Early life and education

Drew was born at Bower Chalke, Wiltshire, in 1809. His father died when Drew was only a year old. Drew was self-educated. He was so successful at this that by the age of fifteen he was prepared to teach professionally. He spent two years as an assistant in a school at Melksham

Melksham

Melksham is a medium-sized English town, lying on the River Avon. It lies in the county of Wiltshire.It is situated southeast of the city of Bath, south of Chippenham, west of Devizes and north of Warminster on the A350 national route. The 2001 UK census cited Melksham as having 20,000...

, after which he moved to Southampton

Southampton

Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...

, where he taught for another sixteen years. He was a corresponding member of the Philosophical Institute of Bâle, and had taken a degree of doctor in philosophy

Doctor of Philosophy

Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...

 at the university

University of Basel

The University of Basel is located in Basel, Switzerland, and is considered to be one of leading universities in the country...

 of the same place.

Career

Drew's first celestial observations were made with a three and a half foot refractor. In 1847, he installed a five-foot achromatic telescope

Achromatic telescope

The achromatic telescope is a refracting telescope that uses an achromatic lens to correct for chromatic aberration.-How it works:When an image passes through a lens, the light is refracted at different angles for different wavelengths. This produces focal lengths that are dependent on the color of...

 by Dollond, mounted equatorially, in a small observatory

Observatory

An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geology, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed...

 he built for the purpose in his garden. With the help of a transit circle by Jones and of the Beaufoy clock, lent by the Royal Astronomical Society

Royal Astronomical Society

The Royal Astronomical Society is a learned society that began as the Astronomical Society of London in 1820 to support astronomical research . It became the Royal Astronomical Society in 1831 on receiving its Royal Charter from William IV...

, he very accurately determined the time, and supplied it during many years to the ships leaving Southampton.

He published a number of papers on astronomy, geology, and meterology. At the Southampton meeting of the British Association in 1846, Drew was appointed one of the secretaries of the mathematical section, and printed for the use of the association a pamphlet ‘On the Objects worthy of Attention in an Excursion round the Isle of Wight, including an Account of the Geological Formations as exhibited in the Sections along the Coast.’ Also, on 9 January, 1846, he was elected a member of the Royal Astronomical Society

Royal Astronomical Society

The Royal Astronomical Society is a learned society that began as the Astronomical Society of London in 1820 to support astronomical research . It became the Royal Astronomical Society in 1831 on receiving its Royal Charter from William IV...

Between 1848 and 1853, he took systematic meteorological observations, and summarised the results in two papers on the ‘Climate of Southampton,’ read before the British Association in 1851 and 1854 respectively. Invited to assist in the foundation of the Meteorological Society in 1850, he wrote a series of papers ‘On the Instruments used in Meteorology, and on the Deductions from the Observations,’ which were extensively circulated among the members of the society, and formed the groundwork of a treatise on ‘Practical Meteorology,’ published by Drew in 1855, and re-edited by his son in 1860.

His last work was a set of astronomical diagrams, published by the Department of Science and Art in 1857, representing the moon, planets, starclusters, nebulæ, and other celestial objects.

Publications

• ‘Practical Meteorology’ (1855)
• ‘On the Instruments used in Meteorology, and on the Deductions from the Observations’ (1850)
• ‘Climate of Southampton,’ (1851) and (1854)
• ‘Telescopic Appearance of the Planet Venus at the time of her Inferior Conjunction, 28 Feb. 1854’ (ib. xv. 69)
• ‘Chronological Charts illustrative of Ancient History and Geography’ (1835)
• ‘A Manual of Astronomy : a Popular Treatise on Descriptive, Physical, and Practical Astronomy, with a familiar Explanation of Astronomical Instruments, and the best methods of using them.’ (1845)
• ‘On the Objects worthy of Attention in an Excursion round the Isle of Wight, including an Account of the Geological Formations as exhibited in the Sections along the Coast.’ (1846)