Lieutenant-Colonel William Price Drury CBE

Order of the British Empire

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...

 (8 November 1861–21 January 1949) was a Royal Marine Light Infantry officer, novelist, playwright, and Mayor of Saltash

Saltash

Saltash is a town and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It has a population of 14,964. It lies in the south east of Cornwall, facing Plymouth over the River Tamar. It was in the Caradon district until March 2009 and is known as "the gateway to Cornwall". Saltash means ash tree by...

 from 1929 to 1931.

The saying "Tell it to the Marines", often incorrectly attributed to King Charles II

Charles II of England

Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...

, actually came from the preface of his collection The Tadpole of an Archangel. Drury also wrote a poem entitled The Dead Marines in tribute to the Royal Marines after the Duke of Clarence

William IV of the United Kingdom

William IV was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and of Hanover from 26 June 1830 until his death...

 supposedly called empty alcohol bottles "Dead Marines".

Drury was educated at Brentwood School

Brentwood School (England)

Brentwood School is an independent school in Brentwood, Essex, England. Educating boys and girls in a British public school tradition. Brentwood School is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference....

, Essex

Essex

Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...

, and at Plymouth College

Plymouth College

Plymouth College is a co-educational independent school in Plymouth, Devon, England, for day and boarding pupils from the ages of 11 to 18...

. During his Royal Marines career, he served on the China Station

China Station

The China Station was a historical formation of the British Royal Navy. It was formally the units and establishments responsible to the Commander-in-Chief, China....

 and with the Mediterranean Fleet. He commanded the Royal Marines from HMS Camperdown

HMS Camperdown (1885)

HMS Camperdown was an Admiral-class battleship of the Royal Navy, named after Adam Duncan, 1st Viscount Duncan of Camperdown.She was a full sister to , and was an improved version of the earlier and . In comparison to these earlier ships, she had an increased thickness of barbette armour, and a...

 and HMS Astraea

HMS Astraea (1893)

HMS Astraea was an Astraea class second class cruiser of the Royal Navy. She was built towards the end of the nineteenth century, and survived to serve in the First World War.-Construction and commissioning:...

 who landed on Crete

Crete

Crete is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, and one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece. It forms a significant part of the economy and cultural heritage of Greece while retaining its own local cultural traits...

 after local Christians and British soldiers were massacred by Turkish Bashi-bazouk

Bashi-bazouk

A bashi-bazouk or bashibazouk was an irregular soldier of the Ottoman army...

 forces in 1898.

He was a member of the Naval Intelligence Department

Naval Intelligence Department

The Israeli Naval Intelligence Department is a staff unit in the Israeli navy headquarters. Like other IDF intelligence bodies, it is professionally subordinate to the Intelligence Directorate....

 from 1900 until he resigned to pursue his literary career the following year. At the outbreak of World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, he rejoined the Royal Marines and served as an intelligence officer

Intelligence officer

An intelligence officer is a person employed by an organization to collect, compile and/or analyze information which is of use to that organization...

 at Plymouth

Plymouth

Plymouth is a city and unitary authority area on the coast of Devon, England, about south-west of London. It is built between the mouths of the rivers Plym to the east and Tamar to the west, where they join Plymouth Sound...

.

The Royal Marines Barracks at Stonehouse, Plymouth

Stonehouse, Plymouth

East Stonehouse is one of three towns that were amalgamated into modern-day Plymouth. West Stonehouse was a village that is within the current Mount Edgcumbe Country Park in Cornwall...

 have a Drury Room containing his desk and memorabilia

Drury's mother-in-law was the authoress Mrs Pender Cudlip. The actress Ruth Kettlewell

Ruth Kettlewell

Ruth Kettlewell was a noted English actress who, by her own admission, was a “character bag”: that is a recognisable face to regular TV watchers but not a household name.-Life to death of husband:...

 was his niece.

List of works

• HMS Missfire (1893)
• The Petrified Eye and Other Stories Originally Told to the Marines (1896)
• The Tadpole of an Archangel (1898)
• Bearers of the Burden Being Stories of Land and Sea (1899)
• The Passing of the Flagship (1902)
• The Shadow on the Quarterdeck (1903)
• The Peradventures of Private Pagett (1904)
• A Privy Council (with Richard Pryce) (1906)
• Men-At-Arms (1906)
• Long Bow and Broad Arrow (1911)
• The Admiral Speaks (1912)
• Calamity Jane, RN (1912)
• All the King's Men (1919)
• The Incendiaries (1922)
• Tales of Our Ancestors: From King Arthur to William IV (1926)
• In Many Parts: The Memoirs of a Marine (1926)
• A Book of St. George (1928)
• The Flag Lieutenant in China (1929)
• Pagett Calling (1930)
• Eight Bells (1932)
• The Flag Lieutenant (1934)
• King's Blood (1935)
• A Regency Rascal (1937)
• Fightingcocks (1939)

Drury's play The Flag Lieutenant was filmed in 1919, 1926, and 1932

The Flag Lieutenant (1932 film)

The Flag Lieutenant is a 1932 British war film based on the play by William Price Drury and directed by and starring Henry Edwards. It also featured Anna Neagle, Joyce Bland and Peter Gawthorne...

with The Further Adventures of the Flag Lieutenant filmed in 1927. Drury also wrote the plays The Privy Council (1905) and The Admiral Speaks (1910).