Family and Education

b. c.1550, 2nd s. of Thomas Drew of Sharpham and bro. of Edward. m. bef. 1577, Dorothy.

Offices Held

Highway warden 1580, town clerk 1588 to at least 1625.

Biography

Records of Drew’s life are for the most part confined to the documents of his borough. He was involved before 1579 in a petty Chancery case concerning lands near Dartmouth, and in other disputes about lands of the nearby Torre abbey in 1579, 1580, and 1583. In 1592 he was associated with Thomas Plumley of Dartmouth and Nicholas Hayman in an unsuccessful attempt to buy a carrack, then in harbour there, from the Queen. His services to the borough brought him a £2 annuity in 1599. It is not known when he died; he was still town clerk in 1625.

St. Ch. 5/C2/2; Vivian, Vis. Devon, 306; Roberts thesis; PRO Lists, vii. 240; E133/3/549; 134/25-6; Exeter city mun. DD61461, 61575B, 61597, 61627, 61670; Archaeologia, xxxiii, 209-40; Lansd. 115, f. 233.

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603

Author: P. W. Hasler

Notes