Luke Drury (fl. 1820s–1830s) was a justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court from June 1822 to May 1824. Born in Bristol, Rhode Island, Drury was the son of Dr. John Drury, and the grandson of Revolutionary War hero, Colonel Luke Drury.Clbraith Bourn Perry, ''Charles DeWolf of Guadaloupe, His Ancestors and Descendants'' (1902), p. 137. Drury graduated from

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

in 1813."New Geography", ''The National Gazette'', Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (November 28, 1822), p. 2. In 1822, he published a geographical work titled ''New Geography''. He was appointed Collector of the Port of Bristol in 1824,''The National Gazette'', Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (May 31, 1824), p. 2. but dismissed from that position in 1827, as recounted by John Quincy Adams, "for delinquency long continued, and increasing, after repeated warnings". Adams recounted that Drury had obtained the post through the political influence of Senator James D'Wolf, over a better candidate, and that Drury, in a meeting with Adams, "acknowledged and deeply lamented his delinquency", and pleaded with Adams for assistance in extending the time "to recover the monies due from him as Collector". Adams declined to assist Drury, instead directing him to write a letter to the Secretary of the Treasury. In 1833, Drury wrote the first account of the murder trial of

Ephraim Kingsbury Avery Ephraim Kingsbury Avery (December 18, 1799 – October 23, 1869) was a Methodist minister who was among the first clergymen tried for murder in the United States. Avery is often cited as "the first", although it is thought there is at least Ev ...

titled ''A report of the examination of Rev. Ephraim K. Avery, for the murder of Sarah Maria Cornell''.David Richard Kasserman, ''Fall River Outrage: Life, Murder, and Justice in Early Industrial New England'' (2010), p. 255. The account "was seen by many as an attempt. to disguise the inadequacy of justices Howe and Haile's decision by distorting the testimony given" at one of the proceedings in the trial, and several contradictory accounts were written in response. Drury married Lydia Potter De Wolf, with whom he had two sons, one of whom died in infancy; after Lydia's death, he remarried, and had three daughters with his second wife.

References

Justices of the Rhode Island Supreme Court Date of birth missing Date of death missing Brown University alumni People from Bristol, Rhode Island {{RhodeIsland-state-judge-stub