The Drewe family of Broadhembury

The Drewe family of Broadhembury were for many generations owners and inhabitants of The Grange, Broadhembury, Devon, in the west of England, from the sixteenth- to the nineteenth-centuries.

Arms of Drewe of Sharpham and of The Grange, Broadhembury, Devon: Ermine, a lion passant gules^[1]

The Drewe Portrait of Queen Elizabeth I, attributed to George Gower (c. 1540–1596),^[2]

Edward Drew (c. 1542–1598)

Edward Drew (c. 1542–1598)^[3] 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.^[4] 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.

Sir Thomas Drew (d. 1651)

Sir Thomas Drew (d. 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 (d. 1610), Knight,^[6] of Acland in the parish of Landkey, Devon, who used it as jointure for his wife Eleanor Mallet.^[7] Sir Arthur Acland's uncle Sir John Acland (d. 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 (d. 1635) he "hath bwilded a fayre howse in this place & hath lardge demesnes & nowe dwelleth theire".^[8] This was The Grange, which remained long after the seat of the family. Here he entertained Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603), who subsequently sent him her portrait,^[9] attributed to George Gower (c. 1540–1596),^[10] long kept at The Grange,^[11] since 2005 owned by Chris Nightingale of Appleby Castle, Cumbria Historical Portraits Ltd.^[12] Sharpham was sold by the Drew family at some time before 1640^[13] 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.^[14] He married Elizabeth More (d. 1635), daughter of Sir Edward More (c. 1555–1623) of Odiham in Hampshire,^[15] Member of Parliament for Midhurst in 1584 and for Hampshire in 1601.^[16]

William Drew (1603–1654)

William Drew (1603–1654), eldest son and heir, who married five times but left no progeny.^[17]

Francis Drew (1604–1675)

Francis Drew (1604–1675), younger brother, baptised at Broadhembury. He married Mary Walrond (d. 1699), 2nd daughter of Richard Walrond of Ilbrewers,^[18] descended in a junior line from the Walronds of Sea, Ilminster, Somerset, themselves a junior branch of the Walronds of Bradfield, Uffculme in Devon.^[19] One of his daughters, Bridget Drew, in 1671 married (as his second wife) Francis Fulford (1632–1675) of Great Fulford, Devon.^[20]

Thomas Drewe (1635–1707)

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.^[21] He matriculated at Oriel College, Oxford in 1652 and entered Lincoln's Inn in 1655.^[22] 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^[23] and a poet.^[24] He left no surviving male progeny, only two daughters, the eldest of whom was Elizabeth Drew, wife of Sir Arthur Chichester, 3rd Baronet (d. 1717), Member of Parliament for Barnstaple, Devon, formerly of Raleigh, Pilton who built the surviving grand mansion of Youlston Park.^[25] The Drew estates passed, presumably under a tail male, to his younger brother.

Francis Drew (d. 1710)

Francis Drew (d. 1710), younger brother, who owned the Grange for only 3 years until his death in 1710. He had married Martha Webb (d. 1729) but left only female progeny and died and was buried in the parish of All Hallows in the City of Exeter.^[26]

Edward Drew (d. 1714)

Edward Drew (d. 1714), younger brother, a Canon of Exeter Cathedral, who owned The Grange for only 4 years until his death in 1714. He did however leave male progeny, by his wife Joan Sparrow (d. 1703), a daughter and co-heiress of Anthony Sparrow (1612–1685), Bishop of Exeter.^[27]

Francis Drewe (c. 1674–1734)

Francis Drewe (c. 1674–1734), son and heir, Member of Parliament for Exeter 1713–1734.^[28] He matriculated at Corpus Christi, 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 (d. 1729/30),^[29] a daughter of Humphrey Bidgood of Rockbeare, near Exeter.^[30]

Francis Drewe (1712–1773)

Francis Drewe (1712–1773) (son), Sheriff of Devon in 1738, who married twice:

• Firstly in 1737 to Mary Rose (died pre-1753), daughter of Thomas Rose of Wooton FitzPaine of Dorset, by whom he had progeny including Francis Rose Drew (1738–1801), eldest son and heir.
• Secondly in 1753 to Mary Johnson, daughter of Thomas Johnson of London.^[31] Mary Johnson's portrait dated 1754 survives showing her dressed as a shepherdess, in a gold dress, with flowers in her hair, holding a crook in her left hand.^[32] By his second wife he had a daughter Mary Drewe (d. 1830) who in 1782 married John I Fownes Luttrell (1752–1816), feudal baron of Dunster of Dunster Castle in Somerset, MP for Minehead (1776–1816).^[33]

Francis Rose Drew (1738–1801)

Francis Rose Drewe (1738–1801), silhouette c. 1777 attributed to Francis Torond

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.^[34] He died without progeny. In June 1800 he was visited at The Grange by the landowner and landscaping connoisseur Rev. John Swete (d. 1821) of Oxton House near Exeter, who made a watercolour painting of the house and recorded the event in his Travel Journal.^[35]

Thomas Rose Drew (1740–1815)

Thomas Rose Drew (1740–1815) and his wife Betty Incledon, pastels by Lewis Vaslet (1742–1808), collection of Dunster Castle. (His half-sister Mary Drewe (d. 1830) was the wife of John I Fownes Luttrell (1752–1816), feudal baron of Dunster)

Thomas Rose Drew (1740–1815), younger brother, of Wooton FitzPaine, who inherited The Grange on the death of his elder brother. In 1782 he married Betty Incledon (1738-), daughter of the antiquarian Benjamin Incledon (1730–1796)^[36] 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.^[37] He died without progeny.

William Drewe (1745–)

William Drewe (1745–), younger brother, a lawyer of New Inn, London, who died unmarried.

John Rose Drewe (1747–1830)

John Rose Drewe (1747–1830), younger brother, who married Dorothy Bidgood (d. 1834), daughter of Charles Bidgood of Rockbeare. He left no surviving male progeny.

Edward Simcoe Drewe (1805–1879)

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.^[38]

Major-General Francis Edward Drewe (1830–1891)

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. He married twice: firstly to Louisa Anne Vincent (d. 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.^[39] On his death in 1891 without progeny his heir was his sister Adèle Caroline Drewe (d. 1895), the widow of John Arthur Locke (d. 1888) of Northmoor, near Dulverton in Somerset,^[40] a partner in the lead manufacturing firm of Locke and Blackett of Newcastle upon Tyne.

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