Jack C. Drummond

Sir Jack Cecil Drummond FRIC, FRS (12 January 1891 – 4 August or 5 August 1952) was a distinguished biochemist, noted for his work on nutrition as applied to the British diet under rationing during the Second World War. He was murdered, together with his wife and 10-year-old daughter, on the night of 4 August 1952 to 5 August 1952 near Lurs, a village or commune in the Basses-Alpes department (now Alpes-de-Haute-Provence) of Southern France.

Jack Drummond was born in Leicester, although some sources claim he was born in the largely working-class area of Kennington in South London. He was the son of Colonel John Drummond of the Royal Horse Artillery and his wife (or lover) Gertrude Drummond. John died at age 55, only three months after Jack's birth. Jack was adopted and raised by John's sister Maria Spinks, who lived in nearby Charlton. Maria's husband, George, was a retired captain quartermaster, who had seen action in the Crimea. According to James Fergusson, life could not have been much fun for the solitary boy in the elderly couple's home. He attended the John Roan School in Greenwich and King's College School.

Drummond's family origins remain unclear. No birth certificate exists for him in the Family Records Office. His father John, the major, describes himself as a bachelor in his will, which makes no mention of a son. In the 1891 census, Jack's name was given as Cecil, his mother's as Gertrude Drummond, and her age as 29. It is not known what happened to Gertrude or whether she was married to John. In the 1901 census, his name is recorded as Jack Cecil Spinks, taking his adoptive mother's surname. It is likely that as a boy Jack used the surname Spinks to avoid social embarrassment to his adoptive parents, but reverted to the surname Drummond sometime during his teens.