The Drewe family of Broadhembury are generation owners and inhabitants of The Grange, Sharpham, Broadhembury, Wadhurst Park, Devon, in the west and east of England, from the 16th century to the current date.
All estates are currently owned by Major-General Sir Michael Gordon Thomas Drew.
Edward Drew (c. 1542–1598) [2] of Killerton in the parish of Broadclyst, Devon (where he built a new mansion house), purchased the manor of Broadhembury including the lands and buildings of the grange of Dunkeswell Abbey. He was a Serjeant-at-Law to Queen Elizabeth I, and served as a Member of Parliament for Lyme Regis in 1584, twice for Exeter in 1586 and 1588 and in 1592 for the prestigious seat of City of London. He occupied the honourable position of Recorder of the City of London. [3] He was the eldest son of Thomas Drew (b. 1519) of Sharpham, in the parish of Ashprington, near Totnes, Devon, by his wife Eleanora Huckmore, a daughter and co-heiress of William Huckmore of Devon. He married Bridget FitzWilliam of Mablethorpe, Lincolnshire. His large canopied monument with effigies survives in Broadclyst Church.
Sir Thomas Drew (died 1651), eldest son and heir, who served as Sheriff of Devon in 1612 under King James I, and was knighted at the coronation of King Charles I. [5] He sold Killerton to Sir Arthur Acland (died 1610), Knight, [5] of Acland in the parish of Landkey, Devon, who used it as jointure for his wife Eleanor Mallet. [6] Sir Arthur Acland's uncle Sir John Acland (died 1620), MP and High Sheriff of Devon had shortly before purchased the adjoining manor of Columb John also in the parish of Broadclyst.
Having sold Killerton, Sir Thomas Drew moved his family's residence from Killerton to Broadhembury, where in the words of the Devon historian Sir William Pole (died 1635) he "hath bwilded a fayre howse in this place & hath lardge demesnes & nowe dwelleth theire". [7] This was The Grange, which remained long after the seat of the family. The portrait of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603) attributed to George Gower (c. 1540–1596), was kept at The Grange from Sir Thomas's time until 1903, but has since 2005 been owned by Chris Nightingale of Appleby Castle, Cumbria Historical Portraits Ltd. [4] Sharpham was sold by the Drew family at some time before 1640 [8] to the Giles family of Bowden, an adjoining estate. Sir Thomas Drew also purchased the estate of Kitton in the parish of Holcombe Rogus, Devon, from Richard Warr. [9] He married Elizabeth More (died 1635), one of the daughters and co-heiresses of Sir Edward More (c. 1555–1623) of Odiham in Hampshire, [5] Member of Parliament for Midhurst in 1584 and for Hampshire in 1601. [10] A mural monument with kneeling effigy of Elizabeth's father survives in Broadhembury Church, although he was buried at Odiham. [11]
William Drew (1603–1654), eldest son and heir, who married five times but left no children. [5]
Francis Drew (1604–1675), younger brother, baptised at Broadhembury. He married Mary Walrond (died 1699), 2nd daughter of Richard Walrond of Ilbrewers, [5] descended in a junior line from the Walronds of Sea, Ilminster, Somerset, themselves a junior branch of the Walronds of Bradfield, Uffculme in Devon. [12] One of his daughters, Bridget Drew, in 1671 married (as his second wife) Francis Fulford (1632–1675) of Great Fulford, Devon. [13] His mural monument (called by Pevsner "not yet classical in its forms" [14] ) survives in Broadhembury Church, inscribed as follows:
If flouds of teares and universal love
Against the Fates a remora [15] could prove
If vertue could the just and loyal save
From ye dishonours of ye darkesome grave
Then had'st not thou most happy soul so soon
Left us in teares and to the angels gone
But walls of flesh we see can't long confine
Souls truly noble and like thine divine
Impatient of their earth they still aspire
And what thou dost enjoy they most desire.
