William Price Drury


Lieutenant-Colonel William Price Drury, CBE was a Royal Marine Light Infantry officer, novelist and playwright. He served as Mayor of Saltash from 1929 to 1931.

Life

Drury was educated at Brentwood School, Essex, and at Plymouth College. He was commissioned a lieutenant in the Royal Marines Light Infantry on 1 September 1880, and promoted to captain on 2 January 1890. 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, and was promoted to major on 12 December 1898.
He was a member of the Naval Intelligence Department from 1900 until he was placed on half-pay on 1 July 1902 on account of medical unfitness, when he resigned to pursue his literary career. At the outbreak of World War I, he rejoined the Royal Marines and served as an intelligence officer at Plymouth.
Drury's mother-in-law was the romantic novelist Mrs. Pender Cudlip. 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.
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 he had made the remark to Samuel Pepys. Drury later admitted this was a fabrication.
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. Many items from the Drury Room are now on display at Saltash Heritage Museum and Local History Centre.

List of works