Robert Drury, patron of the poet John Donne.

Family William Drury, born 8 March 1550, was the eldest son of Robert Drury (d. 7 December 1557), esquire, and Audrey Rich, the daughter of Richard Rich, 1st Baron Rich, Lord Chancellor of England. of Stoke Faston, Leicestershire, and Joan Empson, daughter of Sir Richard Empson.

Sir William Drury had three brothers and eight sisters:

Henry Drury, who died without issue. Thomas Drury (born 8 May 1551). Robert Drury, who died an infant. and a duel ensued in which Drury sustained a serious injury to his arm, losing first his hand to gangrene and then his arm by amputation. He died soon afterwards.

At his death, in 1590, Drury still owed the crown £3000. Much of his land was sold to pay the debt, all but £600 of which was eventually paid. He was buried at Hawstead, where a marble bust over his tomb depicts him in full armour. Drury had made his last will on 1 July 1587 prior to leaving England. It was proved on 4 June 1595.

Marriage and issue Drury married Elizabeth Stafford, the daughter of Sir William Stafford of Chebsey, Staffordshire, and Dorothy Stafford, by whom he had two sons and four daughters:

Sir Robert Drury (1575–1615), who married, on 30 January 1592, Anne Bacon (d. 5 June 1624), the daughter of Sir Nicholas Bacon, 1st Baronet, of Redgrave, by whom he had two daughters, Dorothy and Elizabeth, but died without living issue. Charles Drury, slain at Nieuwpoort in 1600. Frances Drury (13 June 1576 – c. 1637), who married firstly Sir Nicholas Clifford of Bobbing, Kent, and secondly, Sir William Wray, 1st Baronet, of Glentworth (1555–1617). Elizabeth Drury (born 4 January 1578) who married William Cecil, 2nd Earl of Exeter 1566–1640, by whom she had issue. Diana Drury, born 15 July 1580 (d. 1631), who married, in February 1618, as his second wife, Edward Cecil, 1st Viscount Wimbledon (1572–1638). Susanna Drury, who died unmarried in 1607

His widow subsequently married, in about 1591, Sir John Scott (d. 1616), of Scot's Hall.