W.P. Drury

Lieutenant-Colonel William Price Drury, CBE (8 November 1861 – 21 January 1949) was a Royal Marine Light Infantry officer, novelist, playwright, and Mayor of Saltash from 1929 to 1931.

Drury was educated at Brentwood School, Essex, and at Plymouth College. He was commissioned a lieutenant in the Royal Marines Light Infantry on 1 September 1880, and promoted to captain on 2 January 1890. During his Royal Marines career, he served on the China Station and with the Mediterranean Fleet. He commanded the Royal Marines from HMS Camperdown and HMS Astraea who landed on Crete after local Christians and British soldiers were massacred by Turkish Bashi-bazouk forces in 1898, and was promoted to major on 12 December 1898.

He was a member of the Naval Intelligence Department from 1900 until he was placed on half-pay on 1 July 1902 on account of medical unfitness, when he resigned to pursue his literary career. At the outbreak of World War I, he rejoined the Royal Marines and served as an intelligence officer at Plymouth.

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