Joseph Drury


Joseph Drury was Head Master of Harrow School 1785–1805, and first of a dynasty of Drurys to teach at Harrow.
Drury was educated at Westminster School and Trinity College, Cambridge. Admitted to Trinity in 1768, he was unable to continue at Cambridge due to lack of means, and in 1769 became an assistant master at Harrow School. Drury was ordained deacon in 1773 and priest in 1779. He was re-admitted to Trinity in 1774 as a "ten-year man", graduating B.D. in 1784 and D.D. in 1789.
In 1775 he married Louisa Heath, sister of Benjamin Heath, whom Drury succeeded as Head Master of Harrow in 1785.
His brother Mark Drury was Second Master at Harrow. He married Catherine Angelo, daughter of the fencing master at Eton, Domenico Angelo, and sister of the celebrated Eton Dame, Florella Angelo.
His son Henry Joseph Thomas Drury was a master at Harrow, where he was tutor to Lord Byron, with whom he later became a friend a correspondent. Henry Drury married Ann Tayler, whose sister later married Francis Hodgson, Provost of Eton College. Henry Joseph's son Benjamin Heath Drury was a master at Harrow.
Another of Joseph's sons, Benjamin Heath Drury, became an assistant-master at Eton.