Thomas Drewe (1635–1707), eldest son and heir, Sheriff of Devon 1688–9 under King James II and Tory MP for Devon 16 May 1699 to 1700. [16] He matriculated at Oriel College, Oxford in 1652 and entered Lincoln's Inn in 1655. [17] In 1661 he married Margaret Prideaux (1631–1695), daughter of Sir Peter Prideaux, 2nd Baronet (1596–1682), of Netherton, Farway, Devon, MP for Honiton in 1661, Sheriff of Devon in 1662 [18] and a poet. [19] He left no surviving male children, only two daughters, the eldest of whom was Elizabeth Drew, wife of Sir Arthur Chichester, 3rd Baronet (died 1717), Member of Parliament for Barnstaple, Devon, formerly of Raleigh, Pilton who built the surviving grand mansion of Youlston Park. [20] The Drew estates passed, presumably under a tail male, to his younger brother.
Francis Drew (died 1710), younger brother, who owned the Grange for only three years until his death in 1710. He had married Martha Webb (died 1729) but left only female children and died and was buried in the parish of All Hallows in the City of Exeter. [5]
Edward Drew (died 1714), younger brother, a Canon of Exeter Cathedral, who owned The Grange for only four years until his death in 1714. He did however leave male children, by his wife Joan Sparrow (died 1703), a daughter and co-heiress of Anthony Sparrow (1612–1685), Bishop of Exeter. [5]
Francis Drewe (c. 1674–1734), son and heir, a Member of Parliament for the City of Exeter "in four successive parliaments", [21] elected in 1713, 1715, 1722 and 1727, in which latter parliament he served until his death in 1734. [22] He matriculated at Corpus Christi College, Oxford on 2 August 1690, aged 16, and entered the Middle Temple in 1691 and was called to the bar in 1697 and was appointed a bencher in 1723. On 7 January 1695 he married Mary Bidgood (died 1729/30), [5] a daughter of Humphrey Bidgood of Rockbeare, near Exeter. [17]
Francis Drewe (1712–1773) (eldest son), Sheriff of Devon in 1738. He married twice:
His mural monument survives in Broadhembury Church, erected after 1801 as requested in the will [29] of his eldest son and heir Francis Rose Drew (1738–1801), and displays a triple impalement: centre: (Ermine, a lion passant gules) Drew; dexter: (Sable, on a pale or three roses slipt leaved proper) Rose; [30] sinister: (Argent, a chevron between three lion's heads erased gules crowned or) Johnson. It is inscribed as follows (before much biographical details of some of his progeny):
Francis Rose Drew (1738–1801), eldest son and heir by his father's first wife. He purchased the estate of Leyhill in the parish of Payhembury, formerly the seat of the Willoughby family, also of Molland Champson, Devon. There survives of him a portrait silhouette painted on laid card c. 1777, probably by Francis Torond. [31] He died without children. In June 1800 he was visited at The Grange by the landowner and landscaping connoisseur Rev. John Swete (died 1821) of Oxton House near Exeter, who made a watercolour painting of the house and recorded the event in his Travel Journal. [32]
Thomas Rose-Drew [33] (1740–1815), younger brother, of Wootton House in the parish of Wootton FitzPaine, Dorset (inherited from his mother Mary Rose) who inherited The Grange on the death of his elder brother. He served as Sheriff of Dorset in 1801. In 1782 he married Betty Incledon (1758–1846), daughter of the antiquarian Benjamin Incledon (1730–1796) [34] of Pilton House, Pilton, Devon. Individual oval portraits of Thomas and his wife painted by Lewis Vaslet (1742–1808) survive in the collection of Dunster Castle in Somerset. [35] [36] He died without progeny. His monument, [37] erected by his widow, survives on the west wall of the south chapel of Wooton FitzPaine Church ("white and grey marble with swags, cornice, acroteria and pediment-shaped top with shield-of-arms") [38] inscribed as follows:
William Drewe (1745–1821), [39] younger brother, of New Street, Spring Gardens in the parish of St Martin-in-the-Fields, [40] Westminster, a lawyer of New Inn, London, who died unmarried. [27] He was the subject of a poem written in 1783 by Richard Cooksey entitled "To William Drewe Esqr. of New Inn, sent as an apology for a breach of promise in not having met him and a party consisting of the Portals of Hampshire and Slades of Hammersmith, at Windsor". [41]
John Rose Drewe (1747–1830), younger brother, who married Dorothy Bidgood (died 1834), daughter of Charles Bidgood of Rockbeare. He left no surviving male children. An engraving of Grange in 1826, whilst he was the owner, was published by John Preston Neale in his Views of the Seats of Noblemen and Gentlemen, etc. Neale described in great detail the "Oak drawing Room", which he described as "the chief ornament of this seat".
