John Drew (1734–1808) was an English

banker A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital m ...

and landowner, who served as

High Sheriff of Sussex The office of Sheriff of Sussex was established before the Norman Conquest. The Office of sheriff remained first in precedence in the counties until the reign of Edward VII when an Order in Council in 1908 gave the Lord-Lieutenant the prime office ...

Life

Baptised on 12 August 1734 in Chichester, he was the eldest son of John Drew and his first wife Margaret Haskell. He became a partner in what was known as the Chichester Old Bank, the partners being Griffiths, Chaldecott, Drew & Trew in 1783, Griffiths, Chaldecott & Drew by 1790, Griffiths, Drew & Co by 1796, Griffiths, Drew and Ridge in 1805 and after his death Ridge & Murray. The business has since become part of the

Royal Bank of Scotland The Royal Bank of Scotland plc (RBS; gd, Banca Rìoghail na h-Alba) is a major retail and commercial bank in Scotland. It is one of the retail banking subsidiaries of NatWest Group, together with NatWest (in England and Wales) and Ulster Bank ...

. An alderman of the city, he served as mayor in 1785 and again in 1798. On 4 February 1791 he was appointed High Sheriff of Sussex. As well as his business in Chichester, he invested in lands outside the city. In 1788 he became joint owner of the manor of Keynor in the parish of

Sidlesham Sidlesham is a small village and civil parish, on the Manhood Peninsula, five kilometres (3 miles) south of Chichester in the Chichester District of West Sussex, England. It has a small primary school. The area has had a prebendary since med ...

and he also had extensive lands in the adjoining parish of

Earnley Earnley is a civil and ecclesiastical parish in the Chichester District of West Sussex, England. It is located four miles (6.4 km) south-west of Chichester, and lies on the south coast of England. The parish includes the settlements of Almod ...

. His will was proved in London on 22 June 1808.

Family

On 15 December 1763, at the church of St Andrew in Chichester, he married Lucy Hart (1739–1774). She died on 9 March 1774 and of their children only one son reached adulthood. On 25 October 1781, at the church of All Saints in Chichester, he married Agnes, Lady Frankland (1726–1783), the American widow of Sir Charles Henry Frankland, 4th Baronet. She died on 23 April 1783 and was buried at the church of St Pancras in Chichester. He made a third marriage on 23 April 1804 at

St Luke's Church, Chelsea The Parish Church of St Luke, Chelsea, is an Anglican church, on Sydney Street, Chelsea, London SW3, just off the King's Road. Ecclesiastically it is in the Deanery of Chelsea, part of the Diocese of London. It was designed by James Savage in 1 ...

to a spinster, Mary Powlett Drinkwater (1744–1827), daughter of Woodroffe Drinkwater and his wife Ann Costellow. She survived him, dying on 4 June 1827. In her will of 4 November 1825, proved in London on 16 August 1827, the first beneficiary was Charles Peckham Peckham, grandson of her sister Elizabeth who had married John Peckham of Nyton, and she also left bequests to her husband's two grandchildren. His son John Drew (1764–1800) married Lady Susan Tharp (1768–1826), the daughter of

John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore (1730 – 25 February 1809), known as Lord Dunmore, was a British people, British Peerage, nobleman and Colonial government in the Thirteen Colonies, colonial governor in the Thirteen Colonies, American colonies ...

, and his wife Lady Charlotte Stewart. Her sister,

Lady Augusta Murray Lady Augusta De Ameland (''born'' Murray; 27 January 1761 – 4 March 1830) was the first wife of Prince Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex, the sixth son of George III. They married on 4 April 1793 in Rome. Their union was in contravention of t ...

, was married to the King's son,

Prince Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex Prince Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex, (27 January 1773 – 21 April 1843) was the sixth son and ninth child of King George III and his queen consort, Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. He was the only surviving son of George III who did not ...

. Susan was the widow of Joseph Tharp (1767–1797), heir to a huge sugar fortune amassed in Jamaica by his father John Tharp of Chippenham Park, and had two children. With John she had two daughters, Lucy Ann Drew born 1798 and Georgiana Drew born posthumously in 1801, but neither married. Their mother made a third marriage to an Irish clergyman, the Reverend Archibald Edward Douglas, and had a further child.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Drew, John 1734 births 1808 deaths People from Chichester English bankers 18th-century English landowners High Sheriffs of Sussex People from Sidlesham