Richard William Drew

• Birth date            1834 at St Margaret parish, Westminster
• Christening         8 April 1835 at St Mary Magdalene Bermondsey
• Married                22 July 1863 to Anne Bletchley Starey at Milton Ernest church. Bedfordshire
• Death date          22 May 1903 by drowning

Richard William Drew was born at Westminster about 1834, the youngest son of George Drew (1789-1862), solicitor of Bermondsey, and his wife, Mary, nee Harvey. (1791-1864). Over time George and his brother, Beriah Drew, built up considerable estates, particularly in Streatham, some of which they developed. In 1853 George Drew purchased estates at Caterham after which the Streatham lands were owned and developed by Beriah Drew and his descendants. At Caterham George was living at Kenley House in 1854 and Burntwood House in 1856, the year in which he became a director of the Caterham Railway Company, a small branch line which nonetheless served to open up his estates for development. In 1859 he transferred ownership to his eldest son who took up residence at Whyeleafe House. In 1864 he built St Luke’s church, Whyteleafe, to the designs of his brother.

Richard William Drew was educated by Mr G. H. Hodson of Berkshire before being admitted a Pensioner at Trinity College Cambridge on 21 May 1853. He gained a BA in 1857 or 1858 and an MA in 1861 or 1862. He is also recorded as having been a pupil of the architect Henry Woodyear, who had spent a brief time in the office of William Butterfield. Details of the arrangement between Drew and Woodyear are unclear and may only have lasted a short time, given that Drew commenced independent practice in 1860. However, in many ways Drew used Woodyer’s architectural practice as a model for his own. Both men were university educated, and both relied heavily on relations and friends from university for their commissions.

Drew set himself up as an architect and surveyor at 9 Pall Mall in 1860, the first recorded date for him as an architect. His first commissions were additions and repairs to two villas close to the family home of Leigham Lodge, Streatham, in 1860. These were followed up with designs for new build houses at Streatham through 1861-62. His first major commission was Leigh Park Mansion, Havant near Portsmouth for W H Stone, a friend from Cambridge. Through Stone’s influence, Drew also obtained further commissions in the district for Bedhampton National School, Havant Town Hall and the restoration of St Faith’s Church. In 1880 W H Stone purchased the Lea Park Estate near Whitley. Again, he decided to demolish the existing house and again he employed Richard William Drew to design his new residence.

In 1863 Richard William Drew married Anne Bletchley Starey, eldest daughter of Benjamin Helps Starey, High Sheriff of Bedfordshire, and Anne Humphreys Butterfield, sister of the architect William Butterfield, at Milton Ernest Church, near Bedford. At the time her family were living at Milton Ernest Hall, built at a cost of £12,167, and designed by William Butterfield for his sister. Following their marriage, the couple seemingly continued to live at Milton Ernest Hall with her parents and were certainly living there at the time of the 1871 census. However, a series of disasters on the stock market meant that the Starey family were forced to sell the property in 1872. The family all then moved to Streatham where Benjamin Helps Storey died in 1874. In 1919, the Starey family, who had made a new fortune in the Ceylon tea planting business, bought back the Hall, and remained there until 1968.

Richard and Anne Drew had seven children - two sons,  Harvey Richard Drew b 1869 christened 16 May 1869, Geoffrey Harvey Drew b. 1877, d. 6 April 1954) and five daughters; Mary Harvey Drew (1865-8 May 1938), Sylvia Lucy Harvey Drew (1868- 15 September 1961), Kathleen Harvey Drew (1872-1894), Dorothea Anne Harvey (1874-5 April 1942), and Joan Harvey Drew (1876-15 June 1961).  Harvey Richard Drew and Geoffrey Harvey Drew both became members of the Stock Exchange.  On 27 January 1898 at Christ Church, Walmsley, Bolton, Harvey Richard Drew married Margaret daughter of Edmund Ashworth of Egerton Hall.  The sisters were talented – Sylvia was musical, Mary’s forte was drama and woodwork, Dorothea an artist and book-illustrator, whilst Joan became a renowned designer and embroiderer. Her sketches and designs were very typically influenced by the Arts and Crafts movement. After the death of their father in 1903, the remaining sisters went to live with their younger brother, Geoffrey, at Rookery Farm, Westcott, Surrey. While living with Geoffrey the sisters became interested in the non-militant National Union of Women’s Suffrage Society (NUWSS). The Leith Hill and District Society had been formed in 1908 and in 1909 the President was Lord Farrer of Abinger; there were over 200 members and Sylvia Drew held the position of Chairwoman.

Richard William Drew died on 22 May 1903 having fallen into the River Thames and drowned. Various provincial newspapers carried similar reports, typically - FOUND DROWNED – The body of Mr Richard William Drew was found in the Thames below Little Wittenham Lock on Friday. He had been on a visit to the rector of Little Wittenham, his brother in law. [Gloucester Echo 23 May 1903 page 4]. He was buried in 1903 in St Mary’s churchyard, Bletchingley, Surrey.

Address
1860        9 Pall Mall
1867        7 Storey's Gate, London SW,
1883        7 Queen Anne's Gate, London SW
1891        No entry: Kelly’s Post Office London Directory

Residence
1863        St Leonard, Streatham Surrey
1870-1871    Milton Ernest Hall, near Bedford
1872-1879    Streatham
1881        Bletchingley House, Blechingley, Surrey
1881        Torquay, Devon
1888        Meadfoot Lodge, Torquay
1899        18 Langham Street, Marylebone, London?
1903        Bletchingley House, Blechingley, Surrey and
1903        Meadfoot Lodge, Torquay