Edward Simcoe Drewe (1805–1879), half-nephew, only son of Edward Drewe (1756–1810), Rector of Willand, Devon, 7th son of Francis Drewe (1712–1773) of The Grange, by his second wife Mary Johnson. He was a Justice of the Peace and Deputy Lieutenant of Devon and in 1845 served as High Sheriff of Devon. He married Jane Susan Adele Prevost, daughter and heiress of Jean Gaspard Prevost, Conseiler d'Etat of the Canton of Geneva. [27]
Major-General Francis Edward Drewe (born 1830), 23rd Royal Welsh Fusiliers, eldest son and heir, of The Grange and Leyhill, a Justice of the Peace for Devon. He was a Knight of the Legion of Honour. While a Brevet Major on half-pay from the 23rd Fusiliers he also served as Lieutenant-Colonel commanding the 1st Devon Militia from 1856 to 1858. [42] He married twice: firstly to Louisa Anne Vincent (died 1883), eldest daughter of Sir Frederick Vincent, 11th Baronet (1798–1883), Rector of Slinford, Sussex. Secondly in 1885 he married Katherine Shelley, only daughter of Adolphus Shelley and widow of James Boutein. [27] On his death in 1891 without children his heir was his sister Adèle Caroline Drewe (died 1895), the widow of John Arthur Locke (died 1888) of Northmoor, near Dulverton in Somerset, [43] a partner in the lead manufacturing firm of Locke and Blackett of Newcastle upon Tyne.
Julius Charles Hendicott Drewe was an English businessman, retailer and entrepreneur who founded Home and Colonial Stores, and who ordered the building of Castle Drogo in Devon.
Benjamin Incledon (1730–1796) of Pilton House, Pilton, near Barnstaple in North Devon, was an English antiquarian and genealogist. He served as Recorder of Barnstaple (1758–1796).
Nicholas Duck, of Heavitree and of nearby Mount Radford in the parish of St Leonards, both next to Exeter in Devonshire, was an English lawyer who served twice as a Member of Parliament for Exeter, in 1624 and 1625. He was one of the Worthies of Devon of the biographer John Prince (1643–1723), whose wife was his great-niece.
Sir John Acland of Columb John in the parish of Broadclyst, Devon, was an English knight, landowner, philanthropist, Member of Parliament and Sheriff of Devon. He was one of John Prince's Worthies of Devon.
Edward Drew (c.1542–1598) of Killerton, Broadclyst and The Grange, Broadhembury, Devon, was a Serjeant-at-Law to Queen Elizabeth I. He served as a Member of Parliament for Lyme Regis in 1584, twice for Exeter in 1586 and 1588 and in 1592 for the City of London. He occupied the honourable position of Recorder of the City of London.
Sir John Davie, 2nd Baronet (1612–1678) of Creedy in the parish of Sandford, Devon, was Member of Parliament for Tavistock, Devon, in 1661 and was Sheriff of Devon from 1670 to 1671.
Roger Colman was an English landowner and politician who sat in the House of Commons in 1660.
Bradfield House is a Grade I listed country house situated in the parish of Uffculme, Devon, England, 2 miles (3.2 km) south-west of the village of Uffculme.
The Black Assizes is an epithet given to several outbreaks of "gaol fever" which struck various prisons and court-houses in England in the late 16th century and which caused the deaths of not only many prisoners awaiting trial but also the magistrates in the court buildings holding assizes.
