The House Husband

I found out some more Drewe stuff today. It even includes Shakespeare! Sort of.

According to the Transactions of the Devonshire Association, after a boozy night at the Dolphin Inn in 1611, Edward Drewe and his brother John may have murdered their ‘friend’ William Peter. I say ‘may’ because I have yet to discover the outcome of the case brought before the city justices.

The story goes that the three of them visited the Dolphin on a January night having already visited the Mermaid and the Bear, so they were already pretty drunk. They joked around for an hour, playing a practical joke on the publican, and then went on to a few more pubs around the town.

The next bit was based on the evidence of Edward and John Drewe. Eventually they left the city and set out across the country, on the road to St Sidwell. At one point William Peter raced ahead of the Drewe boys and just vanished. The Drewe’s called for him but heard nothing.

They ended up at St Anne’s Chapel where they found William’s horse but no William. They rode towards the closest house and asked there but there was no sign of William. They went on to William’s home and woke up his servant, handing him the horse and saying his master would return soon. The Drewes then left.

The next day, the body of William Peter was found near the chapel and the Drewe brothers were arrested for murder.

The Shakespeare connection is interesting. Someone wrote a poem about the funeral of William Peter, signing it WS. Many people think it is by Bill but many think it was not. It seems there is a lot of debate over this poem. For instance, a piece by Donald Foster, goes into great detail about both the Drewes and Peter. It quotes a few siblings and Edward’s wife. All this is good information!

Note that I am still working feverishly on my dissertation…the genealogy stuff is in my spare time!

OK, it has taken me quite a while and lots of agricultural labourers but I have finally found an ancestor of some great note. And I’ve even (sort of) been to his house!

In 1542, in Killerton, Devon, Thomas Drewe Esq and his wife Elinore (nee Huckmore) had a son. They named him Edward. He was a lawyer and ended up being the Recorder of London. These days, that means the most senior permanent judge of the Central Criminal Court, and it was a pretty high position back then as well.

However, in 1592 he was only the lowly Recorder of Exeter (basically a circuit judge) but then he was promoted to Serjeant at Law to the Queen (that’s QEI, doncha know). When this happened, he decided he needed a bigger place so he sold off Killerton to the Aclands and bought The Grange, Broadhembury, also in Devon.

He had 12 children, most of whom died very young but one of them, Wearne, kept the genes going down the line. Through the generations, those genes just kept going. They went through the Drewes, the Dunstones and finally into the Pearce family. My grandfather’s father married two of them (not at the same time).

And so, Sir Edward Drewe (1542-1622) was my great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather! In a direct line!

I am in the process of going back further along the Drewe line (there are hints they came over with old Bill the Bastard in 1066) but I shall rest on my laurels for now.

Anyway, the house we visited was Killerton in 2001. Here’s a photo:

Killerton - the seat of the Aclands

Of course, this house was built by the Aclands. They pulled down the one the Drewe’s lived in. The amazing thing was that we went there! The thing is, we have to go again because Sir Edward has a rather impressive monument in the local parish church and I didn’t see it!!!