Dru Drury
Encyclopedia
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
entomologist, one of the foremost of his time.
He was born in Wood Lane
Wood Lane
Wood Lane is a street in London. It runs north from Shepherd's Bush, under the Westway past Wormwood Scrubs where it meets Scrubs Lane. The road is wholly in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. His father was a silversmith
Silversmith
A silversmith is a craftsperson who makes objects from silver or gold. The terms 'silversmith' and 'goldsmith' are not synonyms as the techniques, training, history, and guilds are or were largely the same but the end product varies greatly as does the scale of objects created.Silversmithing is the...
, and Dru took over the business in 1748. He retired as a silversmith in 1789 to devote his time entirely to entomology. Drury had a keen interest in entomology already, and was the president of the Society of Entomologists of London
Society of Entomologists of London
The Society of Entomologists of London was one of a series of brief-lived entomological societies based in London.The members met to exhibit, identify and exchange, sell or purchase insects which were sometimes very expensive as were books. Entomology was limited to the wealthy...
from 1780 to 1782. He died in Turnham Green
Turnham Green
Turnham Green is a public park situated on Chiswick High Road, Chiswick, London. It is separated in two by a small road. Christ Church stands on the eastern half of the green. A war memorial stands on the eastern corner...
and was buried at St. Martin-in-the-Fields.
From 1770 to 1787, he published the three-volume Illustrations of Natural History, wherein are exhibited upwards of 240 figures of Exotic Insects, which was later revised and republished under the title Illustrations of Exotic Entomology in 1837.
Drury was also a prolific collector—his collection comprised over 11,000 specimens.
"there may be in Holland collections more numerous, having in many instances a great number of a single species, yet no collection abounds with such a wonderful variety in all the different genera as this. All the specimens of which it is composed, are in the highest and most exquisite state of preservation, such an extensive collection can be supposed to be, and a very considerable number are unique, such as are not to be found in any other Cabinet whatever, and of considerable value ; many of which, coming from countries exceedingly unhealthy, where the collectors, in procuring them, have perished by the severity of the climate, give but little room to expect any duplicate will ever be obtained during the present age ; and the learned quotations that have been taken from it by those celebrated authors Linnaeus and Fabricius
Johan Christian Fabricius
Johan Christian Fabricius was a Danish zoologist, specialising in "Insecta", which at that time included all arthropods: insects, arachnids, crustaceans and others...
, in all their late editions, are incontestable proofs of the high degrees of estimation they entertained of it." Printed circular which Drury distributed with a view to the sale of the collection in I788.
External links
Sources
- Gilbert, P. 2000: Butterfly Collectors and Painters. Four centuries of colour plates from The Library Collections of The Natural History Museum, London. Singapore, Beaumont Publishing Pte Ltd : X+166 S. 27-28, Portr., 88-89, 140-141, 148-149: Lep.Tafel
- Griffin, F. J. 1940: Proc. R. Ent. Soc. London (A) 15 49-68
- Haworth, A. H. 1807 Trans. Ent. Soc. London 1 33-34
- Heppner, J. B. 1982 J. Lepidopt. Soc. 36(2) 87-111 (Sep. Heppner)
- Jardine, W. (B.) 1842 Nat. Library 13 17-71, Portr.
- Leach, W. E. 1815 Brewster, Edinburgh Encyclopaedia 9 66
- Noblett, B. 1985 Bull. Amat. Ent. Soc. 44(349) 170-178, Portr.
- Osborn, H. 1952: A Brief History of Entomology Including Time of Demosthenes and Aristotle to Modern Times with over Five Hundred Portraits Columbus, Ohio, The Spahr & Glenn Company : 1-303.
- Salmon, M. A. 2000 The Aurelian Legacy. British Butterflies and their Collectors. - Martins, Great Horkesley : Harley Books : 1-432