Great Fulford is an historic estate in the parish of Dunsford, Devon. The grade I listed manor house, known as Great Fulford House, is about 9 miles west of Exeter. Its site was said in 1810 to be "probably the most ancient in the county". The present mansion house is Tudor with refurbishment from the late 17th century and further remodelling from about 1800. The prefix "Great" dates from the late 17th century and served to distinguish it from the mansion house known as "Little Fulford" in the parish of Shobrooke, Devon, about 8 miles to the north-east, also owned briefly by Col. Francis Fulford (1666–1700), as a result of his marriage to the heiress of the Tuckfield family. Great Fulford has been the residence of the Fulford family, which took its name from the estate, from the reign of King Richard I (1189–1199) to the present day. There are thus few, if any, families in Devonshire of more ancient recorded origin still resident at their original seat. In 2004 the estate comprised 3,000 acres.
Creedy is an historic estate in the parish of Sandford, near Crediton in Devon. It is named from its location on the west side of the River Creedy. It was the seat of the Davie family from about 1600 until the late 20th century. The mansion house on the estate has been called at various times New House, Creedy House, and as presently, Creedy Park. It was first built in about 1600, rebuilt in 1846, burnt down in 1915 and rebuilt 1916–21. It is surrounded by a large park, the boundary of which is enclosed by a stone and brick wall several miles long.
The feudal barony of Dunster was an English feudal barony with its caput at Dunster Castle in Somerset. During the reign of King Henry I (1100–1135) the barony comprised forty knight's fees and was later enlarged. In about 1150 the manors retained in demesne were Dunster, Minehead, Cutcombe, Kilton and Carhampton in Somerset, and Ham in Dorset.
Sharpham is an historic estate in the parish of Ashprington, Devon. The Georgian mansion house, known as Sharpham House, overlooks the River Dart and is a Grade I listed building. The house was commenced in about 1770 by the Royal Navy captain Philemon Pownoll to the designs of the architect Sir Robert Taylor (1714–1788). In the opinion of Nikolaus Pevsner it contains "one of the most spectacular and daring later 18th century staircase designs anywhere in England". The park and gardens are Grade II* listed in the National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. Part of the descent of Sharpham is shown on the Palmes family heraldic pedigree roll.
Mount Radford is an historic estate in the parish of St Leonards, adjacent to the east side of the City of Exeter in Devon.
Hawkridge in the parish of Chittlehampton in North Devon, England, is an historic estate, anciently the seat of a junior branch of the Acland family which originated at nearby Acland, in the parish of Landkey and later achieved great wealth and prominence as the Acland Baronets of Killerton, near Exeter. The former mansion house is today a farmhouse known as Hawkridge Barton, a grade II* listed building. The Devon historian Hoskins (1959) stated of Hawkridge: "Externally there is nothing remarkable except a decaying avenue of ancient walnuts, so often the first indication of a 16th or 17th century mansion". The interior contains a fine plaster heraldic overmantel showing the arms of Acland impaling Tremayne, representing the 1615 marriage of Baldwin Acland (1593–1659) of Hawkridge and Elizabeth Tremayne.
Sir Edward More of Odiham in Hampshire was an English Member of Parliament. He was a Justice of the Peace for Surrey and Sussex from c. 1582 to c. 1587, and for Hampshire from c. 1584. He succeeded his father in 1581 and was knighted in 1600.
Samuel Drewe (1759-1837) of Kensington in Middlesex, was Governor of the Bank of England from 1828 to 1830. He had been Deputy Governor from 1826 to 1828. He replaced John Baker Richards as Governor and was succeeded by John Horsley Palmer.
Woolleigh is an historic estate in the parish of Beaford, Devon. The surviving mansion house known as Woolleigh Barton, situated 1 3/4 miles north-west of the parish church of Beaford, is a grade II* listed building, long used as a farmhouse. It incorporates remains of a "very fine example of a late Medieval manor house" and retains a "very rich" 15th century wagon roof, a garderobe with the original door, and an attached private chapel with a 17th-century roof.
Thomas Rose (1679-1748) of Wootton House in the parish of Wootton Fitzpaine in Dorset was Sheriff of Dorset in 1715.
Francis Drewe, of the Grange, Broadhembury, Devon, was a British lawyer and Tory politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1713 to 1734.