William Price 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. 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.

He was a member of the Naval Intelligence Department from 1900 until he resigned to pursue his literary career the following year. At the outbreak of World War I, he rejoined the Royal Marines and served as an intelligence officer at Plymouth.

Drury's mother-in-law was the romantic novelist Mrs. Pender Cudlip. The actress Ruth Kettlewell was his niece.

Drury was the author of a range of plays and novels, many with naval themes. Perhaps his best known play The Flag Lieutenant was filmed three times: twice as a silent film - in 1919 by Percy Nash and in 1926 by Maurice Elvey - and then again for sound in 1932 by Henry Edwards. The Further Adventures of the Flag Lieutenant was also filmed in 1927, after the huge success of Elvey's adaptation.

...
Wikipedia